Attendance Woes

[hammb]

I was a student Meyer's two years. Was support really that good because I don't remember it being that way. I remember in 2002 we were undefeated and ranked, and I wrote a letter to the editor about how pathetic it was that we could only draw 16,000 for a game. I think it was a week or two before we lost to NIU. I also always remember being scoffed at by other students that I followed BG first and foremost.

Not saying Meyer didn't try but I'll argue how much of a significance it had or how effective it was. I remember a small group of students wearing Urban Meyer touchdown club shirts. Don't remember him creating much appeal beyond that. Meyer was just some no name then, most people didn't give a rats ass what he was talking about.

We're always going to have to deal with that. BG's student population will always rather root for the OSU/UM/ND teams rather than their own school. That's an unfortunate reality that we have to deal with.

I also think that the BCS is succeeding in its goal of widening the gap between those top tier programs and their competition. Hell I don't think they intended it, but I think the BCS has done a real good job of widening the gap between those elite programs and even their conference brethren. It's quite conceivable that THIS is as much to blame for the discrepancy as anything, I don't know.

I was a student for Meyer's years in BG as well, and I definitely thought we had a pretty good fan following/student support. Especially compared to what we had in the prior years under Blackney. I thought that Meyer took a program that was completely dead and instantly injected some enthusiasm into it. I remember chanting Urban Meyer's name in packed, rowdy student sections not only at football games, but also whenever he walked into Anderson Arena.

I agree that it sucks that even when we were ranked and had that enthusiasm we were still only pulling in 17k fans, but that's still more than we're pulling in this year.

I don't know what the answers are, and maybe I'm completely wrong on the coaches shouldering some of that responsibility. All I know is that BG (and all of the MAC) will always have to deal with the students never fully embracing the teams. And from what I saw when I was a student both Dakich & Meyer created a buzz that was a lot more prominent than what seems to happen nowadays.

[hammb]

It should also be noted that one other thing that both Urban & Brandon did to help build a buzz was play tough football, and even pull out victories, against BCS caliber opponents.

I know it is not a popular sentiment on this board of die hards, but I firmly believe that you get a lot more buzz and fan following from a single victory at Purdue or Northwestern than you do out of being a perennial MAC title contender/winner.

Meyer had victories over Mizzou (x2) and Northwestern. In his first couple years Brandon managed to beat Purdue and Northwestern while also playing Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and OSU tough. I absolutely think you pull in a lot more casual fans by playing these teams tough and pulling out victories than you do by getting shellacked by Indiana, VaTech, WVU, etc then playing well in conference. Sure, winning our conference is important, but if you want to be taken seriously by voters/media and draw casual fans you better start playing well in the games they take notice of.

I guarantee you the casual BG area football fan is probably a huge fan of OSU/UM. When they see a Big10 also ran like IU beat the crap out of us, knowing that IU rarely can compete in the Big Ten, what do you think that makes them think about coming out to watch BG games?

This is one area that Clawson MUST improve upon. We cannot continue getting demolished every time we face even a mediocre BCS team...we need to start pulling out victories, or at least keep games close (last year's UF game was a nice exception).

[kdog27]

I agree with you on the BCS games. They are by far the games I get most excited about And have the fondest memories attending. Can't wait to go to the MSU game next weekend. If we could somehow win I'd never let these SEC fans down here hear the end of it. Of course I would like to see that MAC championship but the BCS games carry much more relevance to me.

I do remember the Meyer chants now that you mention it. I do question a head football coach taking time away from what I imagine (hope) is an 80-100 hour a week job. While I do think it is cool when a coach is in touch with the students/fans but they have a hard enough job.

[Falconfreak90]

Akron brought about 50 total fans. As a side note. What did you guys think of being told where to park in the season ticket lot? I'm not exactly a fan.

50 sounds about right...

And I always park in Lot 13 with the AZZ.com group....except I did park in the season tix lot for Tulsa since I made it 5 min before kickoff. I heard someone else mention they were told where to park in the st lot. Don't think that's a good move....

[Falconfreak90]

I am a huge advocate of the belief that "PEOPLE SHOULD ROOT FOR THEIR ALMA MATER"!!! (How many BG Alum are there???)

People ask me all the time "Who is your team?" -- I love saying BG

You and me both! Usually I get the "I know BG's your favorite team but who's your REAL team?" Ummm....BGSU beeotch! Usually that's followed with "But you're from Ohio so don't you root for osu?". Ummm....BGSU is ALSO from Ohio. Don't you root for BG?

At that point the joke has run its course or the other party is so confused they don't know what to say.

[Beaker]

I was at the 2002 EMU night game. No chance there was anywhere near 13,000 there that night. They might have sold that many tickets or did whatever they do to fudge numbers for the "officlal attendance", but there wasn't more than 4,000 people actually in that stadium that night. It was an eery feeling. The stadium was so empty, you could very clearly hear players talking in normal tones on the field, not just the QB barking cadence. Understandable that it was so empty ---- I think my hot chocolate had nearly frozen by the time I got it back to my seat! Definitely the coldest game I have ever been to.

[kdog27]

That was the only game I ever left early.

[Schadenfreude]

Whenever I see us on TV I think.... Can't they make everyone sit on the side opposite the cameras? At least make it look like someone is there

When they settle the future of the stadium, perhaps they will consider moving the press box and TV cameras over to the east side of the ballpark.

I wonder if they can. I'm not a videographer, but I do know that the sun can be pretty tough on that side come late afternoon.

[Schadenfreude]

I was at the 2002 EMU night game. No chance there was anywhere near 13,000 there that night. They might have sold that many tickets or did whatever they do to fudge numbers for the "officlal attendance", but there wasn't more than 4,000 people actually in that stadium that night.

Remember the flex ticket packages? For a few seasons, I was buying those: 10 tickets, and use 'em at any game you want.

I'm pretty sure when the university counted up attendance for the final game of the season, they would throw all the unused flex tickets into the total. It wasn't really fudging; it's a legit approach to counting the number of tickets sold plus all students through the gate. But, some seasons, the number listed in the box score had little connection with what you saw that night in the stands.

Also, I agree that a win or two against a BCS program would help. Remember, Meyer beat Missouri right out of the gate. That turned some heads.

[bgsufalcon24]

That was the only game I ever left early.

The 2006 Miami game was the only game I left early. 35 degrees and driving rain the whole game. Had on 4 layers of clothes and that wasn't enough to avoid getting soaked to the bone. Glad I left early too, given that we missed a chip shot FG at the buzzer.

[jakehovs23]

About the student attendance part...I know a few guys on my floor said they weren't going because they knew Akron was going to be a bloodbath. I'm assuming they're not the only ones...I think quality of opponent does really make a difference.

[jakehovs23]

I'm assuming UMass will be the same. Nobody really wants to see us play the bottom of the bottom. I'm hoping the Ohio and Toledo games will be different.

[Schadenfreude]

I think we will have a somewhat bigger crowd this weekend. It's homecoming. I'll guess 16,500.

[Mr_Sweets]

About the student attendance part...I know a few guys on my floor said they weren't going because they knew Akron was going to be a bloodbath. I'm assuming they're not the only ones...I think quality of opponent does really make a difference.

No offense, but be a leader/advocate for BG sports and tell your boys to go to the game. Bloodbath or not.... we need more current students that WANT to be at every game!

I used to love watching BG put up 40+ routinely on teams.

[hammb]

I'm assuming UMass will be the same. Nobody really wants to see us play the bottom of the bottom. I'm hoping the Ohio and Toledo games will be different.

I think that is one thing that we're always going to be fighting for attendance, too.

The typical BG student grows up in Ohio or Michigan rooting for one of those powerhouse schools. Even if they go to college and DO embrace the overall BG experience, you're fighting an uphill battle with the perception (oftentimes CORRECT perception) of our conference brethren.

I watch quite a bit of college football. It's a real tough sell to get somebody to give up watching matchups against top tier teams to come out and watch BG trounce the bottom few teams in Division 1 football. It's an even tougher sell to get them to come out and watch competitive matchups against those crap teams when BG is having a down turn.

I'm a pretty loyal BG fan, I love BG. But even for me, I'm real hard pressed to go watch a lousy MAC matchup if there are top tier games on television. And I have no rooting interest in any of those BCS teams...if I'm not watching BG I'm mostly watching other matchups as a draftnik trying to identify talent for the NFL.