MSU Road Trip

[mikemcp88]

Someone here said Harpers and Dublins are both good

[CousinRicky]

Got a chance to meet some new-to-me Bullspenners, Britt, ctbrown and reacquaint with some, Pasco, Faza (pretty sure we met briefly once before).  Good to see all of you.

[ctbrown24]

Got a chance to meet some new-to-me Bullspenners, Britt, ctbrown and reacquaint with some, Pasco, Faza (pretty sure we met briefly once before).  Good to see all of you.

Nice meeting you too. Thanks for stopping by at the airport.

[Danm1983]

Didn't get a chance to meet too many. Met Josh, who's mostly on Twitter, and one other guy, and think I saw the Voodoo5 Collin guy walking around, otherwise, I didn't really have an in to interrupt any conversations in the parking lot by the greenhouses, but it seemed kinda nice to have a good showing.

 

The MSU campus was nice, but it felt more spread out than even USF's is. I hear people complain about USF being so spread out (usually by UCF or other uninformed fans), but they must just be a-holes who never visit anywhere because that campus was big. I know because I parked at the Islam Center and walked alllll the way over to the USF area, then up to the stadium and back around to the car.

 

The people there were nice, heard no ill will except for some guy who was standing behind me in the stadium who thought he was "the funny guy". It didn't help that there was some USF fan down in front of us who seemed literally living and dying with each play, so he was mocking some things. Otherwise, the MSU people seemed fine.

 

To be honest, that stadium was nice, but it felt SOOOOOO much like a game at RJS. People were sitting down, it was dead quiet most of the time, and even their students were kinda lame, except for the 'go green! go white!' chants. I was really surprised seeing how packed it ended up being, and how lifeless it felt. Maybe we were just given the FCS/FAU/WKU treatment and they just didn't care about us and knew they were going to win (though that didn't seem a done deal til quite late in the game). I was disappointed in that.

 

Their PA announcer was good, and they definitely had some better gameday organization (even with the weather delay), though it was still hard to hear their band on the other end of the stadium - seems to be a problem for many schools - they weren't mic'ed up from what I heard. They did have a cool halftime show, and their alumni band is a nice touch. And they played some decent songs.

 

I was able to drown away the loss in Grand Rapids and its many craft beers and bars, a surprisingly hoppin' downtown, and got to check out Lake Michigan and Grand Haven on Sunday, so the overall trip wasn't bad and the weather was downright perfect the whole time. A win would've been icing.

[Rocky Style]

I loved the MSU campus and the stadium.  The fans were cool and were pretty nice to us.  Maybe the bathrooms could get an upgrade   The Nazi bag rules made me thankful to be able to bring in our clear bags. I am envious of schools that have an on campus stadium.  All the alumni and students get to come back on campus and have that sense of pride rather than renting the Bucs' stadium.  I imagine if you lop off of the upper decks of that stadium, you would have a really cool starter size for USF.

 

Made a circle tour of the upper peninsula (whoa giant suspension bridge) and Wisconsin starting and ending at South Bend.  I got to see some amazing nature, Lambeau Field, among other things. 

 

[ctbrown24]

I thought the stadium was nice. The whole city of EL definitely has that college town feel to it. Most of the fans we met were nice. Tailgate was fun, as was hanging out with other USF fans Friday night at Dublin Square.

 

I agree their fans seemed somewhat 'bored'. I talked to a few of them sitting around us and they were all very concerned about their QB play. One guy told me the interest dropped last week when we lost to McNeese State.

 

It was a nice intro to the B1G. I'm really looking forward to Wisconsin. 

[ajusf16]

Didn't get a chance to meet too many. Met Josh, who's mostly on Twitter, and one other guy, and think I saw the Voodoo5 Collin guy walking around, otherwise, I didn't really have an in to interrupt any conversations in the parking lot by the greenhouses, but it seemed kinda nice to have a good showing.

 

The MSU campus was nice, but it felt more spread out than even USF's is. I hear people complain about USF being so spread out (usually by UCF or other uninformed fans), but they must just be a-holes who never visit anywhere because that campus was big. I know because I parked at the Islam Center and walked alllll the way over to the USF area, then up to the stadium and back around to the car.

 

The people there were nice, heard no ill will except for some guy who was standing behind me in the stadium who thought he was "the funny guy". It didn't help that there was some USF fan down in front of us who seemed literally living and dying with each play, so he was mocking some things. Otherwise, the MSU people seemed fine.

 

To be honest, that stadium was nice, but it felt SOOOOOO much like a game at RJS. People were sitting down, it was dead quiet most of the time, and even their students were kinda lame, except for the 'go green! go white!' chants. I was really surprised seeing how packed it ended up being, and how lifeless it felt. Maybe we were just given the FCS/FAU/WKU treatment and they just didn't care about us and knew they were going to win (though that didn't seem a done deal til quite late in the game). I was disappointed in that.

 

Their PA announcer was good, and they definitely had some better gameday organization (even with the weather delay), though it was still hard to hear their band on the other end of the stadium - seems to be a problem for many schools - they weren't mic'ed up from what I heard. They did have a cool halftime show, and their alumni band is a nice touch. And they played some decent songs.

 

I was able to drown away the loss in Grand Rapids and its many craft beers and bars, a surprisingly hoppin' downtown, and got to check out Lake Michigan and Grand Haven on Sunday, so the overall trip wasn't bad and the weather was downright perfect the whole time. A win would've been icing.

Where were your seats?

[CousinRicky]

I thought the campus was beautiful, huge, but beautiful.  Had no problems with fans.  I thought the stadium was just so-so.  Rest rooms were like the old Boston Gardens.  Troughs have been out for 60 years.  Big but lacking the atmosphere of an Auburn or Notre Dame.  Could be because the team is only so-so and they have no grand ambitions this year.  As far as it being on campus, we left the stadium and went to the bar area after the game.  There were no people around.  Very disappointed. So people drove in to the game (don't know where the masses parked because the buses came in and snatched them up and brought them to the outer regions of the campus or off campus) and then drove away.  Just don't see the big advantage to the on campus thing. But that is just me. Love the experience of away games but love it more when we win.

 

Couple other things.  One of the best "official" away game tailgates we've attended.  The Pizza House put on a great spread, had some drinks and was shuttled over to the stadium.  The night before the game we went to a place for dinner called Dusty's Wine Bar.  As we were being seated the hostess mentioned about how many people were there with Bulls gear.  Said they also had a reservation for 60. Turned out to be the official USF travel group.  What a great restaurant.  If ever in East Lansing again, I recommend it highly.

Edited September 11, 2013 by CousinRicky

[mikemcp88]

I thought the campus was beautiful, huge, but beautiful.  Had no problems with fans.  I thought the stadium was just so-so.  Rest rooms were like the old Boston Gardens.  Troughs have been out for 60 years.  Big but lacking the atmosphere of an Auburn or Notre Dame.  Could be because the team is only so-so and they have no grand ambitions this year.  As far as it being on campus, we left the stadium and went to the bar area after the game.  There were no people around.  Very disappointed. So people drove in to the game (don't know where the masses parked because the buses came in and snatched them up and brought them to the outer regions of the campus or off campus) and then drove away.  Just don't see the big advantage to the on campus thing. But that is just me. Love the experience of away games but love it more when we win.

 

Couple other things.  One of the best "official" away game tailgates we've attended.  The Pizza House put on a great spread, had some drinks and was shuttled over to the stadium.  The night before the game we went to a place for dinner called Dusty's Wine Bar.  As we were being seated the hostess mentioned about how many people were there with Bulls gear.  Said they also had a reservation for 60. Turned out to be the official USF travel group.  What a great restaurant.  If ever in East Lansing again, I recommend it highly.

 

Overall, had a good experience. Agree that campus is too spread out. Agree with the crowd. I am too used to going to games in Ann Arbor, which is a wild scene and tailgating is awesome. Streets are packed and hard to drive around town. At MSU, I was able to drive to and from campus easily. I hope we can play in Ann Arbor someday b/c those games are really fun to goto. 

 

Can't wait to goto Camp Randall next year

[Rocky Style]

Definitely hitting up Wisconsin next year.  Allegiant has cheap flights in and around that area...