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Oct. 23, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Win or lose, no one can deny the importance of fan support. Throughout the current football season, Head Coach Al Groh and the UVA Athletics Department have been making a concerted effort to liken the atmosphere of Scott Stadium to the stadiums of the top-ranked college football programs. A home team would have a hard time winning without the screaming voices of tens of thousands of fans. They help disrupt the opponent’s game plan and boost the confidence of the home team after a good play.
What Groh didn’t expect, however, was the overwhelming response of the fans this past Saturday, especially in the student section. He acknowledges that the game time of 3:00pm this Saturday, October 25 should be perfect.
“I’ve noticed that, besides the night games, that seems to be the best time to get the crowd out. Because we depend so much on the student crowd, as well as the older crowd, we thought we’d give them more time to tend to whatever it is that needs tending to before the game and to try to ensure that we have the most people in the stands as possible, which I thought was great the other night.”
Although the Cavaliers fell just short of Florida State in last Saturday night’s game, Groh still noticed the increased enthusiasm of the fans.
“I thought we had a great crowd. That student section was filled earlier than I’ve ever seen it…. The time that the student body got there in the student section was unprecedented since I’ve been here. The energy they had, the orange that they had, I thought it was great.”
Fan support is not only important to the team that’s playing on the field, but also the team that might be playing on the field next year.
“In fact,” said Groh, “one of our top players that we’ve had here on his official visit said that he wants to make his official visits during the season, because he wants to see what the fan base is like at each school. He said ‘it was awesome.’ I think he was definitely right about that…. I’ve really had more conversation at this point right now with kids who were here as recruits than I’ve had with our players, because I spoke with them a lot after the game Saturday night after the players had left. There was a constant theme amongst all of them about what a great environment it was, and they couldn’t believe the students never sat down.”
This Saturday’s game against Troy State is the Homecoming game. It will be played at 3:00pm. The game will not be televised, but will be broadcast via radio on the Virginia Sports Network, originating at WINA/WWWV in Charlottesville. Audio coverage on the internet can be found at virginiasports.com.
Homecoming activities will be held on Friday evening starting at 6:00pm and Saturday afternoon at 12:00pm. Check out the “Homecoming 2003” link in the Features block on the virginiasports.com home page for more information.