If you ever wanted to know the sort of impact that a sold out crowd at Jones AT&T Stadium can have on the Texas Tech football team, all you need to do is listen to Red Raiders defensive lineman Skyler Gill-Howard.
He hasn’t been around Lubbock, Texas all that long, but it sure seems like Gill-Howard is growing a deep sense of appreciation for the way Texas Tech football fans show up and support the Red Raiders. And they certainly did just that when the Red Raiders hosted the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions. Texas Tech fans made their presence felt and they filled up the stadium.
And that made quite the impression on Texas Tech’s Gill-Howard.
During the postgame press conference, the defensive lineman made it clear how much he enjoyed that atmosphere.
Texas Tech defensive lineman Skyler Gill-Howard sure seemed impressed by Red Raider fans in huge win vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
“The atmosphere was absolutely amazing,” Gill-Howard explained. “To have a home game sell out, I’ve never had that before in my career.”
And there’s a good reason for that. Prior to playing for Joey McGuire and the Red Raiders, Gill-Howard was playing for the Northern Illinois Huskies. And it’s not that NIU is bad, it’s just that MAC football is very different from Big 12 football. And the fan presence is going to be wildly different for both teams.
Thus, the atmosphere is going to be a bit different.
“I’ve experienced crowds like that, but never for a home game,” Gill-Howard said.
I suspect a lot of folks can get complacent about what a sold out crowd at a place like Texas Tech can be like. The vast majority of college football takes place at schools with much different stadiums and fanbases. And that doesn’t make those things bad. It’s different at a place like NIU and many other G5 schools.
Heck, things are really different at the levels below that. FCS, D-II, D-III, and NAIA football are all great for a variety of different reasons.
But a sold out stadium at the FBS level at a school in the P4 is just going to feel different on game day.
“To have the fans come out and support us, it just means a lot,” Gill-Howard said.