The crowd was better than usual. the students were not as good as usual but they have been carrying the rest of the crowd for a long time. Although quite a few left early there was still a sizable and loud contingent on hand until the end. We were in our usual last row of section 204 banging the wall on every third down for USF and some earlier downs after penalties. It is difficult to get into a groove with harrassing the opposition, when the offense is so inept and gives you so little to celebrate. I really felt that the last drive by USF had the feel of another loss where we couldn't stop them and they would run out the clock and score to win. Thankfully the defense, which did give us plenty to cheer about stopped them again. I'm hoping that this is something we can build on for the rest of the season, similar to last year. We've got to somehow put more together on offense and be better on special teams. We were estatic with this ugly win. Hopefully the fans that understand how important and valuable the 12th man can be in home games will come early, stay to the end and cheer loudly for this team. They need the help and deserve the support. The defense is keeping us in striking distance every game.
I find the number of distractions with announcements, presentations, sideline reports, commercials, etc. really detract from the game and the coordination of them has really slipped. Once in the WMU game they played music the get the crowd going but it continued during our first down play. If that had been WMU's first down it probably would have been a penalty of some type. I know they are trying to engage the casual fans and make it fun for them, but it seems very bush league. I haven't been to other venues, especially big time college stadiums, but I can't believe this is what they do at other places. But, I guess it's all part of growing into big boy football. We're not there yet.
