I'm a UCF alum who graduated in '05. This was my first experience at the on-campus stadium. I'd been to several games at the Citrus Bowl when I was in school, but I live several hours away from Orlando now.
I was amazed at the new construction on and around campus. There's so many more shops/restaurants near the arena. There's also a ton of new apartments near the school. The old UC-7 strip mall has been replaced with one.
The students were out tailgating hard and early. I'm kinda surprised that UCF lets them drink on campus, but doesn't sale alcohol in the stadium. All the co-eds had short-booty shorts on and there was a lot of good scenery.
After seeing all the alcohol on campus, my group of 30-somethings were a bit disappointed to learn you couldn't buy beer in the stadium.
We sat in the visitor section because it had the most reasonable prices for decent seats. Plus one of our group had attended BYU for undergrad and UCF for masters. The visitor's section was interspersed with BYU and UCF fans. It was hard to tell how many they brought but they did bring several thousand fans. Overall, the interactions between BYU and UCF fans were friendly and cordial.
As far as the game, the thing that stands out to me the most is the student section, it is huge and loud. I pointed out that BYU did not score from the fourth quarter on as they were having to drive toward the student section. I think the noise and student enthusiasm had something to do with it. I was relieved when we got to pick the side of the field in overtime. The stadium gets so loud. You can make so much noise by just stomping your feet.
Overall, it was a great experience. One of the best back and forth college games I can remember. I hate all the UCF turnovers, but the BYU fans hated all their penalties. Great game, great win.
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UCF-BYU: Impressions from Game Day Experience
