It was a weird environment last Saturday for sure. In the fourth quarter on MTSU last third down I was the only one standing and clapping in my section. People left before our last drive too. It feels like most people are treating this season as a chore. This is my fifth year having seasons and it seems like the least interested the fan base has been in that time span. It's still early though need to win Sat and then beat Pitt in a few weeks. Go Orange.
This is my first time having season tickets since the year we lost to Akron at the Dome. It is also my first time coming regularly with my two fairly young boys (4 & 7) in tow. I have no complaints about costs, parking, the Dome, or anything else that most folks seem to harp upon. The lack of wifi for the first game was annoying, but not something that ruined the experience in any way. I have really enjoyed how the band has been featured more (need to get them some mics for the half-time performance).
But, I will say that I found each of the games to be draining slogs. They are excessively long and choppy. A few years ago i complained about the spread, uptempo style in general, and i was roundly mocked. I don't have an issue with it philosophically, but it is aesthetically challenging as a fan. In addition to the lengthier games caused by all the incomplete passes, the lack of huddling actually makes it appear like teams are doing less. There was something to running a play, huddling, heading to formation, then running another play, that produced a natural cadence that was enjoyable to consume. The running a play, and then standing around looking at wild signs (sometimes with audibles), actually has the impact of seemingly like there is less occurring/less action. Then, when the ball actually does get moving, folks are frantically moving all over the place creating an oddly chaotic juxtaposition. This of course, says nothing about the extensive TV timeouts, which sometimes follow actual breaks in the game. If a team scores a touchdown before the end of a quarter, you are looking at something like 10 minutes of inaction, to play a minute or so of football. That's brutal.
I know many like the 3:30 starts, but they are rough for me. Factoring in my commute to the game and game length, my entire Saturday is spent. I know this actually appeals to many people, but not to me. I like the nooners. Get there early, get home relatively early, and still have both some evening left and the Sunday is not impacted either.
My fixes for college football, (not necessarily just Syracuse), do not stop the clock for incomplete passes until the last two minutes of the first half (second quarter), and the last eight minutes of the fourth quarter. Lengthen half time and cut out a correlating amount of timeouts during the game. There is an hour of actual play. Have to find a way to get game times down to about 3 hours.
