At the end of Syracuse University’s loss to the University of Minnesota Saturday afternoon, before the marching band could play the first melancholy chord of the alma mater, thousands of fans rose to their feet and applauded.

They clapped for the Orange even though they lost, for their new quarterback despite his intercepted pass, and they left more or less content with what they’d seen.

‘I remember going to games where 5,000 people showed up last year,’ said Drew Speranza, a senior television, radio and film major. ‘This was different. It’s definitely got the feel of a new era.’

Scott Sidwell, executive senior associate athletics director, said SU sold 48,617 tickets to the game, the biggest crowd since 2000; the Carrier Dome seats a little more than 49,000. Ticket sales on Saturday beat out the 2005 football opener by about 4,000 tickets when Syracuse played longtime rival West Virginia University.

The buses from South Campus Saturday morning were packed with orange-adorned fans forced close together and up against the windows. The roar from the ‘Loud House’ was audible from across the Quad as stragglers ran from the bus stop at Comstock Place to Gate E of the Dome.

‘It was intense, there was a lot of spirit…more orange than I ever expected to see’ said Ariana Mace, a freshman history major.

Fans in the student section received orange T-shirts that read ‘It Starts Now.’ Another popular shirt had quarterback Greg Paulus’ No. 2 on the front and ‘The Devil Wears Orange’ on the back, which refers to Paulus’ four years as a Duke University Blue Devil.

‘There’s definitely more excitement this year,’ said Paul Kloster, a junior magazine journalism major. ‘I was excited to go today because I knew there would be a lot of people here, which hasn’t happened in so long. It’s exciting to have fans there in the fourth quarter, and to have people cheering until the end and even at the end.’

Sidewell credited much of the hype and ticket boom to new head coach Doug Marrone, who Sidwell said has energized the fan base.

Students were impressed by Marrone’s coaching in Saturday’s game and despite Paulus’ overtime blunder, fans were happy with the quarterback as well.

‘Marrone manages the game well,’ said Bryant William Sculos Bryant William SculosBryant Sculos, a junior political philosophy major. ‘It seemed like the players were playing harder for him.’

David Buziashvili, a transfer student, attended his first SU football game Saturday and said he was also impressed with Marrone and Paulus.

‘(Paulus) made a mistake at the end, but there was a lot of pressure today,’ said Buziashvili, an accounting major. ‘Marrone looks good, too. I like a lot of his plays. I will definitely be coming back to cheer on the Orange.’

SU’s next game is Sept. 12 at noon at Penn State University in State College, Pa. The team will return home Sept. 19 to take on Northwestern University.

‘There’s not much to be too disappointed about. Freshman year versus Washington, it was a primetime ESPN broadcast game, and we were completely embarrassed,’ Kloster said. ‘This feels different. We stayed much more competitive.’

jmterrus@syr.edu

Published on September 7, 2009 at 12:00 pm