Rutgers & B1G Attendance: It's finally over, RU fans

The announced crowd for Rutgers' season finale was 44,846.  Yeah, that was the "official" attendance, not those who actually showed up.  There were a lot of empty seats upstairs, especially in the corners; the upper deck looked like a bell curve.  And I know it was Thanksgiving weekend, but I still shake my head at the students.

Through some "time lapse" photos of High Point Solutions Stadium last Saturday, we give you the students:

Oh, wait.  It was a noon start.  Students got a late start out of the residence halls.

Well, they must have gotten there by half time, right?

Team wasn't doing well.  You didn't like the coach.  But these guys (below) were still there, still putting it on the line for Dear old Rutgers U.  You couldn't be there for them?

Just me, I guess.

Rutgers pulled in its smallest crowd of the year against Maryland.  Hopefully, with the coming changes, that issue will be put to bed for a while.  You can't be a Big Ten school and allow the opposing team's fans to dominate your home stadium.  And with tOSU and Nebraska, that happened.

Around the Big Ten

It was rivalry weekend.  Even if we don't have one (yet) and even though Penn State feels they are #unrivaled.  We've played Maryland the last two years, and will again in 2016.  After that, though, the last game switches to the Spartans.  Maybe we should look into that.

Rivalries

I don't get Northwestern.  This is a good team, an entertaining team.  Playing the state university at Soldier Field in Chicago.  Sounds like a big deal.  And they draw just over 33,000.  It is pretty much on target with their season average, but why can't they pull in more people?  Anybody have an answer?

School	Attendance	Capacity	% Capacity	Result
Minnesota	52,850	50,805	104.03	L Wisconsin
Michigan	111,829	107,601	103.93	L Ohio State
Michigan State	74,705	75,005	99.60	W Penn State
Nebraska	90,830	92,000	98.73	L Iowa
Rutgers	44,846	52,454	85.50	L Maryland
Indiana	37,152	52,929	70.19	W Purdue
Northwestern	33,514	61,500	54.49	W Illinois

And at the RAC

It was one that slipped away in the closing minutes, the Knights dropping a game to Wake Forest.  And who was there?  Well, I know my classmate and former RU center Gene Armstead was there.

Gene Armstead via Facebook

He may have gray hair and wear glasses, but that 6'9" frame still scares me.  But I digress.

Rutgers drew just 3,817 people to the RAC for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge game.  And Rutgers is only averaging 3,853.  Yes, it's the non-con schedule, and yes, Eddie & Co. still need to prove they have something to show up for.  But maybe...just maybe...you put a few thousand more in the building and we actually get a home court advantage.

And yet there's always Syracuse and.....schadenfreude

They fired their coach, they finished with a win to go 4-8 (and I'm gloating?), and they drew 30,317 to their season finale vs. Boston College...which finished 3-9.  An attendance figure that was 1,000 below the season average.  An average that got a healthy boost from the 43,000 at the LSU game.

Which brings up an interesting point.  Al Golden resurrects Temple and moves on to Miami where he ultimately is fired.  Golden is succeeded at Temple by Steve Addazio, who is successful and who then moves on to BC.  Where he finished 3-9 this year, and is 17-21 in three seasons.  And Addazio is succeeded by Matt Rhule who we seem to covet.  I'm just looking at history and.....ya know.