Rites of Spring: College Football Games
I love spring college football games. They are literally the worst games to go to. Yet, this Saturday, I am flying from New York to Chicago to watch my Northwestern Wildcats play themselves in the ceremonial final spring practice?
Why? Well, it's because I'm like most rabid college football fans -- we can't wait for the season and the spring game is the best thing we can get until August.
What's amazing about spring football games is the attendance at some of these things. Again, this is because the game is so bad.
Let's go over the details. Your team is playing itself. No one is really trying hard. And there's no one to root against.
And last spring at Alabama, 92,138 people came out to watch.
People always seem to think that attendance at spring games is some sort of indicator as to how crazy the fan base is for a team. So I thought it would be interesting to look at the box scores and stories and put together a small list of spring game crowds from games played so far this year:
Nebraska: 80,149
Ohio State: 76,346
Penn State: 73,000
Florida: 60,000
LSU: 33,624
Virginia Tech: 30,000
Michigan State: 27,000
Missouri: 26,322
Oklahoma: 23,306
Wisconsin: 22,000
West Virginia: 18,000
Colorado:17,800
Rutgers:14,501
Illinois: 12,531
Kansas: 7,500
Idaho: 5,100
Utah: 4,500
Arizona State: 3,000
I’m surprised that Idaho, which finished the season 1-11 and 0-8 in the WAC, outdrew Arizona State, which went 10-3 and was the co-champion of the Pac-10. Oklahoma’s numbers look low to me as well.
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