Enough of all this actual football talk...

[LiterallyPolice]

How was the game atmosphere?

I live a ways away and haven't been able to go to a game in a couple of years. How's the atmosphere with the new addition? Are there still excessive ads?

The masses need to know.... Do the cups still stink?!?!

[hailmari]

The ads weren't too bad. Like, I honestly didn't really notice them unlike the previous couple of years when they were overwhelming. Music could be better. I'd like to see a surround sound system set up in the near future. You're gonna hear it differently everywhere you sit in that place because of the acoustics.

Students did a solid job. They did start leaving early, but I mean, it was wet and we were rolling out the backups at that point. They're gonna make a very noticeable difference come the SEC games. It's gonna get louuud.

[sleepy dawg]

I thought the crowd was good considering the weather. The ad situation is very much improved.

[Smitty]

My tix were near the top of the East side yesterday. These guys need to get louder! Assuming they are mostly faculty seats but come on even on 3rd downs there was about 1% making noise. We need to do better!

Atmosphere is still not where it needs to be but light years ahead of the lullfest of previous couple years

[DudyDawg]

Ads were hardly noticeable, music/band much more impactful. Lots of students in at opening (430) even tho it was pouring. Was a great atmosphere and a clear difference than the past. Cups did not stink

Only complaint was that they only showed about 5 scores of other games over and over on the tickers on the sides. They did have one look-in at AU/arky, which was nice, but i didn't see a single time that score was in the banners in the stands or the Georgia game. That was annoying. I kept seeing utep- New Mexico...

[Smitty]

Good point Dudy. The score ticker is a problem. The scores they show were about 15 minutes behind. And they only showed 4 game scores included UTEP-New Mexico. Just till through the Top 25 and SEC teams. Not hard.

[Political Hack]

49-0... it will get louder, I promise.

[DudyDawg]

Good point Dudy. The score ticker is a problem. The scores they show were about 15 minutes behind. And they only showed 4 game scores included UTEP-New Mexico. Just till through the Top 25 and SEC teams. Not hard.

Agreed. Especially when you're in a stadium without reception to be able to check

[chef dixon]

Maybe this was just a TV thing, but the stadium looked really bright and flashy on some angles with all the screens and LED strips firing off. It was almost kind of distracting. I'm sure it was cool in person though.

[Liverpooldawg]

Right before the kickoff it was a loud as I have ever heard it in there, and the crowd wasn't THAT in to it. It's going to be insanely loud for a big game if we are doing well. The athletic department and the designers NAILED it with the expansion. It's better than I ever hoped it would be. The crowd was great esp when you factor in the weather.

[jbjones]

Tell ya what, I'll hand it to the students. I got to the Gridiron late (~1hr before kick), and they were into it already. There wasn't many folks in their seats at that time around the stadium, but the NEZ was quite populated, if not nearing capacity. It was loud down on the GI Terrace. The visitor tunnel, surrounded by students, is brilliant and it's just one more little detail we have in our favor to get in the opponent's head.

We did end up in our seats for the 4th, and looking over the NEZ, man our Athletic Dept. nailed it. It was awesome. The response from my buddies in my section was the same. I can't wait to see what it's like for a Conference game....

[FanninDawg]

My main complaint is the stadium sound on the east side was unintelligible. All I heard was mumble mumble mumble. I know they can crank the sound up, I'm not asking for full volume, but just a tad more.

[maroonmania]

My main complaint is the stadium sound on the east side was unintelligible. All I heard was mumble mumble mumble. I know they can crank the sound up, I'm not asking for full volume, but just a tad more.

I agree, and it wasn't just volume but clarity. I've never had that kind of trouble just understanding what was being said off the jumbotron.

[godlluB]

Part of the problem with the sound is that the speakers are on the South end and the students on the North end and we're experiencing a speed of sound problem. Since the students are the loudest section, they hear the music later than those of us in the middle, so when they are doing things like ringing cowbells to the music, they always appeared to be a half beat or late from where I was sitting. If we had speakers on both ends (and can control the echo issue that would ensue), this would improve.

One other thing that I noticed is that contrary to what we've been told, the new North jumbotron isn't as large as the old one, or at least not the same aspect ratio. The screen on the new one isn't as tall as the one on the old one. Since they are using the same video feed on both ends, the picture on the new board is compressed vertically. It makes everyone look short and wide. It really struck me as being sort of half-assed. Unfortunately, unlike the speaker problem, this is a design problem and can't be easily fixed. The only options are to live with it, crop the feed to the North screen (which means losing some of the image on the top and/or bottom, which would probably look equally half-assed), or to show two different feeds.