MGoHindsight - UConn as the first game in the new Big House
September 8th, 2010 at 9:08 PM ^
I'm not too sure that the opponent mattered much. As long as the game was memorable for one reason or another, then the opponent was a good one.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:08 PM ^
I'm happy with it. There was originally concern that UConn wouldn't be enough of a "name" opponent, but by the time the game happened they came in with a fair amount of hype. It worked out well. A vast improvement over the original plan (UMass).
September 8th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^
Excellent choice from the start, in my opinion. Not a cupcake by any means but also not a team that would be able to come in and potentially win by a large margin.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^
Personally I think they were an excellent choice and still do. The game was more competitive than it may have seemed - they were a fumble away from 24-17 late in the 3rd quarter. They played hard and brought a great looking band.
We are also developing something of a rivalry with them in hoops - good fit IMO.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:11 PM ^
I thought it was a very dumb decision, to be honest. In hindsight, it was fuggen bad ace.
September 9th, 2010 at 10:58 AM ^
What the hell happened to you? I must have missed something.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:14 PM ^
Im glad it wasn't boise like what was rumored
September 8th, 2010 at 9:18 PM ^
A couple thoughts on that...first, VaTech will be shown to be horribly over rated by seasons end and second, this offense causes anybody a lot of trouble. If it had been Boise I don't see the result being much different except we win by ten rather than twenty. Raback that.
As far as first games go, I would have preferred a better match up OOC...and with the years involved I was surprised they couldn't bring in a decent SEC or PAC 10 team.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:05 PM ^
You mean, kind of like how Oregon's offense caused them lots of trouble?
September 9th, 2010 at 9:18 AM ^
Mmmmm, Canadian Beer....
September 9th, 2010 at 10:14 AM ^
While I'm not as convinced as our friend from Canada that the outcome would have been the same, he actually was talking about margin of victory, not that we would hold Boise to only 20:
except we win by ten rather than twenty
Personally, I think the QB from Boise would've carved up our secondary and the pitchforks would be on RR's tail after we lost our home opener.
September 9th, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^
But I'm not sure I find the idea that we'd score 40 on them (or something in between...35-25) any more realistic than holding them to 20.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:16 PM ^
Its nice that there was a convincing win, but a higher profile team would have been preferable. Something should have been worked out to swap home game years with ND.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:20 PM ^
Solid decision in my epinion. It's like picking a date to the prom. You don't want to bring the hottest date,Florida or Alabama, because they may leave you heart broken and with blue balls. You also don't want to show up with a fat chick, UMass or Bowling Green, because yeah you fucked her but you certainly can't tell anyone about it. Finally you can bring the decently hot chick who likes to party, UConn, hot enough to pull off the dress she's wearing but could get drunk enough she might take it off.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:25 PM ^
Better that App State. Looking forward to seeing Michigan come out east for the second half of the series.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:46 PM ^
September 8th, 2010 at 9:52 PM ^
I'm just glad that I had the TV on mute. I'm sure the announcers played the "team and stadium both under construction" meme to death.
September 8th, 2010 at 9:58 PM ^
If Brent Musberger had called the game, that would have been a given. Fortunately it was McDonough. I don't think it came up.
September 8th, 2010 at 10:27 PM ^
I think it pushed the "good but not totally terrifying" meter very well. The game felt like it had a lot at stake but it's not like we were playing Texas or someone who I was absolutely terrified of.
Much better than UMass.
September 8th, 2010 at 11:09 PM ^
BCS Conference school was the way to go. Getting an above average team coming off an 8-5 season and a bowl win, with off-season buzz as a top-25 contender was a big bonus.
September 8th, 2010 at 11:31 PM ^
The bad part about the UConn game is that UM will have to play a game in the 40,000 seat UConn stadium. What are the chances they move that game to an NFL stadium near by?
September 8th, 2010 at 11:43 PM ^
My guess is that they want to make sure it's played in the state of Connecticut (and I can't blame them). That rules out NFL stadiums. The Yale Bowl in New Haven might be a possibility though - I think it holds like 60-70K.
September 9th, 2010 at 10:15 AM ^
That there is some talk about us getting out of the return game.