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It was the smallest crowd of the season. And some would say, "Well, what did you expect considering the results?"
I'll tell you what I expect. Fans. Supporters. People who support Rutgers. In their seats to watch the game.
Yes, I loved the story of Pollyanna.
I was not there - I was working. A friend said the crowd was maybe closer to 43,000. And that is disappointing. But disappointing does not even come close to describe the students. I don't even think fairweather is appropriate. I'll go with lazy. How about disinterested? Or disengaged? Or not worthy of being in the Big Ten.
Rutgers doesn't have a student section. It has a part of the stadium allocated for students. But a student section? A group of students who come to games regardless of the circumstances and support their fellow students? No. We do not have that.
Here's the caveat. The Riot Squad stuck it out. The organized student fans were there and continued to back the Knights. But the student body in general, they don't get it. There are over 32,000 undergraduates in New Brunswick. Where were they on Saturday? Where were a third of them? You're in the Big Ten....act like it.
Around the Big Ten
Two schools had season highs in attendance on Saturday while three had season lows.
| Week 11 | 11/14/15 | |||
| School | Attendance | Capacity | % Capacity | Result |
| Illinois | 51,515 | 65000 | 79.25 | L OSU |
| Indiana | 49,557 | 52929 | 93.63 | L Michigan |
| Iowa | 70,585 | 70585 | 100.00 | W Minn |
| Michigan State | 73,406 | 75005 | 97.87 | W Md |
| Northwestern | 30,003 | 47130 | 63.66 | W Purdue |
| Rutgers | 45,606 | 52454 | 86.94 | L Nebraska |
Illinois figured having the No. 1 team in the country was worth coming out to watch. The folks in Bloomington loved their game except for the final result. The Hoosiers took Michigan to two overtimes before losing. Think they'd like the Rutgers game back? And Iowa set a season high, but has a great season to boost numbers.
The three season lows were the last three listed above. And, yes, as many expected, we didn't get a good crowd.
But there's always....
Schadenfreude
We had a sellout against Ohio State. Illinois set a season high hosting the Buckeyes. What would we draw for Clemson? A sellout? Not the 'Cuse. They did have a season high for attendance (36,736) but that still left 4,000 (~ 10%) seats empty. Maybe BC will bring a crowd the Saturday after Thanksgiving.