Opening day thoughts?....

[Hoophound]

I'm intending to go north for the Holy Cross game just to welcome the staff and see the return of Randy Edsall in person. I'm wondering what people expect for a crowd. I'd hate to fly the whole family up for the weekend for a dud game and a small crowd. (I know, if we don't go the crowd will be smaller). I can live with a win over Holy Cross as long as the crowd is there cheering but no crowd really sucks for the kids. They like the scene of an amped stadium.

I can wait a week and see a decent USF team and fly in Friday or Saturday morning. which is probably a better trip all around. Definitely a more exciting game. Thoughts?

 

[huskymedic]

USF/Charley Strong.

 

[4in16]

Honestly, I could see them giving tickets away or make them dirt cheap for Holy Cross so I'd expect a pretty good crowd welcoming RE back. I'd go to the USF game though.

 

[huskiemaniac]

i have 4 season tickets and will bring any extra friends I can!

 

[uconnphil2016]

Last year for Maine was like 28k I think, maybe a little less but a good crowd nonetheless.

 

[weyuo]

I would bet that if in the Spring game the offense looks decidedly better and more exciting they could start building a buzz which might bring out more of the curious for the first game. Sloppy and low scoring could have the opposite effect.

 

[UCMB88]

I think opening night will have a 30k plus crowd. A Thursday night in August should be good weather. If the Athletic Marketing folks do a good job, they should generate lots of buzz around HCRE's first game back. (I like the #REstorred slogan). If they do $5 student tickets including transportation from campus again this year, that would be great.

The USF game should be the better game. RE 1.0's teams used to regularly dispatch with ease their opening day opponents:
2003 Indiana W 34-10
2004 Murray St. W 54-14
2005 Buffalo W 38-0
2006 URI W 52-7
2007 Duke W 45-14
2008 Hofstra W 35-3
2009 Ohio W 23-16

Even FHCPP's teams would win big on opening day :
2011 Fordham W 35-3
2012 UMASS W 37-0

A small gauge of this year's squad should be the HC game - decent FBS teams should beat up on their FCS opponents. Something we did not see out of FHCBD's teams at all! Struggled to beat Stony Brook by 2, struggled to beat Villanova by 5, struggled mightily in a last second win over Maine by 3.

 

[kris1]

I understand why you wouldn't want to fly the whole family up to see a shat show. Heading into last season we were all abuzz for the season opener. There was promise and hope that the team would take that next step. They'd contend for the AAC and play in a decent bowl. We know how that turned out.....uninspiring and unwatchable.

With leadership #REstorred I think there will be buzz again this year. Unlike last season, this team will get better as the season goes on. There will be fight in the dog once again.

Can't wait!!!

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

I would bet that if in the Spring game the offense looks decidedly better and more exciting they could start building a buzz which might bring out more of the curious for the first game. Sloppy and low scoring could have the opposite effect.

As I remember, RE didn't worry about putting on a good show in the spring game. Especially if he doesn't feel like he has full squads to field an actual game.

 

[lavuuk153]

As I remember, RE didn't worry about putting on a good show in the spring game. Especially if he doesn't feel like he has full squads to field an actual game.

Well he has to understand what he's walking into this year. Part of making a program relevant is taking something like the spring game and making it a "thing." I'm going to buy tickets either way because I'm not rational when it comes to Uconn. However, I'll fell a hell of a lot more confident if they show me something during the spring game to the point that I'll encourage my friends to show up for at least a game or two.

 

[uconnbill]

I'm going to call it 30,000 loud Husky fans seeing HCRE and the new offense and defense. The air was sucked out of many of us and the fresh air will be so sweet, till something goes wrong that is.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Stay the week and see both games. Come on you can do it. Kids can miss school to see the Huskies.

 

[BlueDogs]

The Indiana game was such brilliant day - hitting on all cylinders, great weather, crowd was loud. I think it set the tone for the next 7 years. Looking forward to the return.

 

[Palatine]

Last year, Holy Cross gave up 32 points a game. So anything worse than 32 points by our offense would be a disappointment.

Given the understandable skepticism about our football program, a crowd under 30,000 is a reasonable expectation. Under 25,000 would be a problem. Over 30,000 would be a plus.

I'll be there with relatives. I will come early and leave late.

 

[RioDog]

lavuuk153 talked about being irrational about the Huskies. I'll be so happy to be going to the 'Rent once again in my UConn swag, watching my beloved Huskies play and yelling 'till I can't talk that the name on the opponent's unis won't matter. We'll be there with bells on. If that makes me irrational then I'm with lavuuk; I don't wanna be rational.