sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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Still really tired so this will be an abridged version of what could have been.
Got to Sin City on Thursday. Immediately picked up storange and we played Chimera. In 104 degree heat. Not ideal when you have to wake up at 3:20 to make your flight. We survived and I learned more about dehydration and signs of heat stroke.
We checked it Fremont St Friday morning. That big iconic sign of the cowboy is there, and the Golden Nugget. Pretty cool area but the people all look like they came from the State Fair. Lots of tattoos and exposed pot belly midriffs. And a bunch of girls dressed up in ‘sexy’ costumes who try and get you to pose for photos with them. Much like the Times Square situation. Not my favorite place but if you are in Vegas and pine for the State Fair midway experience, check it out.
I am staying at the IHG Desert Club Resort. Nice place. Close to the Sphere and the big Ferris wheel. It is close to the north end of the strip and a long way from Mandalay Bay and Alliegiant Stadium. I didn’t want to pay $50 to park there and saw there was a monorail to MGM from Harrah’s so I decided to get to the stadium and the tailgate that way. It looked like 2 short blocks to the monorail but in Vegas, walking anywhere is not easy. Had to watch around a giant building, then had to walk around and try and find how to get to the monorail. Some doorman guy at Harrah’s saw my struggles and waved me over. Confirmed I was trying to get to the monorail and gave me instructions. A couple of blocks of walking and I was on an evalator, then up a staircase, then finally got there. Already had tickets. Figured out where I had to go to head south and after a 10 minute wait I was headed for MGM. Keep in mind it was 104 degrees out, give or take a couple. I was already tired and messed up from being in that strong sun so long the day before. Realized I had made a bad mistake. Ubering or driving would have been smarter.
Got off at MGM. My plan was to walk to the Luxor and take their shuttle thing to Mandalay Bay and walk to Allegiant from there. It looked like a walk of a couple of blocks. But again, Vegas is not built for walkers. Had a hard time even finding out which direction was towards the Luxor from MGM (which is giant). Eventually got going and after a long loop, got on a pedestrian bridge and found myself at Mandalay Bay. From there, there is access to a bridge that goes over an interstate highway, and then the lot where the tailgate was located was nearby. Props to Cuseregular for waiting for me with his friend Paulie. After a half mile walk with a furnace like win blowing in our faces, we arrived at the tailgate.
Props to everyone involved with it. TexanMark was the mastermind. He has done many away tailgates over the years, but I am pretty sure this was his biggest logistical nightmare. Not many locals to help. First time for the ones who would help. Adam brought his Blackstone and that made it possible to cook a lot of Hofmann dogs and coneys. I think VTAaron brought them from CNY in his luggage. That is tailgate dedication. It was super hot at the tailgate. Someone bought a canopy and this surely saved lives. Props to whoever came up with them. There was a ton of water, soda and adult beverages and we needed all of it to stay alive and be in decent shape for the coming battle. Again, props to all the heros who made this happen.
I met a bunch of people I see every 5 years or so. Met some people I have never met before. It was an eclectic group of SU fans and it was great to see everyone. I don’t have the time or memory to document everyone but again, it was great to see old and new friends.
I think everyone or almost everyone at the tailgate was in club seating (C132 or C133 from what I could see). Allegiant is an almost new stadium and is really nice. The club area was awesome and ideal for Syracuse fans as it seemed to be a series of bars scattered throughout the club area. There were a couple of places you could get food too but that was of little interest for SU fans. The one food station I saw had some fancy bowls with meat and rice (I think). Prices were reasonable. PEople were impressed that the beer prices were less than at JMA. Met more people I have not seen in years inside. After a time, we headed for our seats in the stadium proper and prepared for war.
Allegiant is really nice. The seats were all black, with a Raider logo thing stamped on them. Cushy and very comfortable. Leg room was good. A little better than the 300 level at JMA. As mentioned in another post, their Wi-Fi was faster than the Wi-Fi at JMA. The cell service was 5G at both and performance appeared to be similar to JMA. No surprise as JMA seems to be doing all the cell service networks for new NFL stadia these days.
The sound system was decent but not great. Maybe a little better than at JMA. No center hung scoreboard. They had a couple big ones in end zone corners. They were nice and had very good resolution. But I missed the center hung. It is so nice to have the replays right in front of you. Surprised they cheaped out on this at Allegiant. The concourses were wide and comfortable and there was vastly more open space at Allegiant than at the dome. Hopefully MVC will address some of this.
Crowd was about 30K. No one in the 2 upper decks. But the lower deck was almost full and most of the private boxes were in use. The Syracuse sideline was dominated by Syracuse fans. I was in the middle of it and this was not ideal for estimates, but I think 80-90% of the crowd on this side of the field was in orange.
The end ones and the other sideline were dominated by UNLV fans, though there were some SU fans sprinkled in here and there. Great showing for a team almost 3000 miles away. Mayne more than 3000 miles. Guessing we had 10-12K and they had the rest.
The UNLV fans were quiet and very laid back, at least for the most part. I had a hard time identifying where the student section was, which should never happen. Eventually decided they wee probably in the end zone near their band. They didn’t stand much, didn’t make much noise and they seemed really docile and well behaved. Very weird. Props by the way for the UNLV band, which was big (12 tubas), and sounded great. Nice arrangements. Their dance team, which was co-ed, was really well choreographed and the kids were all good dancers. I suspect some are headed for dancing jobs with the local casinos.
They had a local host and he tried to hype their lame crowd to little success. They did some of the some stuff we do. Guess as many types of candy in 30 seconds and them see how a UNLV player did at the same task.. The band was rarely allowed to play songs but they amplified the bass drum and some other instruments and played that as SU was trying to get plays in and get lined up very play. Sometimes they played until SU snapped the ball. If you have a lame fan base, I guess you have to do desperate things to try and get a home field advantage.
I think the UNLV fans were shocked by how loud the Syracuse fans were and some got upset about it. They tried to counter our cheers but they were too weak to match us. We got in their hands in a major way and it was hilarious to watch. Props to all the Syracuse fans who came and shouted their lungs out. I saw our players looking into the Syracuse sections early in the game as they heard us getting UNLV in trouble getting plays off when they were on offense. They loved it.
Let’s talk about the game. SU got off to a great start. Stopped UNLV and scored. Stopped UNLV and scored. It looked like it might be a blowout.
But our special teams issues reared up in a big way. A number of times. If anything, we seem to be getting worse at everything. We can’t get down the field on coverage. We can’t block on punt attempts. We even struggle to kick off in bounds. Denaberg remained benched kicking PATs and FGs and Oh did a good job in his place. Stonehouse did kick one bomb but he is being very deliberate punting the ball and you can’t do that with our issues blocking on punts. Coach Brown yelled at the special teams coach after the second block right on the sideline. I am not sure what Vollono (or whatever his name is) is thinking but he better start to fix the massive issues with his units or he is going to be unemployed shortly.
We did some rollouts to presumably buy Kyle more time on passing plays. Overall, I think the OL did a good job pass blocking. Spoon let a guy run by him early and actually pushed him into McCord, which was ghastly, but overall, they were much improved. I think UNLV does not have a good DL and pass rushing is not their thing but overall, McCord had time.
That said, I think we were reluctant to all long developing pass plays (long passes) because of protection concerns. We throw to the flat to LeQuint a lot and did a lot of short passes to the WRs as well. We did this all game and UNLV struggled for a while but eventually started anticipating our routes and breaking up passes.
In general our outside WRs again had a hard time getting open. Looked like UNLV had a couple good CBs and they played press coverage most of the game. We need to take advantage of this better. The only guy who beat it consistently was again Meeks. But even he dropped the first couple of balls thrown his way (hard catches). He made up for this later.
Most of our success was over the middle , attacking that area of the field with OG and Pena. OG in particular seemed to be open all the time and he made a number of big plays to get us out of big holes. Very strong game for #19.
Thought McCord was good. He made some great throws, showed a lot of patience and touch and again, even made a couple big plays with his feet. But he has to be more responsible with the ball. Particularly near the red zone, where it seems he is more interception prone. Overall though I thought he was very good.
The defense was wildly uneven. They shut down the UNLV rushing attack and about the only yards they got runnig were on broken plays where their little QB ran for big yards. We eventually had a guy spying that kept him from rolling outside the pocket and running for big yards and that adjustment helped a lot. Their big TE made some nice plays and they had a couple good WRs we had issues covering. Tough day for Lewis. Thought Bellamy made a bunch of nice plays. He appears to be emerging right now as our best CB.
King Edward got his first start (I think), made some plays early and then disappeared. Did he get hurt? We still struggle to get a good pass rush. Watson keeps impressing me. That guy is a man already as a true frosh.
Coach Brown talks a lot about adversity. And how to handle it. Was interested to see how the team would react to extreme adversity down 7 late against a top 25 team on the road. Well, their reaction to it was a very good reaction. Even if number 7 dropped that pick. And could not hold on to the wildcat that is LeQuint Allen.
Woodard was terrific most of the game. He made so many plays for the Rebels. Catalon (I think that is right) was also great. Those two can play for anyone. Even if Woodard is a massive abuser of steroids. Not saying he is but also not saying he is not.
The tailgate group all sat together. It was awesome sharing this special day with a bunch of fellow Syracuse nuts. Love all of you. Especially my main man, Big Mark.
WAR DAMN OTTO! LET’s GO!!!!!
Got to Sin City on Thursday. Immediately picked up storange and we played Chimera. In 104 degree heat. Not ideal when you have to wake up at 3:20 to make your flight. We survived and I learned more about dehydration and signs of heat stroke.
We checked it Fremont St Friday morning. That big iconic sign of the cowboy is there, and the Golden Nugget. Pretty cool area but the people all look like they came from the State Fair. Lots of tattoos and exposed pot belly midriffs. And a bunch of girls dressed up in ‘sexy’ costumes who try and get you to pose for photos with them. Much like the Times Square situation. Not my favorite place but if you are in Vegas and pine for the State Fair midway experience, check it out.
I am staying at the IHG Desert Club Resort. Nice place. Close to the Sphere and the big Ferris wheel. It is close to the north end of the strip and a long way from Mandalay Bay and Alliegiant Stadium. I didn’t want to pay $50 to park there and saw there was a monorail to MGM from Harrah’s so I decided to get to the stadium and the tailgate that way. It looked like 2 short blocks to the monorail but in Vegas, walking anywhere is not easy. Had to watch around a giant building, then had to walk around and try and find how to get to the monorail. Some doorman guy at Harrah’s saw my struggles and waved me over. Confirmed I was trying to get to the monorail and gave me instructions. A couple of blocks of walking and I was on an evalator, then up a staircase, then finally got there. Already had tickets. Figured out where I had to go to head south and after a 10 minute wait I was headed for MGM. Keep in mind it was 104 degrees out, give or take a couple. I was already tired and messed up from being in that strong sun so long the day before. Realized I had made a bad mistake. Ubering or driving would have been smarter.
Got off at MGM. My plan was to walk to the Luxor and take their shuttle thing to Mandalay Bay and walk to Allegiant from there. It looked like a walk of a couple of blocks. But again, Vegas is not built for walkers. Had a hard time even finding out which direction was towards the Luxor from MGM (which is giant). Eventually got going and after a long loop, got on a pedestrian bridge and found myself at Mandalay Bay. From there, there is access to a bridge that goes over an interstate highway, and then the lot where the tailgate was located was nearby. Props to Cuseregular for waiting for me with his friend Paulie. After a half mile walk with a furnace like win blowing in our faces, we arrived at the tailgate.
Props to everyone involved with it. TexanMark was the mastermind. He has done many away tailgates over the years, but I am pretty sure this was his biggest logistical nightmare. Not many locals to help. First time for the ones who would help. Adam brought his Blackstone and that made it possible to cook a lot of Hofmann dogs and coneys. I think VTAaron brought them from CNY in his luggage. That is tailgate dedication. It was super hot at the tailgate. Someone bought a canopy and this surely saved lives. Props to whoever came up with them. There was a ton of water, soda and adult beverages and we needed all of it to stay alive and be in decent shape for the coming battle. Again, props to all the heros who made this happen.
I met a bunch of people I see every 5 years or so. Met some people I have never met before. It was an eclectic group of SU fans and it was great to see everyone. I don’t have the time or memory to document everyone but again, it was great to see old and new friends.
I think everyone or almost everyone at the tailgate was in club seating (C132 or C133 from what I could see). Allegiant is an almost new stadium and is really nice. The club area was awesome and ideal for Syracuse fans as it seemed to be a series of bars scattered throughout the club area. There were a couple of places you could get food too but that was of little interest for SU fans. The one food station I saw had some fancy bowls with meat and rice (I think). Prices were reasonable. PEople were impressed that the beer prices were less than at JMA. Met more people I have not seen in years inside. After a time, we headed for our seats in the stadium proper and prepared for war.
Allegiant is really nice. The seats were all black, with a Raider logo thing stamped on them. Cushy and very comfortable. Leg room was good. A little better than the 300 level at JMA. As mentioned in another post, their Wi-Fi was faster than the Wi-Fi at JMA. The cell service was 5G at both and performance appeared to be similar to JMA. No surprise as JMA seems to be doing all the cell service networks for new NFL stadia these days.
The sound system was decent but not great. Maybe a little better than at JMA. No center hung scoreboard. They had a couple big ones in end zone corners. They were nice and had very good resolution. But I missed the center hung. It is so nice to have the replays right in front of you. Surprised they cheaped out on this at Allegiant. The concourses were wide and comfortable and there was vastly more open space at Allegiant than at the dome. Hopefully MVC will address some of this.
Crowd was about 30K. No one in the 2 upper decks. But the lower deck was almost full and most of the private boxes were in use. The Syracuse sideline was dominated by Syracuse fans. I was in the middle of it and this was not ideal for estimates, but I think 80-90% of the crowd on this side of the field was in orange.
The end ones and the other sideline were dominated by UNLV fans, though there were some SU fans sprinkled in here and there. Great showing for a team almost 3000 miles away. Mayne more than 3000 miles. Guessing we had 10-12K and they had the rest.
The UNLV fans were quiet and very laid back, at least for the most part. I had a hard time identifying where the student section was, which should never happen. Eventually decided they wee probably in the end zone near their band. They didn’t stand much, didn’t make much noise and they seemed really docile and well behaved. Very weird. Props by the way for the UNLV band, which was big (12 tubas), and sounded great. Nice arrangements. Their dance team, which was co-ed, was really well choreographed and the kids were all good dancers. I suspect some are headed for dancing jobs with the local casinos.
They had a local host and he tried to hype their lame crowd to little success. They did some of the some stuff we do. Guess as many types of candy in 30 seconds and them see how a UNLV player did at the same task.. The band was rarely allowed to play songs but they amplified the bass drum and some other instruments and played that as SU was trying to get plays in and get lined up very play. Sometimes they played until SU snapped the ball. If you have a lame fan base, I guess you have to do desperate things to try and get a home field advantage.
I think the UNLV fans were shocked by how loud the Syracuse fans were and some got upset about it. They tried to counter our cheers but they were too weak to match us. We got in their hands in a major way and it was hilarious to watch. Props to all the Syracuse fans who came and shouted their lungs out. I saw our players looking into the Syracuse sections early in the game as they heard us getting UNLV in trouble getting plays off when they were on offense. They loved it.
Let’s talk about the game. SU got off to a great start. Stopped UNLV and scored. Stopped UNLV and scored. It looked like it might be a blowout.
But our special teams issues reared up in a big way. A number of times. If anything, we seem to be getting worse at everything. We can’t get down the field on coverage. We can’t block on punt attempts. We even struggle to kick off in bounds. Denaberg remained benched kicking PATs and FGs and Oh did a good job in his place. Stonehouse did kick one bomb but he is being very deliberate punting the ball and you can’t do that with our issues blocking on punts. Coach Brown yelled at the special teams coach after the second block right on the sideline. I am not sure what Vollono (or whatever his name is) is thinking but he better start to fix the massive issues with his units or he is going to be unemployed shortly.
We did some rollouts to presumably buy Kyle more time on passing plays. Overall, I think the OL did a good job pass blocking. Spoon let a guy run by him early and actually pushed him into McCord, which was ghastly, but overall, they were much improved. I think UNLV does not have a good DL and pass rushing is not their thing but overall, McCord had time.
That said, I think we were reluctant to all long developing pass plays (long passes) because of protection concerns. We throw to the flat to LeQuint a lot and did a lot of short passes to the WRs as well. We did this all game and UNLV struggled for a while but eventually started anticipating our routes and breaking up passes.
In general our outside WRs again had a hard time getting open. Looked like UNLV had a couple good CBs and they played press coverage most of the game. We need to take advantage of this better. The only guy who beat it consistently was again Meeks. But even he dropped the first couple of balls thrown his way (hard catches). He made up for this later.
Most of our success was over the middle , attacking that area of the field with OG and Pena. OG in particular seemed to be open all the time and he made a number of big plays to get us out of big holes. Very strong game for #19.
Thought McCord was good. He made some great throws, showed a lot of patience and touch and again, even made a couple big plays with his feet. But he has to be more responsible with the ball. Particularly near the red zone, where it seems he is more interception prone. Overall though I thought he was very good.
The defense was wildly uneven. They shut down the UNLV rushing attack and about the only yards they got runnig were on broken plays where their little QB ran for big yards. We eventually had a guy spying that kept him from rolling outside the pocket and running for big yards and that adjustment helped a lot. Their big TE made some nice plays and they had a couple good WRs we had issues covering. Tough day for Lewis. Thought Bellamy made a bunch of nice plays. He appears to be emerging right now as our best CB.
King Edward got his first start (I think), made some plays early and then disappeared. Did he get hurt? We still struggle to get a good pass rush. Watson keeps impressing me. That guy is a man already as a true frosh.
Coach Brown talks a lot about adversity. And how to handle it. Was interested to see how the team would react to extreme adversity down 7 late against a top 25 team on the road. Well, their reaction to it was a very good reaction. Even if number 7 dropped that pick. And could not hold on to the wildcat that is LeQuint Allen.
Woodard was terrific most of the game. He made so many plays for the Rebels. Catalon (I think that is right) was also great. Those two can play for anyone. Even if Woodard is a massive abuser of steroids. Not saying he is but also not saying he is not.
The tailgate group all sat together. It was awesome sharing this special day with a bunch of fellow Syracuse nuts. Love all of you. Especially my main man, Big Mark.
WAR DAMN OTTO! LET’s GO!!!!!
