Rice Postgame

Charlotte 49er Football 🏈
81

[quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”]My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.[/quote]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.[/quote]

This team is 8 and 15 at home with the wins being against Campbell (non-scholarship), Chowan (D2), Garner Webb (FCS), J.C. Smith (D2), Wesley (D3), Morehead St. (non-scholarship), Presbyterian (FCS), and Elon (FCS). The product has been poor and you are wondering why the stands aren’t packed? I’m there every game but until this team can prove it can win 15,000+ people aren’t going to shell out money and time to come to games.

82

He also didn’t fair catch later in the game and should have been crushed. The whole section around me was wondering why he didn’t fair catch. If the coaches really don’t like the fair catch they are nuts. [/quote]

I agree with the above. Sweariad has said, while calling a game earlier in the season, the coaches have “a philosophy of not calling fair catches”, that’s just plain asinine. I completely believe Nate Mullens got chewed out at halftime for calling fair catches and was told not to call any in the 2nd half.

That’s true, but his words were “probably should have maybe” called a fair catch, seemed rather dismissive of the idea to me. The way he mentioned the “that’s what you sign up for” thing has planted the seed of a conspiracy theory in my head: Duke is no longer returning punts because he refused to go along with the “no fair catch” philosophy. That’s just my theory however.

This “no fair catch” thing is starting to become like a “bubble screen” thing for me; it’s not a HUGE issue in the big picture, but the fact that we’re doing it is infuriating to me, and I’d like to see it gone.[/quote]

Yes, the “probably should have” says to me that you are only considering that option because looking back on it, something bad happened. That’s ridiculous! You should be teaching your guys that if you are running blindly up to the ball, into coverage, you should fair catch. Especially considering the game situation.

83

[quote=“JaMiNNiNeR, post:81, topic:30622”][quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”]My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.[/quote]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.[/quote]

This team is 8 and 15 at home with the wins being against Campbell (non-scholarship), Chowan (D2), Garner Webb (FCS), J.C. Smith (D2), Wesley (D3), Morehead St. (non-scholarship), Presbyterian (FCS), and Elon (FCS). The product has been poor and you are wondering why the stands aren’t packed? I’m there every game but until this team can prove it can win 15,000+ people aren’t going to shell out money and time to come to games.[/quote]

The team was coming off the 2 biggest wins in program history, had won 3 of the last 4 conference games, and we couldn’t fill the smallest stadium in FBS football. That is a problem. Especially with a potential bowl bid on the line.

84

[quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:83, topic:30622”][quote=“JaMiNNiNeR, post:81, topic:30622”][quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”]My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.[/quote]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.[/quote]

This team is 8 and 15 at home with the wins being against Campbell (non-scholarship), Chowan (D2), Garner Webb (FCS), J.C. Smith (D2), Wesley (D3), Morehead St. (non-scholarship), Presbyterian (FCS), and Elon (FCS). The product has been poor and you are wondering why the stands aren’t packed? I’m there every game but until this team can prove it can win 15,000+ people aren’t going to shell out money and time to come to games.[/quote]

The team was coming off the 2 biggest wins in program history, had won 3 of the last 4 conference games, and we couldn’t fill the smallest stadium in FBS football. That is a problem. Especially with a potential bowl bid on the line.[/quote]

This falls on the AD.

We don’t reach out to the community, we don’t market the program and we don’t build excitement around games. If you don’t live in the university area or are not a die hard fan, its difficult to be aware of the programs existence, let alone what games mean.

Throw in how sloppy our game day presentation is and this is what you get. A uninterested empty stadium. Would winning help? Sure, but its not the end all be all.

85

[quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”]My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.[/quote]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.[/quote]

I agree with this sentiment. On this board we often forget that most of the fan base is not like us. We go out of our way to watch a grainy pirated feed of every game we can. Others at most read box scores. Also most of our “others” have been following the SEC or ACC for their entire lives. As big a deal as it is to us when we beat Southern Miss and Marshall, I have the sneaking suspicion it does not move the needle for many of our PSL holders. While we do have many big time fans that are not a part of this board, one can look around the stadium and see who is truly tuned in.

As much as I hate it, we are in a position in which we need to win a solid number of games in the very near future. And preferably early in the season. If football falls on it’s face, I’d hate to see what that does to our University. The “FCS players” excuse is expiring very soon.

86

[quote=“ImfromClayton, post:85, topic:30622”][quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”]My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.[/quote]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.[/quote]

I agree with this sentiment. On this board we often forget that most of the fan base is not like us. We go out of our way to watch a grainy pirated feed of every game we can. Others at most read box scores. Also most of our “others” have been following the SEC or ACC for their entire lives. As big a deal as it is to us when we beat Southern Miss and Marshall, I have the sneaking suspicion it does not move the needle for many of our PSL holders. While we do have many big time fans that are not a part of this board, one can look around the stadium and see who is truly tuned in.

As much as I hate it, we are in a position in which we need to win a solid number of games in the very near future. And preferably early in the season. If football falls on it’s face, I’d hate to see what that does to our University. The “FCS players” excuse is expiring very soon.[/quote]

There are TON of D1 football programs with support less than ours…they also do it in larger stadiums.

Growing to 30K plus students in one of the top 20 largest cities in the country…football will hang around. FBS vs FCS doesn’t matter…so might as well stay at FBS. The support will be what the majority of the country’s D1 football support is.

Unless we join a bigger conference and/or start winning at a big time clip.

87

[quote=“ImfromClayton, post:85, topic:30622”][quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”]My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.[/quote]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.[/quote]

I agree with this sentiment. On this board we often forget that most of the fan base is not like us. We go out of our way to watch a grainy pirated feed of every game we can. Others at most read box scores. Also most of our “others” have been following the SEC or ACC for their entire lives. As big a deal as it is to us when we beat Southern Miss and Marshall, I have the sneaking suspicion it does not move the needle for many of our PSL holders. While we do have many big time fans that are not a part of this board, one can look around the stadium and see who is truly tuned in.

As much as I hate it, we are in a position in which we need to win a solid number of games in the very near future. And preferably early in the season. If football falls on it’s face, I’d hate to see what that does to our University. The “FCS players” excuse is expiring very soon.[/quote]

There are TON of D1 football programs with support less than ours…they just do it in larger stadiums.

Growing to 30K plus students in one of the top 20 largest cities in the country…football will hang around. FBS vs FCS doesn’t matter…so might as well stay at FBS. The support will be what the majority of the country’s D1 football support is. Which is average most of the time…better when the team is better and worse when the team is worse. But like most schools…it will be a money loser not a money maker. That’s just what it is and ultimately what the Administration knew they had signed up for.

Unless we join a bigger conference and/or start winning at a big time clip.

88

[quote=“TRLeader, post:87, topic:30622”][quote=“ImfromClayton, post:85, topic:30622”][quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”]My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.[/quote]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.[/quote]

I agree with this sentiment. On this board we often forget that most of the fan base is not like us. We go out of our way to watch a grainy pirated feed of every game we can. Others at most read box scores. Also most of our “others” have been following the SEC or ACC for their entire lives. As big a deal as it is to us when we beat Southern Miss and Marshall, I have the sneaking suspicion it does not move the needle for many of our PSL holders. While we do have many big time fans that are not a part of this board, one can look around the stadium and see who is truly tuned in.

As much as I hate it, we are in a position in which we need to win a solid number of games in the very near future. And preferably early in the season. If football falls on it’s face, I’d hate to see what that does to our University. The “FCS players” excuse is expiring very soon.[/quote]

There are TON of D1 football programs with support less than ours…they just do it in larger stadiums.

Growing to 30K plus students in one of the top 20 largest cities in the country…football will hang around. FBS vs FCS doesn’t matter…so might as well stay at FBS. The support will be what the majority of the country’s D1 football support is. Which is average most of the time…better when the team is better and worse when the team is worse. But like most schools…it will be a money loser not a money maker. That’s just what it is and ultimately what the Administration knew they had signed up for.

Unless we join a bigger conference and/or start winning at a big time clip.[/quote]

An AD that had half a clue with how to market would help.

Keep in mind everything we are getting we are doing it with one hand behind our back.

89

clt saw a unc-raleigh billboard on 85 south. less than 10 miles from our stadium.

90

[quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”][size=1em]
My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.
[/size][/quote][size=1em]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.
[/size][/quote]
[size=1em]I honestly wonder this as well. For me, the games just weren’t fun. I loved Charlotte and enjoy football but our games were boring. There is nothing I go to expect except to give up 3rd downs and go 3 and out half the drives. Outside of that it was terrible sound/video production and event that was way more expensive than the benefit of going.[/size]

[size=1em]What’s telling is the post game comments here can be summed up as “SSDD”. Nobody is surprised anymore. But that didn’t occur 2 days ago. That’s the epic pile of shit that this entire program has become over the last decade.[/size]

[size=1em]I traveled from 4 hours away to go to these games so I don’t go to all of them. [font=verdana]The last win I saw at home was Morehead state on November 22 2014. Before that it was Gardner Webb on October 5, 2013. We can talk about coming off 2 wins, but nobody knew that outside this board. Any limited promotion of this program is drowned out with the equal coverage of women’s soccer. When all programs are important, no programs are important.[/font][/size]

91

The overwhelming majority of G5 programs can question fan support right now. Football has brought thousands of people on campus on weekends that would never think about coming back. Even the students that go to the tailgate and don’t go to the game are building a deeper connection with the school than many of the students that came before them.

92

I heard several commercials for the Newberry game on Pandora, none for the biggest football game in our history. Someone mentioned the ticket office was surprised they were getting so many requests for tickets for Rice, why was that? This was a big game. If a large portion of our fan base are casual fans it’s even more important to get the word out when a game like this is happening.

How many additional tickets would have been sold if half those Newberry commercials instead talked about how our football team was coming home after victories over Marshall and Southern Miss and was trying to get on the verge of a bowl berth?

93

[quote=“chidave, post:92, topic:30622”]I heard several commercials for the Newberry game on Pandora, none for the biggest football game in our history. Someone mentioned the ticket office was surprised they were getting so many requests for tickets for Rice, why was that? This was a big game. If a large portion of our fan base are casual fans it’s even more important to get the word out when a game like this is happening.

How many additional tickets would have been sold if half those Newberry commercials instead talked about how our football team was coming home after victories over Marshall and Southern Miss and was trying to get on the verge of a bowl berth?[/quote]

And this is the reason why the phrase winning solves everything doesn’t fit. We have to win and then the AD HAS to take advantage of it.

94

[quote=“ninerID, post:90, topic:30622”][quote=“Mr. Bojangles, post:79, topic:30622”][quote=“NinerWupAss, post:72, topic:30622”][size=1em]
My take -

Crowd was piss poor - considering the importance of the game I was very disappointed in the crowd. The AD did an awful job of promoting, but that is nothing new.

Our AD though? Not having the stadium full is 100% on them.
[/size][/quote][size=1em]

The piss poor crowd has me almost wondering if football will survive here. Even the folks that were there, were not even engaged in the game. The whole atmosphere was terrible IMO.
[/size][/quote]
[size=1em]I honestly wonder this as well. For me, the games just weren’t fun. I loved Charlotte and enjoy football but our games were boring. There is nothing I go to expect except to give up 3rd downs and go 3 and out half the drives. Outside of that it was terrible sound/video production and event that was way more expensive than the benefit of going.[/size]

[size=1em]What’s telling is the post game comments here can be summed up as “SSDD”. Nobody is surprised anymore. But that didn’t occur 2 days ago. That’s the epic pile of s*** that this entire program has become over the last decade.[/size]

[size=1em]I traveled from 4 hours away to go to these games so I don’t go to all of them. [font=verdana]The last win I saw at home was Morehead state on November 22 2014. Before that it was Gardner Webb on October 5, 2013. We can talk about coming off 2 wins, but nobody knew that outside this board. Any limited promotion of this program is drowned out with the equal coverage of women’s soccer. When all programs are important, no programs are important.[/font][/size][/quote]

I completely agree we were up 21-0 and to me the crowd just felt dead and lifeless. I was sitting in the GA section so I’m sure that did not help. I have never heard a quality back and forth 49ers chant from the student side to the alumni side. Also, the “its 3-Down niner nation get on your feet!” video is way over played at every game.

It’s pretty sad when I have to explain it to my friends how important this game was. But I think that most of my friends are representative of the general football fan at Charlotte and of recent alumni. As others have stated that also falls on the Athletic Department, if they market it as an important game then the “average” fan will start learn more and understand what is at stake. But I think I saw one instagram post two days before the game? Coming off wins against Marshall and USM this game should have been sold out.

95

^That was my second thought, while attending the game. Is that there is never any coordination of the 49er chant. A simple graphic on the big screen with an arrow that points to the student side “forty” and the another arrow point to the alum side “niner”. Just like the Panthers do with “Keep Pounding”. It gets everyone on the same page and with everyone doing in unison, sounds awesome. Small, simple things like that is an easy fix, but just is not executed here.

96

They do this.

It still falls flat.

97

The AD markets and produces football like they do not want it to succeed. Plain and simple.

98

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic…but we do that.

I saw it last game…but it was done at a weird time…the cheerleaders didn’t notice it either. It flashed Forty with a left arrow and Niners with a right arrow several times. No one noticed it. It didn’t last long.

The few games it worked was when the cheerleaders started it and the graphic followed their lead.

Just flashing up at an odd time certainly got no one’s attention.

99

I haven’t left a football game that depressed since we lost to DIII Wesley in 2013. :-[ Even then, that was our first season and you could chalk it up to depth/growing pains. So many things went wrong against Rice, but we never should have let that one get away. The frustrating part, as other have referenced, was the simplicity of Rice’s play calling that did us in. Bubble screen left, bubble screen right, read option to the RB, or read option QB keeper around the end. That was the essence of their game plan. As bad as our offense was, I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t stop their offense. They outgained us by 170 yards, and their QB out rushes Khalif with the same number of carries. :-\

As for the attendance, I wondered myself in the 1st quarter why there were so many empties. I know many tickets were donated for military service men and women. Did some/many of those go unused? Not suggesting that we should not do that in the future, but was just curious if that contributed to some of the absence of fans.

100

I noticed that while driving in to Charlotte for the game. Has it been there all season?