It was an all-timer in Kingston on Saturday night.

URI pulled off a wild, come-from-behind 20-17 win over Holy Cross in front of a sold out crowd to open the 2024 season. Now, there’s no time to revel in the win though, as a date with the Minnesota Golden Gophers on the road looms this weekend.

On Monday during the weekly CAA call, head coach Jim Fleming reflected on the atmosphere and how important it was for guys – especially younger players – to see and feel that type of environment and most importantly, come out with a win.

“I think it’s everything,” he said. “When you come to play college football, you want to come to a place that has energy and excitement. Meade Stadium has become that thing to do in Kingston on Saturday nights and Saturday afternoons. I think they recognize a good product on the field. The fans are involved and see a very bright future and they’re really all about football. So, we’re thrilled to have them and it was great for our kids to get that kind of experience.

“We count on them to be there each and every game as the 12th man.”

Given the circumstances the Rams faced the victory was obviously important and a huge building block, but, it also wasn’t a clean game for Rhody. In many ways, Fleming knows the Rams barely escaped.

“To be able to finish it off the way we did was…we feel very, very fortunate to come out of there with a W,” Fleming said. “There’s so many things we need to improve upon, but, at the same time, when it got down to the last drive and we were able to win it the last seconds of the game, that’s a great tribute to the kids and their perseverance and their character. It’s a good thing to build on as you go forward, certainly.”

As of Monday that win pretty much never happened though, as all the attention shifts to a monstrous test in Minnesota. Fleming acknowledged that some games in recent years against FBS opponents have been close, so there’s experience to draw from for this one.

“Maybe we’ll do some crowd music, maybe some crowd noise, something like that,” said Fleming. “You certainly do draw experiences from your previous games as a program when you’re playing what we call ‘the money games.’ We’ve been close in a lot of those. We went through the whole roster in a team meeting this morning…you know, Pitt was a 10-point, one-score game late, they got a cheap one late and gave up a punt return in that game for a touchdown. You can’t do those things. Played Virginia Tech…we were going in for a score to tie it up in the fourth quarter, we’re unable to convert there. You’re in position to win it but you’re unable to get it if you make stupid mistakes. Triple overtime versus Central Michigan. The win over UMass.

“We have to approach it the same way we’ve been approaching it. Obviously, we’ve got a three hour plane flight to get out to Minnesota, play at 11’oclock.

“So, I’m looking forward to it and I think the kids enjoy these experiences, that’s why we schedule them.”