Utah @ 
TCU Power of the NEZ
Welcome to Ute Hub › Forums › Utah Utes Sports › Football › Power of the NEZ
- This topic has 14 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 2 months ago by
Ghost of the HEB.
-
AuthorPosts
-
-
Ghost of the HEBParticipantIt’s an undisputed fact that the north end zone is the loudest section in RES. Players have talked of how it is the most fun end zone to score in and play D. Having a raucous crowd advantage is huge vs majority of teams from the west who are not used to playing against it. There were two key plays deep in the NEZ during the UCLA game that players/coaches have attributed to the impact of the crowd noise.
1. Utah leads 7-0 in 1st Q. Ucla has 3rd and goal after driving the field. NEZ is amped up and raining down noise as Garbers tries to change the play. Center doesn’t hear it and snaps the ball while Garbers isn’t looking. Ucla somehow came away with the ball in the scrum, but they are forced to kick a FG. Utah goes up 14-3 next drive, which is much different feel than 14-7.
2. Utah leads by 11 with just over 7 minutes left in the 4th Q. UCLA has scored on their previous two possessions and has the ball 1st and 10 on their own 6 (thanks to a great punt by Rising). The NEZ once again comes alive. There is miscommunication along the offensive line and Hauati Pututau knifes through practically untouched and sacks Garbers in the end zone (which was also Utah’s first sack of the game). This pushed the lead to 13 and gave Utah the ball, which they scored with and put the game out of reach. Pututau later said he felt the crowd noise caused the confusion on the line which allowed him to blow through them.
I saw some kick around the idea of finding an official nickname for the NEZ or having some NEZ branding in the stadium/merchandise for sale (like they do for the muss). Red Sea? Red Army? Red Kingdom and the stadium plays Red Kingdom by Tech9ne when the ball is within that 25 yard line? Just keep it NEZ? I’m here for all of it. -
UteThunderParticipantThis is the disappointing factor of how they re-modeled the SEZ. There’s so few people down there.
-
utefansince79
ParticipantCame down to $$$$$ and those south end seats with the ‘desk’ (whatever you want to call it) in front of them spaced far apart cost a LOT more than seats in the north end benches (and all that money helped pay for the expansion.)
Does help a bit having the south end closed so that noise from the students gets held in.
But damn it’s fun being near the NEZ (we’re in E33 right on the goal line and try to help make that the noisier end of the stadium).
-
DallasParticipantThe south end zone looks weird how spaced out they are. They look more like press seats than fans.
-
-
Ghost of the HEBParticipant
I understand the thought process by adding lower density of seats in that endzone with the expansion. CFB and sports in general have seen attendance drop steadily over the past 5-10 years. They could have just made it full of dense seating like the NEZ, but it’s risky to add a bunch of seats in an expansion project when the trend in sports is less fan attendance — especially in the Western US. They managed to fill in the south end of the stadium without adding a ton of seats or leaving empty looking space. I think the idea as far as noise goes is even though you lose some potential noise by having low density seating, the stadium’s south corners no longer being open should help keep in noise from elsewhere in the stands.
-
-
UteBackerModeratorI had the good fortune to be able to go down and stand on the side of the north endzone during the 2nd Q of Saturday’s game. I have seats on row 5 in the NEZ and I have always been curious how loud it gets when the noise is raining down on you instead of being part of it. There were two touchdowns in the north end zone and the tipped interception while I was standing there. HOLY **** it gets insanely loud! I love it when it a team is trapped deep in our endzone. It’s game-on when that happens… the NEZ step it up. We take care of business on our end and the MUSS handles it on the other end. It’s a great setup and it adds a lot to the reason it’s so hard to win for opposing teams in RES.
-
GameForAnyFussParticipantI have a crazy, out-of-the-box idea: Turn the NEZ into a “safe standing” area.
You haven’t heard loud and crazy until you’ve been to a soccer game in Europe or South America, and the standing-only areas are a big reason why.
I think it would be cool to be the first football stadium in America to do something like that.
-
UtesbyfiveParticipantProbably not. Look what happened to English soccer, tramplings in GA. Commissions to look into it. Mandates for no GA, and better egress in stadiums. A lot of clubs simply had to tear down and rebuild.
-
GameForAnyFussParticipant
I assume you’re referring to the Hillsborough disaster. If so, that had less to do with the standing and more to do with (a) overselling of GA tickets and (b) poor crowd control at the turnstiles. Both of those things would not be an issue at Rice-Eccles.
-
-
Participant
When they built Rio Tinto, I believe it was mandated to have it be an all-seater (all though some of the supporter sections still stand for most of the match)
-
GameForAnyFussParticipant
It was mandated? I don’t remember that. I do know that other stadiums in the U.S. have standing sections today, so it can’t be a federal law. Perhaps there’s a Utah law against it, but I doubt it.
Utah already sells SRO tickets to football games. This is just giving them a designated area.
-
-
-
MDUteParticipantGreat post Ghost! Yea my vote was for renaming the NEZ the Red Sea, home of RES’s saltiest fans.
Love the atmosphere they help create, along with the MUSS! I’m a big fan of the look of the new KGRZ and I realize it was done the way it was with all of that premium seating to help pay for itself….however, I wish they could have limited the loge seating boxes to maybe a few rows below the Suites and then made the section closest to the field red chairs to pack in more fans. My sister and bro-in-law got invited by some friends to sit in their loge seating box for the UCLA game and it was disappointing to hear how so many of those fans are simply disinterested in sports all together. Lots of wives going to the game with their wealthy husbands and they spend the majority of the game inside the premium lobby area socializing because they could care less about the game or sports in general. If they could have trapped that area closer to the Suites and allowed for some more passionate fans to pack closer in down below them, and then with the bleacher seating above and surrounding the area, that would have been ideal IMO. But regardless, it’s a beautiful addition to the stadium and so great to finally close in the stadium and trap the noise/sound.
-
Ghost of the HEBParticipant
That’s been my thought all along with those lower premium seats in the SEZ. It usually looks like those seats are filled with mostly just disinterested women/teenage girls/kids whose wealthy family members paid for them to be there. Like you said, half the time those seats are empty because the people are up doing something else.
-
MDUteParticipant
Ghost- I thought something like this would be cool (similar to the Raider’s Black Hole)
-
Ghost of the HEBParticipant
I like it!
-
-
-
-
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
