Rutgers & B1G Attendance: a good week and it might get better

Around the college football world

Attendance. People do take notice.

There is actually a Twitter account that literally ridicules USF Football’s attendance.

The Bulls, former opponents in the old Big East, play at Raymond James Stadium, a pro venue. And this year they are 4-0. And are averaging just under 29,000 per game. Their largest crowd was for Illinois when they drew 35,404. Such is life for a winner in the American Athletic Conference.

And look at Boise State, everyone’s “darling” and perennial/potential BCS buster. With its high profile, I’ll bet you figure they draw 50,000 or more. Not quite. Especially since the capacity of their Albertsons Stadium is a bit over 36,000. And they’re having trouble drawing....sort of.

An article on magicvalley.com bemoaned that this year’s home opener was the smallest crowd for a season opener in ten years. And they played a day game in order to increase attendance.

And last weekend, hosting Virginia in a 42-23 loss, Boise St. began the fourth quarter with stands emptying; not a good look on TV. And that was a game that, at some point, had 33,947 tickets accounted for. Even the “hot” teams can get cold(ish).

The Big Ten

Speaking of Florida schools and how they draw (we were....look back before I started talking about Boise).

So much for beating Texas and claiming that was a big deal.

And I guess so much for “Maryland Pride”.

Of course, the big question for Rutgers will be how many OSU fans will be able to buy tickets at Rutgers for this Saturday’s game. Somewhere on line - and I just can’t find it - there have already been people pleading with RU fans to not sell their tickets to Ohio State fans for Saturday’s game. I can’t disagree. I recall the first year we were in the Big Ten; I bought extra tickets and offered them for sale. And I specifically told my PSU-alum cousin that she couldn’t buy any for the game with the Nittany Lions.

And Rutgers fans aren’t alone in this. Last fall there was a quasi-viral audio of a Michigan State fan almost coming to tears on a radio call in show over Sparty fans selling tix to Michigan fans. That’s serious....and as the show hosts said, troubling.

For the record, Stub Hub has tickets for the RU-OSU game, in a number of cases, in excess of $150. Audi Club seats are over $300. Quick buck versus loyalty?

Buyer beware....some Rutgers fan may not be happy if you’re wearing Scarlet and Grey!

As for attendance last weekend in the conference, numbers speak for themselves, especially for Purdue almost filling the house. Question, of course, is how many fans were wearing maize and blue? And Maryland....Maryland. Oh, my.

The crowds were certainly there around the conference. Indiana might be looked at as a tad disappointing but they are averaging 47,908 this year through two games. Last year, during a 6-7 season, they averaged 43,027.

And then there’s Maryland. I don’t know, I just keep coming back to them.

#OperationScarlet

Have you seen this?

For starters, it shouldn’t be hard to get a lot of people into the game wearing scarlet since Ohio State’s colors include that. It’s sort of a strange way to sell the game. I’m all in favor of promoting to bring in fans but....aren’t we already encouraged to “Wear Red to the Game”?

The student Riot Squad picked up on it, too.

And I’ll repeat....Ohio State wears red, too. The issue will be how many of those folks wearing red will be rooting for the Knights and how many for the Buckeyes? See above, my reference for Purdue.

#PackThePoint