BULLDOG EXTRA: Fans Help Fuel Ferris State Past Northwood In Season Opener
By Harrison Watt
FerrisStateBulldogs.com
Big Rapids, Mich. - Nationally sixth-ranked Ferris State's 40-3 victory on Saturday night was aided by a 24-point second half push, but maybe just as importantly, one of the largest crowds in recent history at Top Taggart Field.
Before kickoff, fans were piling in and unable to find seating. So they took to the hills in the grass surrounding the field as nearly 6,000 fans were tallied inside Top Taggart Field to see the defending GLIAC Champion Ferris State football team in action.
The announced crowd of 5,976 fans represented the largest home crowd to watch the Bulldogs in action in more than 11 years since the 2004 season opener against Grand Valley State. It was the biggest home crowd in the Tony Annese era.
"Playing in front of a big crowd was a lot of fun," redshirt freshman defensive end Dylan Roney said. "The whole game I just had an adrenaline rush."
Roney finished with a second best six tackles and 1.5sack tackles for a loss in his Ferris State debut.
"I normally don't notice it, but tonight I did turn back at halftime just to look," Annese said. "I said to myself 'Wow.' The culture's really changed here, it's just really incredible that we've got that kind of support."
Following a slow first half on offense, it was a special team's play that got the Bulldogs back in the drivers seat.
With 4:27 to play in the first half, Northwood fumbled a Ferris State punt that was batted into the endzone where Ferris State junior running back and special team's specialist Kyle Kujawa fell on the football to give the Bulldogs a 16-3 lead going into the half, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
The Ferris State offense took off in the second half as it put up 595 yards of total offense on the evening.
Most noticeably, the stands were clearly still full into the early fourth quarter as Ferris State had put the game away.
The student turnout was so overwhelming, some students left to sit on the bleachers on the far side of the field.
In the stands, a shirtless student section leader with a Bulldog painted on his chest led the Bulldog-faithful into action, which fueled the defense to allow less than 250 yards of total offense against Northwood in their season opening victory.
The crowd of 5,976 topped the crowd for the 2014 home opener against the Grand Valley State Lakers in what was Ferris State's third consecutive win against the Lakers in what was a similarly beautiful night for football.
Next week, Ferris State will travel to the home of the nation's #20 ranked team in hopes of retaining the Anchor-Bone Trophy for the fourth consecutive year.
The Lakers are coming off of an upset victory over #7 Ohio Dominican, which will likely cause this game to be a match up of nationally top 15 ranked teams come Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7 pm from Lubbers Stadium.
In FSU's last visit to Allendale, a total of 13,456 fans were on hand when Ferris State won 40-24 to snap an 11-game series' skid and begin the current three-game win streak over the Lakers. That night, on Oct. 6, 2012, Ferris State rushed for 457 yards and had three 100-yard rushers in the game while beating the Lakers.