The College Football Playoff game versus Clemson will showcase how far DKR has come

The 2017 Maryland game in Austin was like realizing you’re still in the nightmare you thought you’d escaped. Tom Herman had been ushered into Austin and was the new hot hire on the coaching carousel. A digression, but I remember having actual conversations with friends about whether Herman was more Nick Saban or more Urban Meyer. Wow. I won’t give Herman credit for beating Maryland because he never did that, but I will give him credit for at least trying to improve the gameday atmosphere at DKR.

[Join Inside Texas TODAY and get 7 days for just ONE DOLLAR!]

He realized the experience was lacking and was forced to take on some of the responsibilities an athletic director typically handles, as Texas only had an interim one at the time in Mike Perrin. Herman attempted to modernize the music, update the intro video, and get some ticketing practices evolved. He probably should have gotten with Todd Orlando on how to defend jet sweeps instead, but alas, “winning is hard.”

The game started off incredible with a Holton Hill pick-six but quickly went downhill. My most vivid memory from that whole season happened right after Hill’s touchdown, a guy walking up the stairs to our seats tripped, busted his face, then rolled down to the bottom of the staircase and laid face down in a pool of his own blood. We tried to help him, but he refused. I felt like it was an omen for the whole Herman era. Two steps up the stairs, then a trip and fall ass-backwards. My brain, so prone to superstition, viewed it as a symbol we were trapped in Hell as a fanbase—both with the product on the field and in the environment in and around the stadium.

After the faceplant and as the game spiraled, I noticed the stadium was only seventy percent full for a home opener. The crowd was quiet as it baked in the sun. Granted, it was hard to get excited about anything that day. As I left the game with a headache and a sunburn, I started to wonder why I put myself through an experience like that at all. I had shown up, sat down, and suffered. This is why people take up homebrewing or painting model cars—because their teams and gameday let them down, I thought.

Though sweltering home openers in broad sunlight will always be a thing in Austin, the gameday atmosphere has come a long way since that muggy September loss to Maryland. The fact Texas games have become can’t-miss events in one of the nation’s most happening cities is a testament to what Chris Del Conte has built at DKR. This Saturday, a home playoff game against Clemson will be a showcase of how far everything has come.

When Del Conte was hired in December of Herman’s first year and took the role of improvements away from the head coach, he began the arduous task of improving an environment that had, at best, been compared to a wine-and-cheese club and, at worst, drawn comparisons to a mausoleum. Most importantly, Del Conte listened to the fans. God bless him for the countless tweets he responded to, hearing people’s complaints. I remember that first year I saw someone I went to college with complaining on Twitter that the University Co-Op didn’t have his baby’s onesie size. Del Conte responded and sent the guy the right size. I’m not sure why he didn’t order online, but alas, rapport with the fans was built.

The student ticket process going to “first come, first serve” was a welcome change and increased rowdiness. But the additions of Bevo Blvd. and Longhorn City Limits, plus the enhancement of tailgating around the stadium, have made the whole gameday experience feel more like an event. Now, when Texas does lose a home game, I don’t hate myself as much as I did during that September loss to Maryland. Fandom is great because of community and connection; a gameday environment needs to enhance that. Texas has. The multiyear South End Zone project, once finished, was met with some consternation as those fans don’t always sit in their seats, but the addition of it, plus the neon lights and drone show, has upgraded the whole environment from what used to be archaic to what’s now futuristic.

“Chris Del Conte has done an incredible job with the environment at DKR, all of it,” said UT Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife. “It’s truly an incredible experience. And you add to that what Steve Sarkisian has brought in with a winning culture and great team—I’ve never seen Longhorn Nation this excited about coming to home games.”

Of course, the product on the field improving is what Texas fans can thank for improving the atmosphere more than anything else. The program under Sarkisian and gameday behind the stewardship of CDC have grown together. I remember when current Houston Texans star and former Alabama great Will Anderson called DKR the “loudest environment” he’d ever played in after a near upset. It was a sign that the program and what surrounds it were on parallel tracks, finally.

If they’re not in sync, it only diminishes the other—for a loud environment with bells and whistles minus history and winning rings hollow. Just go to an Austin FC game for proof. The crowds in Austin have always supported a winner, taking on an almost Field of Dreams mentality of “if you build it, we will come.” But Mack Brown’s imploring of the Texas fanbase to “come early, be loud, stay late, wear orange” was necessary because that came in a time where the ambiance didn’t match the product on display.

Now that’s all changed. Both things have come together. Unlike the Georgia game in October, the crowd won’t be able to retreat if the team stumbles early. They’ll need to attempt to will the Longhorns back, as a loss means there are no more games on this campaign. Austin, Texas, with a home do or die playoff game against Clemson in December? Insert a Matthew McConaughey catch phrase here.

Plus, ask Sarkisian, who these days is one of McConaughey’s buddies.

“One of the values of earning a home (game) is getting that home field advantage, and we’re going to need Longhorn Nation like they’ve been all year supporting us, creating a great amount of energy, creating an intimidating environment, then ultimately us going out and playing a good football game against a really good opponent,” Sarkisian said Thursday.

[Subscribe to the Inside Texas YouTube channel!]

It’s time to showcase just how far the program, team, and fanbase have come.