I've always considered myself a bigger football fan than basketball in terms of the sport itself. In terms of following for OHIO, though, it was always pretty even. I personally have noticed within myself a sort of apathy towards the happenings of OHIO football over the last year whereas I have never been more engaged in the basketball team since I left campus.

While I know this is something many of us have experienced about the program recently, the numbers on this site are pretty eye-opening. There have always been more posts, and thus, more interest in the football board than the basketball board. However, the tide is turning, and it's happening pretty quickly.

Currently, the football board has had 9,493 different topics on the site compared to 7783 topics on the basketball page. The basketball page has only about 80% of the activity that the football page does.

However, since September 1, 2021 (encompassing a full season of both programs), the numbers tell a different story. It would probably be even more if I went back another year, where the football team didn't play much and the basketball team went to the NCAA tourney and won a game. Since that date, the football board has had postings on 243 different topics. The basketball page has had 334. That means the basketball board is now closer to 140% of the output as the football page.

Just as interestingly, the recruiting pages are even showing this. Football has far more positions to fill annually in recruiting, so it should dwarf that of the basketball page. Traditionally, it has. Football has 1,176 different topics over the time of the (updated) site, while the basketball recruiting forum has only 649. Basketball is only historically 55% of what the football recruiting forum is. Yet, keeping that same date of 9/1/2021, the basketball recruiting page has had posting on 50 different topics while the football page has only seen 43. Basketball, with far fewer spots, has 116% the output of the football recruiting page.

Is this a blip or is it the new normal? Are we collectively losing interest in our football team?

Ugh, winning makes a difference

Speaking only for myself, my interest in hoops dwarfs my interest in football. That applies both to Ohio, and college football/basketball collectively.

I've always said, if college basketball in Ohio had that perfect fall weather for tailgating, it could blow football out of the water in terms of interest.

Now, I fully acknowledge that I'm in the minority as general sports fans go, and that far more people love college football more than basketball. I'm OK with all of those folks being wrong. ;-)

Much of that can simply be explained by the number of games, 12 for football and 30+ for hoops. The tangential threads coming from the games themselves, more tournaments with more potential tangential threads from those tournaments...and OHIO FB not making the postseason. Proportionally, basketball should always have significantly more threads than football. 3x more...no...but just due to the game disparity it seems to be an explainable enomaly.

I'm the exact opposite. If basketball were to cease operations it wouldn't bother me at all. I only follow and attend games because it is OHIO. Didn't even watch March Madness except when a game ran over and was bumping a show I wanted to watch.

At least the football team linemen maintain a relatively straight line when that is their intent.

I've always struggled to care about Ohio Football. I lived with a football player and we were super close, and even then I could only muster the energy for like a game and a half a year.

The reality for me is just that the stakes just aren't big enough. It's entirely unclear to me why I should care about beating Nevada in the Idaho Potato Bowl at 3pm on a Thursday before the Christmas Break even starts for most people. It's a glorified exhibition game.

We haven't won a MAC Championship in forever, play what is generally a pretty boring schedule, and play in front of small crowds on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It's just not a great product.

Our basketball program, on the other hand, is eligible for and regularly competes in a democratic, national championship tournament that many people consider the single best month of sports every year. It's responsible for classic moments, and makes obscure schools and players legends. I don't think the Potato Bowl can say that.

We're also just better at basketball. By a whole lot. I've been affiliated with OU since 2001. We've been relevant and competitive for basically that entire stretch. Even when we were at our worst in that stretch, we had first-team all conference players and were a tough team to play. We've also won multiple first-round tournament games, lost another very closely, and went to the Sweet 16. Just infinitely better from a fan perspective than finishing 3rd in the MAC and winning a bowl game to finish 8-5 or whatever.

Maybe in need of it's own thread, but here goes:

NCAA basketball - Ohio/mid majors
NCAA football - Ohio/G5
MLS - Columbus Crew (dead last for first 40 years of my life)
MLB - Cincy Reds (top of the list during my youth)
NBA
NFL
NCAA baseball - Ohio

I assume this is more of your famous sarcasm?

Agree here. And this argument was cemented when the chuckleheads like Herbstreit and others at ESPN said things like "well Cincinnati got in so why don't you stop crying about it?" or "what's the next conspiracy theory" on why G5 teams can't get in. He knows how ridiculous that statement is. They all do. The College Football Playoff isn't run by the NCAA. It's run by ESPN and The Power Five. This isn't rocket science.

I still fully believe Oklahoma State would have jumped Cincinnati had they won the Big XII title over Baylor. It took a legitimately perfect scenario for the Bearcats to get in:

-Go unbeaten the previous regular season and play really well in a NY6 bowl game even in a loss.
-Schedule tough, including one team that has to be in the Top Ten at year-end (ND did their job)
-Go unbeaten again, and win most of your games pretty convincingly (which UC didn't do)
-At least 2, possibly 3 Power conference champions have to have at least one loss, possibly two.

This won't ever happen again. If it does I'll eat crow, but by then there will probably be an expanded Playoff and a separation between current P5 and G5.

I think this is where my hangup with football is at this level. I love college football. It's my favorite sport to watch just for the insane story lines and swings. Plus going to a gameday atmosphere on a fall Saturday is unmatched; and that includes college basketball IMO. I mean if someone asks me as to why college football is so fun, I'll just pull up the 2007 season and let them peruse at their leisure.

But if we're not "devoting meaningful or relevant assets" or are simply being "okay" with not competiting for championships, then what's the point? The point of any game is to win and be the best, fair to say? If we're not doing that then why are we here? I guess you could make the argument that we're providing athletic and academic opportunities for kids who otherwise may not be afforded that luxury. That's all well and good, but I hope those kids can run fast, tackle harder and put more points on the board than Kent State's or Northern Illinois' kids.

I still think back to the "Solich's School for Boise" Sports Illustrated article that came out and thinking: yeah that could be fun! But Ohio was never going to be that and I don't know that it ever have intended to be that, as Mark alluded to above. Football at these levels can be a dream: WMU and NIU's NY6 Bowls have proven that. But are those really much more exciting than a couple NCAA Tournament wins? They're more lucrative for the conference, that's for sure. But in my untrained eye on social media indicates that any time Ohio has made noise in the NCAA Tournament it's been a bigger deal than most else. Other than Ohio and Penn State fans, does anyone really remember us beating them in football? I know people remember DJ Cooper's name though.

I just don't know anymore man. I feel like we're destined to be on this dance floor forever unless one of two things happens: (1) major donations made to the school/AD or (2) major athletic reform by the NCAA.

Glad to see you didn't major in Statistics or anything Quantatative.

Basketball has more winning tradition at Ohio. Rarely has football Been preseason favorite. We have been at the bottom of the Mac except for the solich years. Basketball with tournaments is exciting. Ohio no chance in football unless mac gets bid to playoff. Basketball is always a good coach from the ncaa tournament. Boals, groce, oshea and hunter all reached ncaa tournament. Football has not won mac since 1968.