I was disappointed in the crowd size as well. People act like they crave names, then we bring in a pretty solid name nationally and it doesn't seem to move the meter an inch.
There was no noteworthy reason why the crowd should be held back. The local reasons discussed are laughable. Weather was perfect. Not even a conflicting OSU game or other big game to watch. To me it just comes down to the casual fan alumni living in state. They should've come and would've had a lovely day, but they continue to choose not to even with a good team, star QB, and notable opponent.
But about half or more of the students staying after halftime was a great development! Hope we see more of that.
Laughable? If I recall correctly, on more than one occasion you had to miss a game because you either had to coach one of your kid's games or they were playing in one. I know it may be hard for you to believe, but people do have lives in addition to a noon football game on a perfectly beautiful Saturday in September.
Of course Alan, I only make it to about half the games due to other family items and I know others are the same. But that is true of every literally every single day on the calendar. There was nothing unique about September 16, 2023 to suppress attendance. And jostling the start time around would just make some able to go and others now not able to go. In fact, my freshman had his JV soccer game at 6:30. Had the game been at 3:30 I would not have been able to attend.
My point is having Iowa State in town on a beautiful day should've triggers a few thousand alumni around the state to say "oh we should go to that" and it clearly didn't move the meter at all, which is disappointing.