I really should have posted this a couple days ago, but was a little busy with other matters.
As you all know, Tulane is playing their second season inside their new on-campus home, Yulman Stadium. I had been to the 2010 game inside the Superdome which in all honesty might have been 50/50 UCF and Tulane fans. I don't think there were more than 2,000 people at that game.
I was anxious to see the atmosphere of the new place. Tulane is located at the end of the New Orleans Garden District - the actual geography of the campus is quite long and narrow, so in some ways it's not a traditional configuration. The athletic facilities (except for the basketball gym) are situated on the far north edge of campus. The football stadium, baseball stadium, practice fields, tennis, etc. are all located together.
On Friday, I took a brief walk-through of their athletic facilities building, which now connects the baseball and football stadium. I have been in this building before, during a rain delay in the 2008 C-USA Baseball Tournament. The football offices, locker room, administrative offices, etc. are located here. So is the ticket office and a merchandise store.
In the open and spacious "rotunda" like lobby, all of their trophies are on display. Tulane played in some of the earliest Sugar Bowls and a Rose Bowl.
Their stadium is quite small, but nice. The side visible on TV doesn't have many rows and is honestly reminiscent of a Texas high school football stadium. The other side has two decks and chairback seats, along with most of the suites.
The practice fields are literally steps away from the concourse. The visiting team is actually housed in a building underneath the end zone, but adjacent to these practice fields. The pressbox is tiny, like a baseball pressbox, so the "dining area" for media and game personnel is underneath a catering tent on the practice field. So when you're there, you have full view of the team coming out of the locker room. The players then have to run across the concourse to get to the field, so they put up temporary barricades every time there is movement.
Tulane uses their everyday locker room. UCF has two locker rooms - the everyday practice locker room inside WD and then the stadium locker room.
As for game day, 11 a.m. comes quick. I barely saw any outside activity. I think there's an area called the "Quad" that supposedly has some tailgating action, but it's a good hike from the stadium and I didn't see anything there when I drove by around 9 a.m.
The crowd was quite light. I honestly didn't try to count or estimate the crowd, though you can get a sense from the videos posted above. Maybe a few hundred students, many of whom were quite drunk. They do sell beer inside the stadium.
Devon Walker, the former Tulane player who was paralyzed in a 2012 game, was in attendance.
The video board was above-average. Certainly something UCF would be proud to have inside Bright House.
The mullet is gone. Student equipment manager David "Dabo" Draper is still around, he just lost the mullet. He says he had to do something drastic to try and break the streak. Unfortunately it wasn't the good luck charm vs. Tulane.
In the photos I posted from the game, most of the UCF were concentrated in the corner, though some moved around. There was plenty of room. Late in the game, most of the people remaining were the families of players.
The game was brutal. That doesn't need to be rehashed. I know there are some injuries, but it's still amazing to me how much things have regressed when you compare to a Tulane or Furman.
Bonus Photos of Jackson Square, Jambalaya and good news for those who eat Jambalaya and other Cajun specialties on an every-meal basis:
