Tell this new(ish) fan about the good times

[Jetskies]

What was it like back in the 2000s? I recently found this old clip of the baylor game when RG3 came to the rent.
I heard in one of these videos that UConn was one of the quickest risers from 1-AA to the 1-A top 25!
2002 to 2007 - 5 years and change, only behind Marshall U who did it faster.

Dude, was this the same UConn i started watching around covid? certainly it was a different university lol.

please tell me some romantic and fun stories of the good ol' days, to put my hopes in. I need to hear something good. All i've ever known since i joined this party is sadness.

 

[coachcap]

Inaugural game at the RENT: Terry Cauley is unstoppable.
December game against USF as the snow begins to fall-to that point the Bulls never won with temps below 39 degrees.
Midseason game against USF- started in a monsoon-defender stays home & nails the Bulls qb on a naked bootleg, forcing 4th down in closing moments of the game.
D.J. Hernandez winning game in OT against PITT & throwing the football out of the RENT.
Storming the field after first ever win against West Virginia in OT.
The following week against PITT: Edsall's decision to go for a first down on 4th & 2 from the UCONN 20 yard line with less that 2 minutes left in the contest to protect the lead.
Hosting Wake Forest & scoring 35 points? in the first half.
Any home win against Syracuse.
Tyvon Branch taking the kickoff to open the 2nd half to the house against Snookie...

 

[Forte]

There are newish Fans through these years?!

As a student UConn vs. Pitt when the runway was ... the runway. The tailgating and walk-in were electric. When they were backed up into their own endzone the stadium felt like it was literally shaking. Rough walk for Pitt fans back down the runway to get to their cars.

Fingers uphigh and crossed for field goal vs. USF in a typhoon. Students were walking around in blow-up pool toys, swimsuits, and flippers. Pretty funny.

Worst memory was getting rocked by Navy and hearing their fight song over and over and over. To this day it has not left my head.

The husky walk, though new, was becoming a thing fast. The chants of BCS, BCS, BCS were great. Tailgate flags flying high for miles.

The pregame atmosphere at peak was awesome. Before DJ Dog pound and the spirit squad we had real cheer leaders and some dude having the stadium on one side scream blue ... the other side scream white before games vs. WVU etc. That was awesome and had to have pumped the team up waiting in the tunnel.

Bob's Discount Furniture had the actual non cartoon Bob in them up on the jumbo tron.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

It was fun and full of hopefulness for an even a brighter future. We need a Roy Hobbs for a couple of years.

 

[Hamms30]

I miss the times before the long dark...

 

[KryHavok]

We had some good games, but for me, the defining game was UConn beating Notre Dame at Notre Dame on prime time. This occurred shortly after one the players, Jasper Howard, was killed during an altercation. Seeing UConn battle and beat the golden domers was magical. I was a UConn grad student during that game, and honestly it made me just as proud as when UConn beat Puke in BBall for their title.

 

[CTBasketball]

I swear Terry Cauley could run thru a brick Wall.

I remember the 2010 WVU game, a bunch of WVU fans were talking about how we couldn’t stop Noel Devine. I reminded them who Kemba Walker was going to become, and then they poured beer on me. Those guys sucked. The Rent was packed, loud, and it was a perfect autumn night.

Then we held Devine to < 100 yards rushing I think and we escaped in OT. And back then we NEVER beat WVU. The field storming was amazing, pure adrenaline.

 

[Skiblets]

Winning at Notre Dame despite two phantom holding calls after Jasper Howard died a few weeks earlier. Grown up Huskies crying their eyes out...

 

[Waquoit]

Tailgates were epic.

 

[LIUCHusky]

Inaugural game at the RENT: Terry Cauley is unstoppable.
December game against USF as the snow begins to fall-to that point the Bulls never won with temps below 39 degrees.
Midseason game against USF- started in a monsoon-defender stays home & nails the Bulls qb on a naked bootleg, forcing 4th down in closing moments of the game.
D.J. Hernandez winning game in OT against PITT & throwing the football out of the RENT.
Storming the field after first ever win against West Virginia in OT.
The following week against PITT: Edsall's decision to go for a first down on 4th & 2 from the UCONN 20 yard line with less that 2 minutes left in the contest to protect the lead.
Hosting Wake Forest & scoring 35 points? in the first half.
Any home win against Syracuse.
Tyvon Branch taking the kickoff to open the 2nd half to the house against Snookie...

The game against Wake Forest you are referring to was played at WF. UConn lost to WF at the Rent.

 

[MKH2317]

It was either 07 or 08 we beat Rutgers who was ranked in the top 25 34-17. The rent stayed full til the final minute, and on the way out of the game, the entire stadium was chanting “BCS! BCS!” We ended up cracking the top 25 after that game

 

[ScottVib]

If you were there in the 2000s there was never a question in your mind of if UConn belonged in big-time football. The question was how high a level football would be able to achieve.

 

[AllHusky]

• FOOTBALL
• MORE

Football 8/30/2003 12:00:00 AM

HUSKIES VICTORIOUS IN INAUGURAL GAME AT RENTSCHLER FIELD​

EAST HARTFORD, CT (August 30, 2003) &#150; Junior quarterback Dan Orlovsky (Shelton, CT) threw for three touchdowns to lead the University of Connecticut past Indiana, 34-10, before a crowd of 38,109 in the inaugural game at Rentschler Field.

Sadly, while we did get better from here, we ran into a brick wall after Lew left.

 

[psilotic]

use the google machine for Terry Baltimore Cup UConn Blog 2012. They had a pretty decent list of top plays but I couldn't find them in one handy file. The Larry Taylor fake fair catch punt return v. Louisville and Greg Robinson sack of USF Matt Grothe on a "naked bootleg" on goal-to-go from the 1 both in 2007 were pretty epic

 

[TMB4405]

Honestly there were a lot of great memories there and we had legit teams. Crowds were great most of the time. You cant have top memories of the Rent without adding Michigan. It sadlly was the beginning of the dark days but even though we lost it was a fantastic night.

 

[psilotic]

There are newish Fans through these years?!

As a student UConn vs. Pitt when the runway was ... the runway. The tailgating and walk-in were electric. When they were backed up into their own endzone the stadium felt like it was literally shaking. Rough walk for Pitt fans back down the runway to get to their cars.

Fingers uphigh and crossed for field goal vs. USF in a typhoon. Students were walking around in blow-up pool toys, swimsuits, and flippers. Pretty funny.

Worst memory was getting rocked by Navy and hearing their fight song over and over and over. To this day it has not left my head.

The husky walk, though new, was becoming a thing fast. The chants of BCS, BCS, BCS were great. Tailgate flags flying high for miles.

The pregame atmosphere at peak was awesome. Before DJ Dog pound and the spirit squad we had real cheer leaders and some dude having the stadium on one side scream blue ... the other side scream white before games vs. WVU etc. That was awesome and had to have pumped the team up waiting in the tunnel.

Bob's Discount Furniture had the actual non cartoon Bob in them up on the jumbo tron.

The Navy reference reminded me that we housed them 38-0 in the rain in Annapolis in 2002 before the program-moving win at Iowa State to finish 6-6. Apparently Edsall told coaching buddies he had figured out how to stop the triple option. Four years and 8 million yards later (actually 464), Paul Johnson proved that to be incorrect.

 

[TMB4405]

Watching the Baylor highlights make you realize we had legit defensive players who ran to the ball as a unit. That may be my favorite game I ever attended.

 

[hardcorehusky]

The Rent was full just about straight through 2010. Tailgaiting was epic.

Dan Orlovsky bombs, Terry Caulley and the 7 broken tackles against Indiana in the inaugural game. Smothering defenses, powerful ground games with just enough passing. NFL players on both sides of the ball.

Darius Butler, Donald Brown, etc. Watch the stomping of Virginia on a Saturday night!! Dominating Syracuse on multiple occasions. Getting Rutgers and West Virginia were always special. The Pitt games, with the talent both teams had were epic. Pitt having 3 straight pre-snap penalties due to crowd noise from the student section!!! DJ winning it in OT and throwing the ball over the scoreboard in celebration. Not only did we belong, in 2010 we started with Michigan and ended with Oklahoma!! The sky was the limit until.........

 

[DoctorWho85]

Outside of being part of UCMB that opened the rent and went to the first bowl game and crushed a cocky toledo. The best memory for me was 2010. It was an october game and unusually warm night. UConn was playing Pitt and no one predicted us to win. Doug Baldwin made a phenomenal catch in the back of the end zone and the stadium was the quitest I ever heard. You could practically hear a penny drop. Then I believe it was Nick Williams took the kick off back for a touchdown and instantly was the loudest I've ever heard the stadium. Sandstorm came on and every fan was jumping up and down and it looked like waves of people. Jordan Todman went off and we ended up winning the game.

 

[CL82]

Winning at Notre Dame despite two phantom holding calls after Jasper Howard died a few weeks earlier. Grown up Huskies crying their eyes out...

We had some good games, but for me, the defining game was UConn beating Notre Dame at Notre Dame on prime time. This occurred shortly after one the players, Jasper Howard, was killed during an altercation. Seeing UConn battle and beat the golden domers was magical. I was a UConn grad student during that game, and honestly it made me just as proud as when UConn beat Puke in BBall for their title.

I was looking for the speech were HCRE breaks down a little bit talking about how the team is dealing Jazz's loss. I couldn't find it. I get a little misty every time I do see it.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I have to add the Pitt game in 2010. That atmosphere was the equal to any, regardless of what conference the teams were members of.

We had a few epic battles with Pitt at the Rent but that was the highest level of play, for the entirety of the game by both teams.

It's kind of amazing to think in a one score game a team would go for it on fourth and three inside their own thirty in the final minute.

The building shook and the game was awesome.

 

[huskymedic]

I was looking for the speech were HCRE breaks down a little bit talking about how the team is dealing Jazz's loss. I couldn't find it. I get a little misty every time I do see it.

@danlow1963?

 

[JeannoCT]

I was looking for the speech were HCRE breaks down a little bit talking about how the team is dealing Jazz's loss. I couldn't find it. I get a little misty every time I do see it.

I just got chills watching that video. We were there and it was a blast. One of the greatest sports moments of my life!

 

[KryHavok]

I was looking for the speech were HCRE breaks down a little bit talking about how the team is dealing Jazz's loss. I couldn't find it. I get a little misty every time I do see it.

His response starts at the the 2:36:50 mark. Still gives me goosebumps watching that game.

 

[CL82]

His response starts at the the 2:36:50 mark. Still gives me goosebumps watching that game.

Yep, it got me again.

(Also love the UCONN cheer at the end of the interview.)