My Top Ten UMass Football experiences

Only thirty days until the 2008 season opens and only five days till football camp starts! Be still my heart.

I read this article about one man's ten best college football experiences and I started thinking about my ten best UMass football memories. This list only contains games that I was actually in attendance.

1. Attending the National Championship game against Appalachian State in Chattanoogna.
   
2. Attending the 1978 27-0 win over Boston College and the largest ever crowd (20,000) at McGuirk.
3. Being at the 1996 UMass-UConn game at McGuirk. UMass was down 38-19 with twelve minutes to play. UMass TE Eric Henry catches a Jeff Smith pass with 31 seconds left for a UMass win 39-38. Greatest comeback in UMass history.
4. The Fly0ver at the Navy game. Two S-3's go over the stadium 500 feet up. And UMass played great football. The UMass band wows the Navy crowd.
5. Being at the BU game at Nickerson field when Frank Alessio ran for 337 yards.
6. Watching the Hatchell brothers beat UNH in both 2006 games.
7. Watching Steve Lemay's 102 yard interception for a TD against BU.
   
8. Watching Ben Albert score a TD and beat Holy Cross 7-3 and end their long home win streak.
9. Watching UMass beat Lehigh 27-21 in the first FCS playoff game at McGuirk since 1977.
10. Watching UMass crush UConn 62-20 in 1999. UMass played everybody except the student managers.

What's your favorite memory? TV games don't count. You had to have been there.

UPDATE: Just purchased two Texas Tech tickets from the UMass Athletic Ticket office! An honorable mention favorite UMass memory would be the Kansas State game. UMass led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter and there were 60,000 very, very quiet Cats fans at the game.