UCONN vs UMASS @ Gillette Stadium 2016 | Page 4 | The Boneyard

UCONN vs UMASS @ Gillette Stadium 2016

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ASweet3781 said:
UConn has played in some pretty terrible environments since being in D1. So what?

They had like 15,000 people out there when Western Michigan and Buffalo stomped all over us. Am I supposed to lose sleep that UMass-UConn won't be able to sell out Gillette Stadium?
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King Strawman is going on ignore. First one ever.
 
ASweet3781 said:
How many people were at the UConn-Buffalo game? UConn-Temple? It is what it is. A winnable game within driving distance at the home stadium of Tom Brady. The stadium might be half full but if it's a win that's all that matters.
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freescooter said:
There won't be 40,000 there even if they gave tickets away and kidnapped 20,000 people and dragged them kicking and screaming into the stadium and counted the people passed out in the Extra Point Lounge on Route 1. Umass draws 10-15000. UConn isn't sending 25,000. 10 will be a stretch. You're right on capacity , though. But at least form what I saw they don't tarp off any seating. Tehy don't open the upper level for seating. You're right about capacity, but I'm not sure the 6 000 makes that much difference. Still has the feel of an empty house.
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There's a difference between winnable games in a season with no hope vs. a season with at least a glimmer. Also, while both Buffalo and Philadelphia are drivable, 3-5 hour trips (Gillette is an hour and a half from Hartford), UConn had not won a game up to either point and it wasn't looking good leading into Temple (or for the 1st half of Temple for that matter). You would have had to pay me a substantial amount of money (above and beyond the cost of a ticket and gas money) to make either one...especially where the environment/stadiums have no discernible quality to write home about (i.e. it's not Michie Stadium or even the Yale Bowl for that matter). Not when the alternative is my couch during a lost season. Home games are obviously different. I bought season tickets, I was going to use them.

With Gillette being so close to the footprint of Connecticut, I could see UConn matching or even outdrawing UMass. That is where my 30-40k number comes from, but honestly, there is really no use in predicting UConn representation at Gillette in 2016 until after Nov. 8. Presumably there will be something to play for going forward that was even remotely present in 2013.
 
Confident Carl said:
No doubt it is more appealing to play in recently revamped McGirk but from a travel perspective the game at Gillette is better for UCONN fan base. The attendance at Gillette has been horrible and the political climate in MA is not friendly towards the program. In spite of that, it sounds like the AD and University are still going forward on a 5-7 year plan. Right now, the program is on life support. This game is on and lets see what happens. In 2011 24,000 attendance for the UMASS - UNH game and lets hope for better than that.
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As for that UNH game, both campuses ran a ton of busses to that game to get to that point. I would hope UConn does the same.
 
dsturdy5 said:
As for that UNH game, both campuses ran a ton of busses to that game to get to that point. I would hope UConn does the same.
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Agree. In the release of this game, there was a specific mention of just how close to campus Gillette is and they were excited to bring a road game to the students that they could realistically go to. I'd be shocked if 84-Mass Pike-490 wasn't a UCONN bus parade.
 
I don't know what the problem is. This is an away game at an NFL stadium within 2 1/2 hours of most UCONN fans. Plus we're going to win. 1 down, 5 wins to go.
 
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freescooter said:
I don't disagree with the concept. I'm not opposed to playing MAC teams, I'd just like to play teams with a pulse in stadiums that draw more than flies. the Ohio game at their place a couple of years ago was not too bad. Pretty close to a full house. Small stadium seats about 25,000 but I'd much much much rather play in front of 22000 in a 25000-30,000 seat stadium than the same crowd in one of those mammoth NFL buildings. It just sucks the life out of the game, the crowd, everything. Almost impossible to generate any excitement no matter how the game is going. Hell, I would even make UMass an offer to let them be the home team for a game at the Rent. That's how bad I think this experience will be. Frankly it is why I'd much rather play at Yankee Stadium than MetLife if we ever have to play one of those horrible neutral site affairs. 54,000 is much better than 82,000 for a college game unless you're in Ann Arbor or Tuskaloosa or someplace like that. When Syracuse drew 32,000 for USC to that venue is was embarrassing but made even more so by the vastness of the empty seats.
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I take the other route here - "big time" teams/fans would never "settle" for playing @ a place like Ohio, full house or not. "Neutral" site is the way this would work. The same yahoos wouldn't guess in a million years that UMass plays that far from campus.
 
pepband99 said:
I take the other route here - "big time" teams/fans would never "settle" for playing @ a place like Ohio, full house or not. "Neutral" site is the way this would work. The same yahoos wouldn't guess in a million years that UMass plays that far from campus.
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UCONN should seek to make the UMASS game part of their season ticket package.
Call it a 7+1 Package. Offer it as a bonus at a good price if you buy season tickets earlier. UCONN, UMASS and Gillette officials should huddle and come up with a big PR campaign to promote the game. Maybe we could hire PT Barnum to bring in some of his strange exhibits to promote the game.
 
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with those of you that don't like the idea of this game. You make very valid points and I completely understand. But I tend to agree with the folks that think it is better than you guys playing Buffalo or W. Michigan. I know from a UMass standpoint this will be a big game and I'm thinking (hoping) that UMass fans will surprise you guys with the turnout. We'll probably get a glimpse of this when we see the UMass turnout against BC this year. Last year we averaged about 15,600 (stop laughing!!!). That was under a coaching staff that no one liked or respected and there was some very negative vibes between the school and the alumni/ fans. I can tell you with certainty that all of that has changed. Whipple has brought some life and enthusiasm to what was a very apathetic and disgruntled fan base. Are we going to get 40,000 this year? Absolutely not! All I'm saying is that I wouldn't base all my expectations on attendance using the "Molnar era" figures
 
Butch said:
I am surprised Molnar is still alive.
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Supposedly Molnar is going to the University of Idaho (another 1-11 team) as wide receivers coach, although I have not seen any official confirmation. If true, good luck to them.
 
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DrG said:
Supposedly Molnar is going to the University of Idaho (another 1-11 team) as wide receivers coach, although I have not seen any official confirmation. If true, good luck to them.
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Not quite far enough away for my liking, but it's a start. He's toxic!
 
I think playing UMASS is fine. UCONN needs to be absolutely dominant so there is no question with regards to program superiority. The 2012 game when they failed to get the ball past their own 40 was fine......and we were coached by Moe, Larry and Curley.
 
uconndogs said:
I think playing UMASS is fine. UCONN needs to be absolutely dominant so there is no question with regards to program superiority. The 2012 game when they failed to get the ball past their own 40 was fine.and we were coached by Moe, Larry and Curley.
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That was a dominant performance, I will give you that. But a few points I want to make for UMass. We had a kid recruited to play 1AA ball in his first ever start at QB. You guys had a defense that year with what, 4 or 5 guys headed to the NFL? The "deer in the headlight" look was going on all night. I was at that game and I thought our defense was adequate. UMass defense only gave up 23 points and they were on the field ALL night.

And by the way...we were coached by a staff that made your look like they came from the Mike Holmgren coaching tree
 
UMass said:
That was a dominant performance, I will give you that. But a few points I want to make for UMass. We had a kid recruited to play 1AA ball in his first ever start at QB. You guys had a defense that year with what, 4 or 5 guys headed to the NFL? The "deer in the headlight" look was going on all night. I was at that game and I thought our defense was adequate. UMass defense only gave up 23 points and they were on the field ALL night.
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Despite the dominant defensive performance that night, I remember thinking we were in trouble. Our OL could not control the LOS. We call that being "PGDL'ed".
 
freescooter said:
Um, did you look at UMass's attendance last year? Their largest home crowd was 21,000, and they averaged around 14,500. They had 2 games at 10,000 and 10,500 and were on the verge of D1A probation for failing to meet attendance requirements. How many UConn fans do you think are travelling to a lousy game? And even if its 10,000, a number I think is pretty generous, remember that this is football and this game will be played at a 70,000 seat venue.
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No need exists to look at UMess' poor 2013 attendance nor what they'll likely experience in 2014, I simply respectfully disagree with an unenthusiastic viewpoint. When the game comes around in 2016, one option is to simply observe the actual attendance. Past facts don't need to be ignored to anticipate higher than 5K UCONN attendance locally, from CT, and elsewhere nor even 20K total attendance.

However, UMess was not on the verge of 1A probation for failing to meet attendance requirements. Those purported attendance requirements #s have not been enforced by the NCAA for any school to date. Perhaps they will at some future point, but facts are facts to date. We can agree to disagree, and time will tell. JC to Ken Krayeske, ...
 
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One interesting thing I learned today, the UMass we knew is now known as UMass-Amherst. UMass-Lowell is aiming high. Another SUNY-Stony Brook in the making? Stony Brook is in the AAU. And so is SUNY-Buffalo.
 
Butch said:
One interesting thing I learned today, the UMass we knew is now known as UMass-Amherst. UMass-Lowell is aiming high. Another SUNY-Stony Brook in the making? Stony Brook is in the AAU. And so is SUNY-Buffalo.
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You also have UMass Boston and UMass Dartmouth. UMass Lowell is the only other playing any D1 sports, hockey.

You also have another grouping of schools like Worcester State, Fitchburg State, and Framingham State among others.
 
UMass said:
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with those of you that don't like the idea of this game. You make very valid points and I completely understand. But I tend to agree with the folks that think it is better than you guys playing Buffalo or W. Michigan. I know from a UMass standpoint this will be a big game and I'm thinking (hoping) that UMass fans will surprise you guys with the turnout. We'll probably get a glimpse of this when we see the UMass turnout against BC this year. Last year we averaged about 15,600 (stop laughing!!!). That was under a coaching staff that no one liked or respected and there was some very negative vibes between the school and the alumni/ fans. I can tell you with certainty that all of that has changed. Whipple has brought some life and enthusiasm to what was a very apathetic and disgruntled fan base. Are we going to get 40,000 this year? Absolutely not! All I'm saying is that I wouldn't base all my expectations on attendance using the "Molnar era" figures
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I agree with your agreement. I'd much rather play UMASS on a fairly regular schedule than Western Michigan. I hope that both fan bases can draw a very good crowd to the game and create a great atmosphere.
 
Dooley said:
I agree with your agreement. I'd much rather play UMASS on a fairly regular schedule than Western Michigan. I hope that both fan bases can draw a very good crowd to the game and create a great atmosphere.
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We need to beat Western Michigan a couple more times (at least) and THEN we can forget them.

Dumb@ss PP.
 
Butch said:
We need to beat Western Michigan a couple more times (at least) and THEN we can forget them.

Dumb@ss PP.
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You are right.....those games were brutal and definitely not indicative of UConn football.....gotta give them a good pounding and then move on!
 
HartfordHank said:
You also have UMass Boston and UMass Dartmouth. UMass Lowell is the only other playing any D1 sports, hockey.

You also have another grouping of schools like Worcester State, Fitchburg State, and Framingham State among others.
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UMass-Lowell is d-1 in most sports now.
 
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dsturdy5 said:
UMass-Lowell is d-1 in most sports now.
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They are now a member of America East for most sports. Of course, they are a Hockey East member for their primary revenue sport. America East does not sponsor football; I think UML had a D2 team some years ago but dropped football, and I don't think Marty Meehan has any designs on going down that road again.
 
HartfordHank said:
I learned something. They certainly aren't doing a lot to promote themselves!
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This season was their first and it was pretty rough going, as one would expect, in many sports. They probably don't want to draw too much attention to themselves if they are failing. Not to totally derail the thread but their move may open the door for Merrimack to make a similar jump.

Back to the regularly scheduled programming.
 
dsturdy5 said:
This season was their first and it was pretty rough going, as one would expect, in many sports. They probably don't want to draw too much attention to themselves if they are failing. Not to totally derail the thread but their move may open the door for Merrimack to make a similar jump.

Back to the regularly scheduled programming.
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Merrimack was a power in DII hockey (is there still DII hockey) in the 1970’s and 1980’s before upgrading in 1984 and then joined Hockey East in 1989. Merrimack was the first school added after Hockey East was formed in 1984. Currently, they are a DII school except for men’s hockey and soon to be women’s hockey in 2015.

As I lived in the Merrimack Valley for a few years, I know a lot of folks who are amazed that Merrimack is in Hockey East and even a few alumni who are critical of the decision as they have not been that successful in Hockey East in the last 24 or so years, though they have been playing better the last 3 or 4 years. Merrimack is the smallest college in Hockey East with only 2,500 students while the second smallest, Providence, has 4,600, and the average student body in Hockey East is 16,400. UConn will be the second largest in Hockey East after BU. Also, Merrimack’s on-campus arena only holds 3,000, which is the second smallest in the league (UConn is smallest with 2,000) which averages 5,200 seats (UMass Amherst is largest). Also, Merrimack ranked 36 of 59 D1 hockey teams in attendance with an average of 2,350 per game (though 92% of capacity is very good) while Hockey East averaged 4,000 in 2013/4. UMass Lowell was #12 by the way, second in Hockey East behind BC.

Merrimack on paper appears to be better suited for the ECAC, which are all private schools and have an average student population of 8,000 (heavily inflated by Cornell and Harvard 20K populations) and average arena size of 3,250, and average attendance of 2,500.

As a FYI, UConn ranked #52 with average attendance of 1,080. UConn has potential; but a lot of work to do.
 
Husky25 said:
There's a difference between winnable games in a season with no hope vs. a season with at least a glimmer. Also, while both Buffalo and Philadelphia are drivable, 3-5 hour trips (Gillette is an hour and a half from Hartford), UConn had not won a game up to either point and it wasn't looking good leading into Temple (or for the 1st half of Temple for that matter). You would have had to pay me a substantial amount of money (above and beyond the cost of a ticket and gas money) to make either one...especially where the environment/stadiums have no discernible quality to write home about (i.e. it's not Michie Stadium or even the Yale Bowl for that matter). Not when the alternative is my couch during a lost season. Home games are obviously different. I bought season tickets, I was going to use them.

With Gillette being so close to the footprint of Connecticut, I could see UConn matching or even outdrawing UMass. That is where my 30-40k number comes from, but honestly, there is really no use in predicting UConn representation at Gillette in 2016 until after Nov. 8. Presumably there will be something to play for going forward that was even remotely present in 2013.
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Temple is a great road trip. 3-4 hours from CT. Wide open tailgate environment. NFL stadium with first class amenities. Visitor seats around the 50 yard line. And plenty of stuff to do on the side for a weekend trip - cheesesteaks, south st, manayunk etc. I braved the 2008 game with Hurricane Hanna pumping rain and wind at us for most of the game (but we had sun for the tailgate!).
 
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