I could be wrong and I have no way of knowing without seeing the internal Bobcat Attack numbers. However, judging from the amount of posts, interest etc. are fewer people interested in Bobcat football, athletics in general etc? We had high hopes which obviously are not panning out and yet it doesn't seem to have generated a great deal of upheaval on the board. Are people tuning out, or looking forward to basketball? I assume basketball numbers were down last year and I would hope there would be a greater interest on the basketball side of the board in a month or two. I am just throwing it out there because I assume this could be a trend across the entire sports spectrum. The question is are people moving away from message boards because either they are tired of a lot of negative discourse in society in general, and or they feel they have stated their views and either just view without commenting, or just tune it out all together. Just curious if anyone has a good handle on what is happening?

Went to the game yesterday with an old friend. At game time, hundreds of people were content to just stay at their tailgate and visit with friends. A four hour commitment to sit on hard seats is becoming a thing of the past. The endzone plaza is a great addition but the vast majority of folks down there were very casual fans. The times have changed and will continue to. For many folks, it's just not that important any longer.

Highlight of the day - the band playing Freebird. People will remember this halftime show for many years to come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_7pV4XCBG4

Keep in mind message boards in general are falling out of style too, as no young people are joining them, they use social media. Couple that with older members losing interest, or dying, and it all makes the traffic drop fast. I’m on 2 other boards, and I use all of them WAY less than I used to (mix of waning interest and having kids). Most all are down to a small core audience.

But generally, another below expectation year is surely not helping. The demographic issues I mention above are bad enough.

It sure would help things if this site wasn't such a nightmare on mobile. This is probably the only website I come across anymore that isn't mobile responsive.

I'd say I fall into this camp to a degree.

Was planning on coming to Homecoming with my preschool aged son and Dad (who loved visiting me in Athens as much as I did living there for 4 years). When I did the math that it would be about a $250+ day trip it just wasn't worth it for me-especially when my 4 year old maybe could have lasted for the first quarter of the game.

Given the way the defense played in the 2nd half of the game-it was bad enough having to witness that for free over my phone-let alone having dropped about $150 to see it in person.

Frank ball has gotten a little long in the tooth for me, too. Everytime I hear the "Dean of MAC Coaches" or other such language it kind of makes my eyes roll anymore. Someone with such a long standing program shouldn't have such a sad sack defense.

Add in the fact that while I think the alumni base has a tremendous amount of love for Ohio University, I think it is a much smaller percentage who have the same love for Ohio Athletics-mainly because it is a small-time program in a lower tier conference.

I won't speak for everyone else, but there are times where I have deja vu being on here as I feel like we have had the same conversations most seasons ever since Frank was hired. Some days I just don't have the interest debating on if Frank should move on, how bad the secondary is, why the Bobcats lost to some team they had no business losing to, why there was a bad collapse etc.

Agreed - my interest in Frank Ball has waned significantly. I'm to the point where I come down for the tailgating and leave after the 110 50% of the time. While the offense was entertaining a year ago, the product on the field isn't as entertaining by a long shot this year.

My biggest wish? Let me re-enter the stadium for the post game show. :D

Maybe I'll try a different approach next time: Tailgate until 5 minutes before the half, come in, and leave when I feel like it.

Yet in spite of all our frustration associated with Ohio's inability to close the deal and put an entire season together, this message board reamains the most active (IMO) of any of the teams we play. Frankly, I was very surprised at the lack of activity on the NIU board leading up to last weekend's game - and they have had significantly more football success than we have. Marshall's board is still fairly active, but I feel my IQ slipping if I stay on there too long!

Football is at most $100 of that student activity fee.

Actually, they should allow you to do this... at least they did the past few years, unless they changed THAT policy this year.

15000 in the house. And the attendance figures nowadays are pretty accurate from what I can tell. I wouldn't say that "nobody was there." Crowd wasnt lackluster at all. The feel you get from TV can be far different from reality.

Jeff, I was only repeating what "my guests" told me. I understand that it was probably louder in person, but in all honesty, from the pictures I saw in various stages of the game and taking into account how many times I have been to Peden for a game (probably over 100 times) 15,000 seemed like a stretch.

Keep in mind part of my post was me just venting that I had to deal with people in my home whom I was not expecting raining on a home game victory. Yet, if I am honest some of what they said was true and if we are keeping up with the Billy Joel Honestly theme it is a lonely word. I mean look at the other MAC schools. We are the most rural school of the conference and yet we are the envy of the league with crowd support. We consistently have people driving to the games from longer distances than any other school. It goes deeper than that when one considers our academic reputation and endowment.

Honestly, we are the school that most of the MAC envies. Yet, if we are truly honest with ourselves after the Pitt victory--Coach Solich's first game in 2005, didn't we think with the increased ESPN coverage and positive publicity that we would be in a different place 14 years later? I know I felt that way, we had a coach who was widely respected and I am sure I wasn't alone in thinking we were going places. Maybe not the rarefied air of a Boise State, but certainly to a different spot than where we are right now.

I realize things change, people have more options and perhaps younger people don't get as excited for games as I did when I was their age. Also, I don't make it to nearly as many games as I once did because of family activities, like kids games and other school activities etc. I guess I was just venting a little about where I thought things could have or would have been, either 35 years ago when things were really bleak and I and a few others were still in the stands in the 4th quarter cheering on our Bobcats, or 15 years ago when the future held such promise.

This matches my assessment closely. Student attendance was light - GA side was mostly alums and some families with Ohio students (maybe families avoiding parents weekend crowds and hotel prices? Smart). Weekend before Halloween. That said, It was still a fairly decent crowd and not the usual halftime departure.

Picture perfect day for a game and good result.

I liked the fact that the school is starting to play up the Miami game. A win next week and some good marketing with the 150th anniversary celebration could set us up for a good game atmosphere. I'm making the drive over with some buddies. Hoping for an atmosphere akin to 2011 Temple or a Marshall night game!

Peden concessions are trash. Bring in local vendors. Ohio football isn’t exciting enough to go corporate.