A question for former players, etc

[CanuckPanther]

Congratulations to the Panthers on a great season!!! It has been another wonderful year, and it is not over yet Sure glad they came out of the SUU game with that win!!!!!!!!
But I have a question for players/former players....
Today's game does not seem to have been one of the better efforts by the team. How much does it play on your mind when you are playing a good season, but have not played in front of a sellout crowd at home, even once? How does it affect the mind of a player to play in front of only half the crowd there after half time? How does it play on the mind when you play your last two games away, and only 3,000 people are in either place?
In addition to those questions (serious questions, BTW; I am NOT an athlete so I don't have the experience to know) I have a couple more questions. I never did see any follow up about whether the bus trip to ISU was a go for that game. And after all the conversation about whether Farley would get to see his son play in the championship game, I have not seen a posting of whether he did get to see it. (Not living anywhere near Iowa, I have NO idea about who won, or any connection to things like that at all.) Oh, and another question, when I first started coming here in 2005 there were postings in the media section, especially from road trips to games. What ever happened to those?
Thanks to any who might have answers for me.
Go Panthers!!!!!

[BCPanther]

Re: A question for former players, etc

I can clear up one of those...

Farley did get to see the game last night. The Mudd Group paid for a private charter to get him to Cedar City this morning. His son's team did get beat last night, however...

[JayJ79]

Re: A question for former players, etc

I would imagine that a crowd of 15,000 in the Dome can affect the players just as much as a crowd of 16,500. At least if they're actually cheering, and not busy playing Sudoku or watching the Iowa game on their cell phones.

Besides, there have only been 6 years in which UNI has had a sold out home game ('90, '92, '93, '94, '95, '07). So the majority of UNI teams have never played in front of a sold out home game.

Sure, it's easier to get pumped up in front of a large, raucous home crowd. But to be a successful football team, you also have to win on the road.

[CanuckPanther]

Re: A question for former players, etc

While I purposely omitted it from my original questions, as I think of it, I have to add it: How does it affect a team when such a thing as the Gray/Williams thing, and that being the second year in a row when "key/strong/relied-on" players have this happen?

[jegbomb52]

Re: A question for former players, etc

Williams / Gray could very easily be a team building incident. When something like that happens, many times the team already knows there is a problem (doing, selling drugs) and many are not happy with it. When it gets outed many are initially disapointed but then take more of a good riddance, not all of them, and by all means I can not speak for the student athletes on this years team, that is just my two cents from past years.

Road crowds do not have much of an effect on a team, if anything it becomes kind of a running joke when you visit empty stadiums. Playing at home in front of a less than half full house can take its toll, obviously the team, players, coaches, etc... are going to tell you that it doesn't make any difference but I know that players actually check with the ticket office throughout the week to see how the full the dome will be, again, not all athletes, but some. I agree that this might not be the best thing to do but it happens.

[CanuckPanther]

Re: A question for former players, etc

I appreciate all of your input.
Thank you!!!!!

[jegbomb52]

Re: A question for former players, etc

wow, I was just thanked by CanuckPanther

[Cat80]

Re: A question for former players, etc

Something from Saturday:

After the defense made a stop in the first half: Pedescleaux came off the field and shouted loud enough for everyone on the east side of the field to hear:

WAKE THE F^%# UP!

So whatever the reason, the trip, the presumed quality of the opponent, the crappy field, a player needed to remind his teammates that he would appreciate their effort on the field. Not exactly on topic, but does speak to some of the things that occur during games and within the team.

[jegbomb52]

Re: A question for former players, etc

There are so many dymanics to a team at the college level when there are young men from all walks of life coming together, you see the best, and un-fortunately the worst in people too. Not saying what Everett said was bad, I am okay with it, but people don't realize that fist fights are a weekly occurance, I have seen one in the locker room 10 minutes before kickoff that was broken up by Farley.

[Cat80]

Re: A question for former players, etc

Not bad at all. From what was going on the field, I tended to agree with him. Unfortunately, they didn't take his advice to heart until the third quarter. Thanks for all the 'insider' looks and posts, Jeg. It is appreciated.

[Blue42]

Re: A question for former players, etc

[QUOTE=Cat80;143447]Something from Saturday:

After the defense made a stop in the first half: Pedescleaux came off the field and shouted loud enough for everyone on the east side of the field to hear:

WAKE THE F^%# UP!
QUOTE]

I don't have any problem with this kind of thing. EP was emotionally into the game and telling his teammates he wasn't happy with the effort. He knew how important that game was.

And we all know that sports get raw once they reach the highly competitive level, which college football certainly is. The problem is when that sort of thing happens prematurely, in a pop warner game or little league baseball game.

[Panther-Sheik]

Re: A question for former players, etc

I can tell you that from my experience playing that it was tough as h#!! for me to get nearly as pumped up and ready to play when there was no road crowd. I much prefered a hostile environment and kind of thrived on it. It was an "Oh yeah? Well just wait to see what I do to your guys" attitude. If there was not crowd or a very silent crowd it almost felt like, if they don't take their own team seriously, how can I? Still have to perform, but I can tell you they usually weren't my best games. They call it playing to the level of your competition many times, but there is just a lot of truth to it, unfortunately.

[Cat80]

Re: A question for former players, etc

I can tell you that from my experience playing that it was tough as h#!! for me to get nearly as pumped up and ready to play when there was no road crowd. I much prefered a hostile environment and kind of thrived on it. It was an "Oh yeah? Well just wait to see what I do to your guys" attitude. If there was not crowd or a very silent crowd it almost felt like, if they don't take their own team seriously, how can I? Still have to perform, but I can tell you they usually weren't my best games. They call it playing to the level of your competition many times, but there is just a lot of truth to it, unfortunately.

The SUU box shows 3145 in attendance. Seems about right. The box also states 52 degrees and wind from the North at 3mph. Maybe at kickoff, but by the 2nd quarter there was strong wind from the West that didn't let up all game. I guess there were about 100 UNI fans there. When we made noise at all, it was carried away by the wind.

[Panther-Sheik]

Re: A question for former players, etc

Sorry...I didn't mean no "traveling" crowd...just that if the home team crowd was small or non-existent, it was hard to get too excited. I would have much rather had them booing, cussing etc. at me. That got me much more ready to play and whoop some arse. Hard to want to beat up a team when you almost feel sorry for them, you know.

[bigfridaynite]

Re: A question for former players, etc

All I know is films don't lie and if you're not at game speed you will get your butt kick I don't care if theirs 10 people watching the game.So it's not to hard to get pump up for battle.