Big Ten Attendance: the rising

Another all conference weekend and the numbers in the Big Ten went up. Three schools saw a season high in attendance and the conference average jumped to a season high thanks in part to three very large venues having very large crowds.

All the home teams won except for Iowa (we’ll leave that for another post. Thanks a lot, Coach Ferentz). The big dogs brought in the crowds as Michigan and OSU both had over 100,000 (and over capacity again) while Nebraska and Penn State each brought in over 90,000. PSU, though, was “only” at 88.86% of capacity. Those unrivaled fans missed a squeaker for the Nitty Kitties.

Worth noting: Maryland had its Homecoming and also had the smallest Big Ten crowd of the weekend. As well as the smallest crowd based on capacity. People, that team is undefeated and you can’t get a bigger crowd....for a conference game....for Homecoming?

Hey, Rutgers fans! You guys are grrrrreat fans.

Five weeks into the season and we can see trends. Eleven of the 14 conference schools reached season high game totals in the last two weeks of their home games.

Rutgers’ largest announced crowd was against Howard.

This week in the Big Ten

It’s Homecoming in Happy Valley. Should be a big test for one of those teams. And one of them will set themselves up for a nice run to the finish. Purdue and Illinois....who knows who will show up. Big non-con in East Lansing; Sparty needs a win badly.

Rutgers Attendance

So, you heard about this?

By the way, very cool graphics on the tweet.

So, it’s the second Big Ten game at home. Against the No. 4 team in the country. Pick a number....over 50,000? Under 50,000? Do we get a sellout by Saturday? I’m guessing we do go over 50K for the first time this season....in real people, not just tickets. Of course, the big question is how many will be wearing maize and blue? Rutgers is currently averaging 42,995 on the season; time to raise the totals.

So, wear the right color, people! Not sure which? Click here.

Which reminds me of when I was a kid and this gum was for sale - I think it still may be sold - by Beech Nut.

Other places we shouldn’t concern ourselves with anymore

Look, old habits die hard. So, I looked. And now, being the nice guy I am, I’m sharing with my friends.

Yes, they’re former opponents, people we should be ignoring. In the case of Boston College, though, I can’t help but sneer and snicker. “Oh, no, we would never leave the Big East and all our dear eastern friends and allies.” As the ACC moving trucks backed up to Alumni Stadium. Suck it, Eagles.

Pitt, like RU, got snubbed and dumped by Penn State. Temple....poor Temple. Good folks, nice 2015 season. But no one wants to watch.

And then the Orange. Playing at MetLife Stadium so Notre Dame would even entertain the idea of coming east. And calling the game New York’s College Classic. Seriously.

No, my friends, life is actually good in Piscataway.