UND Students at Football games

[Siouxperfan7]

Fist let me start off by saying that the student attendance for the first 2 games this year has been great!! I remember even last year where there would be at the most 200 students at kickoff. UND has done a great job of promoting UND football to students by making tickets available and by having an upgraded student tailgate area. So I am very glad that students have shown a greater interest in games this year.

Now, a little constructive criticism. Students, you are at the game, and you are filling the seats, and standing up. Now do something!!! Its great that you are there, but you can't just stand there and just watch the game. You have to get loud. And not just on third down. You are right behind the visitor bench. You got to get on these guys! You got to be loud as soon at the other teams offense get on the field!! Get LOUD!!! You are the heart and should of the fans at the Alerus. The crowd feeds off of the students. If you are loud on first down, second down, and third down, the rest of the Alerus crowd will start to join you!! When we score a touchdown, there is no reason that you should be sitting down before we even kick the ball off! You should be on your feet cheering and getting the crowd going!

Now I do realize that it is not solely the students responsibility for the atmosphere at the Alerus at football games. But like I said before, the crown feeds off of you. The players feed off the crowd. Trust me. in 2001-2005 when this team was in its D2 heyday, the Alerus was rocking!! Deafening at many times. The Students were jumping up and down the whole game! The rest of the crowd was as well.

We have come a long way since the last couple years. Now its time to step it up and get this place rocking!! We are all fans. We will be cheering there right with you. But you guys goth be the heart and should of this fan base and start getting LOUD!!!

[southpaw]

Fist let me start off by saying that the student attendance for the first 2 games this year has been great!! I remember even last year where there would be at the most 200 students at kickoff. UND has done a great job of promoting UND football to students by making tickets available and by having an upgraded student tailgate area. So I am very glad that students have shown a greater interest in games this year.

Now, a little constructive criticism. Students, you are at the game, and you are filling the seats, and standing up. Now do something!!! Its great that you are there, but you can't just stand there and just watch the game. You have to get loud. And not just on third down. You are right behind the visitor bench. You got to get on these guys! You got to be loud as soon at the other teams offense get on the field!! Get LOUD!!! You are the heart and should of the fans at the Alerus. The crowd feeds off of the students. If you are loud on first down, second down, and third down, the rest of the Alerus crowd will start to join you!! When we score a touchdown, there is no reason that you should be sitting down before we even kick the ball off! You should be on your feet cheering and getting the crowd going!

Now I do realize that it is not solely the students responsibility for the atmosphere at the Alerus at football games. But like I said before, the crown feeds off of you. The players feed off the crowd. Trust me. in 2001-2005 when this team was in its D2 heyday, the Alerus was rocking!! Deafening at many times. The Students were jumping up and down the whole game! The rest of the crowd was as well.

We have come a long way since the last couple years. Now its time to step it up and get this place rocking!! We are all fans. We will be cheering there right with you. But you guys goth be the heart and should of this fan base and start getting LOUD!!!

It will grow. It's been two games... one against a really weak opponent. Just give them a few more weeks to pick things up. One of the negatives about Saturday evening games is that the non diehard fans are going to want to get ready to go out drinking. That's why most of the students left at halftime last night. They need to get back home, change and probably shower to make it out to the bars.

[CMSioux]

Loved the number of students in attendance. Just gotta say the biggest cheer from many of them was for the free pizza give away. The band did what it could to create some noice but we really need the students to get crazy and start the cheers.

Pleases don't make a bunch of 40-50 year old men come down there and show you how - it would not be pretty . I know many who will cheer with you but we can't start the cheers we need to the students to do that (Plus they can get away with a lot more than we can).

It almost seemed like they didn't know what to cheer? Of course we can cheer, "Defense" a lot, but we can also cheer "We are North Dakota" and of course any Sioux cheer still works - sometimes it's just a matter of making noise. The games are going to be close - noise can mean missed assignments, wide receivers and back running into each other, off-side and illegal procedure penalties. One or two plays can make the difference.

[IrishSiouxFan]

I was in the student section last night. When I walked into the Alerus the first thing I noticed was a sign that said "no more student tickets available, $5 to purchase a ticket", there was a fairly long line of students getting into the ticket box office. Now, $5 for a ticket is a great deal if you ask me but their was more than plenty of seats left in the student section, and I think the Alerus should consider making more free tickets available to students. As far as making noise goes, I would invite the older generations to come and show the students how it's done! I think it would be great to see more alumni interacting with the students and passing the traditions down that way.

[82SiouxGuy]

I was in the student section last night. When I walked into the Alerus the first thing I noticed was a sign that said "no more student tickets available, $5 to purchase a ticket", there was a fairly long line of students getting into the ticket box office. Now, $5 for a ticket is a great deal if you ask me but their was more than plenty of seats left in the student section, and I think the Alerus should consider making more free tickets available to students. As far as making noise goes, I would invite the older generations to come and show the students how it's done! I think it would be great to see more alumni interacting with the students and passing the traditions down that way.

The Alerus Center doesn't make the policy about student tickets. The Athletic Department makes ticket policies. UND is renting the building and they are in charge of all ticket policies. The problem is that students often pick up tickets and don't use them. That can leave a bunch of open seats in the student section at the same time that they have quit giving away student tickets. You can't give away more tickets than seats, because there will be games where all of the students or almost all of them show up. Then you have more bodies than seats available. If that happens during a game where the other tickets also sell out you have huge problems with people in the crowd and potentially with the fire department. It would be nice to have a problem where we have too many people in the building. But people running facilities have to make plans to prevent that from becoming a problem.

[108498]

I can't wait to get back to UND. I hear and understand what you all are saying. If any of you come to the UNC game you will see one future student that lives for all sioux sports not just hockey. When ever I go to the sioux games in col. I always seem to get a sor throught by half time. Last year was the worst seeing the sioux football team fotr the first time since moving away from Grand forks in 2002

[fightingsioux4life]

What we can't forget is that during the Division II playoff era, these kids were still in grade school or middle school. And a good number of them probably didn't follow the program during our difficult transition period. They are absolutely clueless about our old traditions (Sack City, noise on 3rd and long, ect.). That is one of the problems with moving up to FCS, during the transition period you lose a generation of fans to poor schedules, no playoffs, no legitimate conference, some early beat-downs (that loss at SE Louisiana comes to mind). It will take time to re-establish these things. But I believe we now have the athletes, the schedule and the conference to make it happen.

[gfhockey]

it use to be.... "all right sioux fans, on you feet its third down and _______

now its justn "its third down and _______"

cant they say "all righ und fans, on your feet its third down and ________"

[bincitysioux]

it use to be.... "all right sioux fans, on you feet its third down and _______

now its justn "its third down and _______"

cant they say "all righ und fans, on your feet its third down and ________"

The cue by the PA announcer is nice. But one of my pet peeves since I've been going to games since 2003 is that the only time the place gets loud IS on 3rd down. It's OK to be loud at other times too............................

[Vegas_Sioux]

I've brought this up before but do you think the students might be trained by the ushers at St Ralph's?

[Siouxperfan7]

It just bugs me the lack of enthusiasm that students show at football games. Getting students to fill up the student section is great, but just standing there with your arms crossed the whole game is pretty pathetic. Also leaving at halftime or the 3rd quarter when the game is still in doubt is pathetic as well. It wasn't until Hendrickson ran for that first down with a minute and change left that the game was basically decided. And before that play I look to the student section and its maybe 10% full. Students, you still have plenty o time to head to the bars at 9:30 or get to a house party, or what ever you decided to leave early for.

I know that there have been big steps in the positive direction getting students to the game. That's great. But its time these students start being passionate about their fellow classmates competing on the field as much as they do for the hockey team! This team is one of the most entertaining and talented teams that I have seen on the field for UND in years. It's not like they are putting a crappy product on the field. These guys are good!!

When the students show more enthusiasm during the games, other fans will as well. Take ownership of being the biggest fans in the building and the met vocal. The rest of us will appreciate it and be there with you yelling and cheering the team on.

[Cratter]

Most of FCS would die to have our student fan support.

[bincitysioux]

When the students show up, they impress me. I like what I have seen from them the last two weeks. The last two seasons were embarrassing. I hope they keep up the interest they have shown thus far this season. I certainly can't rag on the student turn-out thus far when it appears that 2,500+ have showed up for the first two games. There were a couple games in 2010 and 2011 that I question if 250 showed............................

[SWSiouxMN]

I will make a personal guarantee that you will see the Sack City sign making its rightful return to the UND Student Section sidelines against Cal Poly.

[UNDColorado]

I will make a personal guarantee that you will see the Sack City sign making its rightful return to the UND Student Section sidelines against Cal Poly.

Awesome, make it happen!

[darell1976]

I will make a personal guarantee that you will see the Sack City sign making its rightful return to the UND Student Section sidelines against Cal Poly.

I was wondering what happened to that sign. All I saw was Nodak Nation.

[UND-1]

UND needs to win. Win and they will come.

Personally I thought there would be more people there at the Potato Bowl. But, what it taught me is that the casual fan still needs something to grab their attention again after an average transition. Gotta keep getting W's.

[geaux_sioux]

UND needs to win. Win and they will come.

Personally I thought there would be more people there at the Potato Bowl. But, what it taught me is that the casual fan still needs something to grab their attention again after an average transition. Gotta keep getting W's.

What they need is an FBS win

[Matt]

What they need is an FBS win

I don't think that's a reasonable expectation. FBS wins, while certainly not impossible, are relatively rare and most definitely shouldn't be linked to home attendance. It's difficult enough to win on the road against a team against whom you are on a level playing field let alone vs FBS teams where the deck is stacked against you, and those games are ALWAYS on the road. Big Sky wins should be enough. But then again, life ain't fair.

[Siouxperfan7]

Three realistic expectations for the UND student section:

1. Show up to the games (going great so far...keep it up!)

2. Be engaged in the game (don't just stand there....be LOUD)

3. Stay till the end of the game (3 hours is all the team asks of you to watch them 6 times a year. Not to much to ask)

[geaux_sioux]

I don't think that's a reasonable expectation. FBS wins, while certainly not impossible, are relatively rare and most definitely shouldn't be linked to home attendance. It's difficult enough to win on the road against a team against whom you are on a level playing field let alone vs FBS teams where the deck is stacked against you, and those games are ALWAYS on the road. Big Sky wins should be enough. But then again, life ain't fair.

Look at NDSUs record against FBS teams and reread what you posted. They were lousy not long ago and just crushed an FBS team. They win not because theyre better buy because they believe they should. It's a mentality nothing more nothing less.

[UND-FB-FAN]

Look at NDSUs record against FBS teams and reread what you posted. They were lousy not long ago and just crushed an FBS team. They win not because theyre better buy because they believe they should. It's a mentality nothing more nothing less.

Exactly. In terms of creating fans, believe it or not UND competes with NDSU. NDSU is 6-3 against FBS teams and UND has never won one. Getting a FBS win would be huge for the program in multiple aspects, one of which is certainly creating buzz and bringing in better gameday crowds.

[Matt]

Look at NDSUs record against FBS teams and reread what you posted. They were lousy not long ago and just crushed an FBS team. They win not because theyre better buy because they believe they should. It's a mentality nothing more nothing less.

I don't disagree UND has the ability to get an FBS win. The context here is home attendance. It's unreasonable to link whether or not fans show up to home games to whether a team wins a road FBS game. Sure it would be helpful, but the standard has to be success in the conference and future playoffs. Who knows-a UND FBS win may not come for quite a while. If the eggs are in the FBS basket, that's a mistake IMHO.

The NDSU attendance trend was increasing before their first FBS win.

[darell1976]

Just remember you don't need an FBS win to put butts in the seats...South Dakota State has yet to beat an FBS team and they can pack Coughlin Alumni Stadium.

[geaux_sioux]

Just remember you don't need an FBS win to put butts in the seats...South Dakota State has yet to beat an FBS team and they can pack Coughlin Alumni Stadium.

They don't compete in school for fans with high standards with a hockey team that plays FBS schools that are regionally close.