Bought tickets via online ticket and sat on 50 yard line near top of East stands.
Glad to have a group of 15-20 Vandy fans around us all cheering loudly for the Dores. There were a smattering of other VU fans in the Texas sections.
Texas fans generally were more pleasant than the obnoxious SEC teams. Though they are a bit arrogant. They have not been exposed to enough good football yet to know the SEC week after week grind.
That high in the stadium you cannot really hear the opposing West stands or even the students. When VU fans come back and fill up the East stands the noise in the stadium for VU will be much louder. I know people sitting on the West stands said they were loud. But, we could hardly hear it in our section.
A few other thoughts on the experience before getting into some football thoughts.
The construction around the stadium is really a mess. The whole stadium exterior on the west and south ends looks trashed. Cannot believe it will be two years for them to finish this work. Then the east stands will undergo construction due to the baseball stadium re-do. So people traffic for that side of the stadium will be messed up for at least 18-24 months I assume.
The congestion on the east stands when it is full is really bad. Concourses under the stands are too small, restrooms too small to accommodate the people, concessions too small and it takes too long to walk through the areas. I wonder why they did not expand the concourse more than they did on the north side next to Memorial Gym. Maybe when the south end zone is completed it will relieve some of the traffic flow under the east stands.
I have to compliment VU on the improved video, music and creating additional energy during the game. This is the best version I have seen.
One other nit, why is the new video board in the south end zone facing the press box and not on top of the roof in the middle of the south end zone so the entire stadium can see it?
I stoppped by the Pavia tailgate as well. It was lit. Many of the football player families were there as well. I do not know who sponsored it, but it was catered, had a DJ and people were having a great time. If Diego is paying for it, then Pavia is a total culture game changer. He is giving his all to VU. VU football has never had a leader like him. He infuses the entire atmosphere with energy, passion, commitment and let’s go kick ass. It is really amazing.
I also sense amongst the student body that they are more into football than I can say in my lifetime. Like they want the football team to do well and VU to have the full SEC football experience like the other big schools. They want that experience, energy and excitement to make their VU experience more fulfilling.
In fact, sitting next to us were two VU graduates who had graduated in the last 5-10 years. One of them has had season tickets for awhile but never went to the games because he said why go when you lose all the time and it is a horrible experience. In fact, he sold his entire season tickets this year before the first game and got more than what he paid for. But, he went to the TX game and enjoyed it and is totally committed to going to the South Carolina game with a bunch of his classmates now. Moving forward, with them winning he will go to games. He says many former students have the same attitude and desire. He thoroughly enjoyed the game even though VU lost. He will be back for more since VU is winning.
VU needs to have more chair back seats to buy at the games. All the Texas fans bought them up 1 hour before kick off.
Eventually, VU needs to re-do the area around Vandyville and make that like a park setting with sidewalks and plazas if that is going to be a tailgate area.
Will be at the South Carolina game.
www.saturdaydownsouth.com
