First off, anyone disappointed in this season is clueless, as we beat UM for the first time, had a rare win over VT and won all of our toss-up games to get to 7-6 for our first winning record since 2014, against a top 5 schedule, in which we were in every game at least deep into the 3Q and beyond against some very good teams. Getting to a bowl was a success, but winning was the icing on the cake. Congrats to the team, the coachin staff, and of course Coach Schiano. Can't wait for next season. Back to today...
Easy drive in (~50 minutes, leaving at 9 am)with two folks from our crew. The RU party at Billy's was fantastic, with a great buffet and fun entertainment from Backstreets (can't recall their new name), as well as the RU band and cheer/dance teams, plus appearances by Pat Hobbs and Shawn Tucker to get the crowd going. Was nicely crowded at 10 am, but packed by 11 am and a mob scene by noon, but so cool to see a huge venue like that (over 2000 capacity) filled with RU fans. Got to say hi to @AreYouNUTS and a bunch of friends who don't post here but are still big fans, plus the folks I was with had about 8 friends we met up with.
Headed over to the Stadium around 1:30 pm and walked around a bit then to our seats in 231 row 8 at midfield, which was at least decent, especially with my binoculars. The RU crowd was awesome today with turnout and some serious noise, especially on 3rd downs. Seemed like 25-30K RU fans and maybe 2-3K Miami fans and a sprinkling of what I assume were locals. Essentially a home game and what a game!
Great start for RU going up 14-0 on an amazing opening drive and a good 2nd drive after the INT and then UM had that crazy penalty-assisted TD drive and the FG at the end of the half, while we missed a FG and had other drives stalled. Should've been up more than 14-10. Then after the Miami TD drive to open the 3Q, on their next possession came the play of the game with the fantastic punt block for a TD, followed by another grind it out smashmouth drive for a TD in the 4Q. Game was in hand and should've been over at 31-24, except UM got that damned onside kick to make the last 30 seconds a bit scary, but the the D really stepped up at the end.
While the total yards were pretty close (311 for UN to 292 for us), the difference was the two TOs (yes, only 1 official, but that blocked punt should count as a TO). I also thought the game was poorly officiated with a couple of bad calls against us (the roughing looked weak) and the missed hold on a big play by UM in the 2Q. Gavin was Gavin, with not many yards passing, but not many attempts either, as we were able to run well most of the time with Kyle getting 163 yards - so nice to have him back next year and Sam Brown also looked better (apart from the fumble). And the defense was good, not great, but good enough.
Stayed for the post-game ceremony which was nice and Kyle was obviously the MVP. The only annoyances were the really poor cell service - wasn't about to sign up for the stadium "free" service with the proviso that I'd be agreeing to let them send me all kinds of stupid emails and texts - and the lack of replays on the big board. Was a bit of a mess driving back (90 minutes with 20+ of that just going 2 miles to get to 95), but didn't really care after the huge win.
Oh yeah, the weather was about as good as one could ask for in late December: mild, no winds and cloudy, but with no measurable rain - we got a little lucky, as much of NJ got at least measurable rain.
Easy drive in (~50 minutes, leaving at 9 am)with two folks from our crew. The RU party at Billy's was fantastic, with a great buffet and fun entertainment from Backstreets (can't recall their new name), as well as the RU band and cheer/dance teams, plus appearances by Pat Hobbs and Shawn Tucker to get the crowd going. Was nicely crowded at 10 am, but packed by 11 am and a mob scene by noon, but so cool to see a huge venue like that (over 2000 capacity) filled with RU fans. Got to say hi to @AreYouNUTS and a bunch of friends who don't post here but are still big fans, plus the folks I was with had about 8 friends we met up with.
Headed over to the Stadium around 1:30 pm and walked around a bit then to our seats in 231 row 8 at midfield, which was at least decent, especially with my binoculars. The RU crowd was awesome today with turnout and some serious noise, especially on 3rd downs. Seemed like 25-30K RU fans and maybe 2-3K Miami fans and a sprinkling of what I assume were locals. Essentially a home game and what a game!
Great start for RU going up 14-0 on an amazing opening drive and a good 2nd drive after the INT and then UM had that crazy penalty-assisted TD drive and the FG at the end of the half, while we missed a FG and had other drives stalled. Should've been up more than 14-10. Then after the Miami TD drive to open the 3Q, on their next possession came the play of the game with the fantastic punt block for a TD, followed by another grind it out smashmouth drive for a TD in the 4Q. Game was in hand and should've been over at 31-24, except UM got that damned onside kick to make the last 30 seconds a bit scary, but the the D really stepped up at the end.
While the total yards were pretty close (311 for UN to 292 for us), the difference was the two TOs (yes, only 1 official, but that blocked punt should count as a TO). I also thought the game was poorly officiated with a couple of bad calls against us (the roughing looked weak) and the missed hold on a big play by UM in the 2Q. Gavin was Gavin, with not many yards passing, but not many attempts either, as we were able to run well most of the time with Kyle getting 163 yards - so nice to have him back next year and Sam Brown also looked better (apart from the fumble). And the defense was good, not great, but good enough.
Stayed for the post-game ceremony which was nice and Kyle was obviously the MVP. The only annoyances were the really poor cell service - wasn't about to sign up for the stadium "free" service with the proviso that I'd be agreeing to let them send me all kinds of stupid emails and texts - and the lack of replays on the big board. Was a bit of a mess driving back (90 minutes with 20+ of that just going 2 miles to get to 95), but didn't really care after the huge win.
Oh yeah, the weather was about as good as one could ask for in late December: mild, no winds and cloudy, but with no measurable rain - we got a little lucky, as much of NJ got at least measurable rain.
