A University Police officer investigates a reported fight in the stands during the first half of Saturday’s game. DM Photo | Thomas Graning
This weekend’s football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide will bring in the largest crowd Oxford has seen in years, according to Oxford Chief of Police Joey East.
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium holds over 60,000 people, nearly three times the population of Oxford. This weekend, though, will bring many more than that.
“I think there will be 80,000 people here because there will probably be about 15,000 people that won’t even go to the game,” East said. “They’re here visiting. There won’t be enough tickets.”
Alabama has a large fan base that travels well, especially due to Tuscaloosa’s relative proximity to Oxford and the caliber of Alabama’s football program. These factors coupled with the atmosphere of the Grove and the presence of College GameDay should draw a huge crowd.
“It’s going to be pandemonium,” East said. “We’re expecting chaos.”
He’s not the only one. Students and the University Police Department are also doing what they can to get ready for the crowd, which is nothing new to Director of University Police and Campus Safety Calvin Sellers.
“We prepare year round,” Sellers said. “We don’t ever quit planning for football. We hire extra police from other police departments for every game. Usually, we hire 60 to 80, depending on the game. For Alabama, 80.”
East said OPD has requested horses for mounted patrol from New Orleans and Memphis police departments to aid on the Square and in the downtown area this weekend. He said the horses have proven to be effective in the past.
“We found out that works just tremendously,” East said. “No one really gets upset when the horses come through, and they move people really gently.”
Both Oxford and University police departments will also be getting help from Cobra Security to fill in where the police officers won’t have the man power to be on patrol.
Police officers aren’t the only ones putting extra effort into getting ready for the Alabama game. Fans will be making special preparations as well. Eric Briscoe, a senior biochemistry major from Como, Mississippi, said that since fans will be arriving on campus as early as 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, he’s taking extra measures to anticipate the crowds.
“This game will require a lot more time,” Briscoe said. “I’ll have to spend most of Friday in the Grove just holding a spot for my tent. Then Saturday, I’ll leave the Grove early to line up well before the stadium gates open at 12:30.”
Sellers will also be on campus Saturday, but he won’t be waiting around with a drink in his hand.
“We know that with some games we’re going to have a larger crowd, and by virtue of that, you’re just going to have more problems,” Sellers said. “And we know that Alabama is going to bring a bunch of folks. With more drinking, there are more people fussing over seats. There’s opportunity for different fans to intermingle and argue and fuss with a bigger crowd.”
“Bigger crowd” may be an understatement, though. Briscoe said he’s been “Groving” for over ten years now, and he thinks this weekend’s crowd will compare to the one at Eli Manning’s last home game against LSU in November of 2003.
“It was the biggest Ole Miss game I’ve ever been to,” he said. “I think there will be as many people here this weekend, or more, because of GameDay. It’ll be a similar atmosphere with a better outcome, I hope.”
The outcome of the game will have a significant effect, according to the chief of police.
“There will be a big crowd that leaves; it just depends on who wins the game,” East said. “The good thing about Alabama, though, is that it’s an early game, so that should help us with traffic and getting people out. The new roundabouts have worked great, but the biggest issue we’re having right now is with Jackson Avenue and 278. People aren’t utilizing the new Belk Boulevard enough.”
But East said traffic leaving Oxford won’t be the only thing OPD has to worry about.
“We’ve had times with big rivals where we had to shut the Square almost completely down, which means there’s no drive-thru traffic,” he said. “We have to monitor that because there’s so many people walking the streets there that it becomes a public safety issue.”
According to East, though, nothing is certain.
“We just don’t know. If Ole Miss wins, it’s going to be big.”
