Put the Pokes on other side of field?

[Stuck]

Ya'll may have hashed this out in the past and I missed it, but it is something that crossed my mind and I thought I'd toss it out there for debate.
I feel that there would be a greater home field advantage by putting the visiting team in front of the loud and rowdy UWyo student section.
Do you think our Cowboys draw more energy from the students than the amount of disruption/distraction they would cause the visitors?
There are probably many pros and cons to this that haven't crossed my mind, but I am curious as to what you think?

[MrTitleist]

Putting the visiting team in front of the student section probably isn't a wise idea.. remember the beer bottles and cans being thrown at Koenning? Can't imagine if BYU or CSU were on the sidelines. Probably for safety's sake, the team in front of the students.. since the players are students as well.

[TheRealUW]

Frankly, I don't think it would be any more of a distraction for the visiting team than it already is. It isn't very hard to keep your back turned to the crowd. As far as any extra noise, which would be minimal, almost all teams use hand signals to call plays anyways. I guess I would say I'm not in favor of or against the idea. Honestly, I don't think it would make one bit of difference either way.

[Adv8RU12]

I always thought that it must be uncomfortable for the Pokes on the sidlines to be looking into the late afternoon sun. Maybe it's OK with them. I wouldn't like it and would favor a move to the West side.

[WYCowboy]

I always thought that it must be uncomfortable for the Pokes on the sidlines to be looking into the late afternoon sun. Maybe it's OK with them. I wouldn't like it and would favor a move to the West side.

I'm with you, I would love to see the Pokes bench on the west side.

[Fullback41]

that pesky sun is a godsend on cold weather games. imagine coming up from Vegas or San Diego on a cold, snowy, windy day and standing in the shade while the pokes sunbathe on the other side. I couldn't imagine being more miserable.

[WYCowboy]

that pesky sun is a godsend on cold weather games. imagine coming up from Vegas or San Diego on a cold, snowy, windy day and standing in the shade while the pokes sunbathe on the other side. I couldn't imagine being more miserable.

That is true, but just the opposite is true about the wind. The west side gets sheltered from the wind most of the time, but the east side gets the full force of it. Maybe someday we will enclose the endzones and that will help with the wind at least down on the field.

[Snowman_55]

Glenn actually wanted to do this during his 3rd year here....for the purpose of putting the visiting team in front of the students. Apparently the saftey issues and concerns couldn't be satisfactorily resolved. I would like to see it, however I am guessing it won't happen anytime soon. The flip side is, the student section does have more energy normally so sometimes the Pokes can feed off that since they are right there.

[Fullback41]

that pesky sun is a godsend on cold weather games. imagine coming up from Vegas or San Diego on a cold, snowy, windy day and standing in the shade while the pokes sunbathe on the other side. I couldn't imagine being more miserable.

That is true, but just the opposite is true about the wind. The west side gets sheltered from the wind most of the time, but the east side gets the full force of it. Maybe someday we will enclose the endzones and that will help with the wind at least down on the field.

Yeah, if we are going to be throwing the ball all over the field it would be nice to have the endzones enclosed to reduce the effects of wind. Tiller and his Qbs were successful throwing it, I'm sure DC has coached in the wind and knows what to do. Seems to me the Wind is extreme, about 1 game a year, the cold used to be a couple games a year, but not in the last few years.

I think the sun plays more a part in the plays called on the field. I have seen more plays than I care to share in the last few years, when we need a critical 3rd down conversion, and JG's staff throws it to a receiver who has to stare into the sun to catch the ball, each time I am thinking, what the hell? Noone could ever see that, much less catch it. Again, I assume DC and staff will keep from blinding our receivers. That doesn't mean we only play half the field, just use short passes that don't loft into the sun or run a different route so the ball flight isn't in line with the sun. Sorry, but that, playcalling in general, and OL standing there looking around (probably in fear the ball is on the ground and they need to jump on it) have been pet peeves of mine over the last couple years.

Maybe the awesome engineering dept at UW could devise some stadium modifications to make it miserable for the guests on cold and hot days, and noisy as possible. Jonah field is such high quality we can't water down the middle of the field and make is slippery when running teams like NM and AFA come to play.

Couldn't they hang a huge net to protect the visitors from projectiles?

[The Virginian]

Ya'll may have hashed this out in the past and I missed it, but it is something that crossed my mind and I thought I'd toss it out there for debate.
I feel that there would be a greater home field advantage by putting the visiting team in front of the loud and rowdy UWyo student section.
Do you think our Cowboys draw more energy from the students than the amount of disruption/distraction they would cause the visitors?
There are probably many pros and cons to this that haven't crossed my mind, but I am curious as to what you think?

I'm totally against it. OK, I'm a card-carrying old fart, but I wouldn't change it for not only safety reasons, but the symbolism and tradition of it. Wyoming is one of the few places that give the students prime seating at their stadium. In other places the students are crammed off in a corner because the school wants the rich alumni to buy the good seats for premium prices. At Wyoming, the football team stands on the student side because they are students too. They are together with their fellow students in one endeavor. The team also comes to the students after the game to sing Ragtime Cowboy Joe. It wouldn't be the same if they were on the other side. To me the lower east side of the War belongs to the students. It's their school, it's their team. It's their part of the stadium. The football team should stand with their fellow students. Enough of this silly talk!

[MrTitleist]

Now that I think about it, UW is one of the few schools that gives the students good seating. At Montana they have a HUGE student section that's usually packed 2:1 as far as seats go as they're standing the whole time, but they're crammed into the corner of the field where they're not heard by the North endzone. Having an energetic student section goes a long ways..

[McPeachy]

Ya'll may have hashed this out in the past and I missed it, but it is something that crossed my mind and I thought I'd toss it out there for debate.
I feel that there would be a greater home field advantage by putting the visiting team in front of the loud and rowdy UWyo student section.
Do you think our Cowboys draw more energy from the students than the amount of disruption/distraction they would cause the visitors?
There are probably many pros and cons to this that haven't crossed my mind, but I am curious as to what you think?

Isn't this how New Mexico is configured...visitors in front of students? I remember 3 or 4 years ago, there being a hell of a ruckus between our players & coaches and their fans, with bottles being thrown, words exchanged, etc., etc. Imagine the intensity of the UW student group in that scenario...the refs would be 15-yarding the cowboys (because of fans) all day.

[cheypoke]

I think they should leave the sidelines as they are for a few reasons. 1) Tradition; its just the way its done here. 2) In the late fall, when sun disappears over the west stadium, that west sideline gets very chilly while our guys still stand in the sun. 3) If the opposing team was in front of our students, you know there would be problems. And so to prevent that there would be an even bigger police/security presense in and around the student section. We dont need nor want that.

[McPeachy]

I think they should leave the sidelines as they are for a few reasons. 1) Tradition; its just the way its done here. 2) In the late fall, when sun disappears over the west stadium, that west sideline gets very chilly while our guys still stand in the sun. 3) If the opposing team was in front of our students, you know there would be problems. And so to prevent that there would be an even bigger police/security presense in and around the student section. We dont need nor want that.

You have a really good point...

The last thing the student section needs at football games is more stinkin' pigs.

[billings]

I believe there is an unwritten rule in the conference. No visiting team in Football or Basketball is in front of the student section.

I know it is true in Basketball. not 100% sure in football though

Fresno finally moved their students away form visitors Seems many teams would not go play there due to that and the problems it caused. We have enough problems getting good OOC games in laramie without putting a visiting team in front of the students. Bad idea

[Stuck]

Another football program steeped in tradition:

Zoomin' to the future
Jim Benton, Rocky Mountain News
Published August 30, 2007 at midnight

At high noon Saturday, Troy Calhoun will undertake the demanding duty of replacing a legend.

When the Falcons face South Carolina State in the opener at Falcon Stadium, Calhoun will be calling the shots on the Air Force Academy sideline, not Fisher DeBerry.

The debut of the Calhoun era will usher in plenty of changes for Falcons fans to scrutinize.

Air Force will use the bench on the west side of the stadium so the Falcons won't be facing the sun during afternoon games and will be closer to a majority of fans. The visitors will be in front of cadets.

I'm still not convinced it would be a good move in the case of the Pokes, but I just wanted to show that there is at least 1 NCAA team that has done it. I doubt that it can be credited for their recent success (2 bowls in 2 years), but it surely hasn't caused any problems as far as I have seen or heard in the press.
I think that Dave Christensen is an innovator, like Calhoun, and I think we will see him as a turning point of the Poke football program. It may not happen this year, but I am enjoying reading about his recruiting prowess and the changes he is bringing to our offense! Go Pokes!

[WYCowboy]

I didn't realize this, but about half of the teams in the MWC have their bench on the West side of their stadium. I posted this question on the MWC board and found this out. Most said it was due to the sun.