[JonnyFiveAlive]

Subject: Article in Hartford newspaper

Football: Mountaineer Field Is Full And Rocking

November 25, 2007

Chilling is the best way to describe the post game experience Saturday
evening at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, W.V. after UConn's 66-21
loss in the game that decided the Big East championship.

Chilling in more ways than one.

The experience on the field immediately following the game sent chills
down my spine. And then there was the freeze out in the interview room
following with UConn coach Randy Edsall.

First, about what happened on the field.

There were never any explicit directions offered as to how the media was
supposed to make their way down to field level at the end of the game
and by the time I had sent my early early story for Courant.com most
other media members had already cleared out of the press box and made
their way down behind the end zone near the visiting team tunnel on the
field.

So John Silver from the Manchester Journal Inquirer and I departed the
press box in search of the secret way to field level. Lets just say that
after about 100 "excuse me's" as we waded through fans in the stands we
found our way to the Mountaineer Field turf just as the game came to an
end.

It was there standing on the field that I experienced something amazing.
I knew things were different in Morgantown before the game when the
place was 95 percent full 15 minutes before kickoff. I knew this was
truly the experience of big time college football.

But the post game just solidified that fact even more.

No matter how hokie one might think John Denver's "Country Roads" might
be, it was just absolutely amazing to stand on that field and listen to
a stadium that size recite the song in unison. There we were, the game
over, and there had to still be 50,000 people who weren't going
anywhere.

On Nov. 17 there wasn't even reason for UConn players to take a victory
lap at Rentschler Field after beating Syracuse to finish off a perfect
7-0 home record this season. There was virtually nobody left in
Rentschler by the time the game was over.

And yet here there were more then 50,000 fans who stuck around not only
until the end, but long after the end of a game that was basically over
midway through the third quarter Saturday in Morgantown.

This was what big time college football is about.

Simply, it was a stunning experience like no other I've seen in two
years covering the UConn football team.