menu
Logo
99+
Bobcat Attack Menu
Logo
99+
Ohio Football Topic
Topic: Congratulations Frank on 8-4
Page: 5 of 5
mail
bshot44
12/3/2018 9:36 PM
Deciduous Forest Cat wrote:expand_more
Interest in Ohio football is bottoming out.

Mr Quantifier - Please Quantify this statement.... (facts please - not conjecture)
Ummm? This factual enough for you?

As I stated before, attendance down for 4th straight year.

16,229 ... lowest average since 2008 and 2nd lowest of Solich era. And that 2008 team went 4-8.

It's also the largest year-to-year drop in attendance in Solich era.

Fans aren't coming like they were in previous years.

"Bottoming out" may have been an overdramatic choice of words ... I'll give you that. But the essence of my point was interest is fading.
When talking about interest in Ohio football, before saying that interest has bottomed out/fading based on attendance figures, I think you have to:

--Consider more than attendance:
Someone made the point about more weekday vs. Saturday games. I'd be interested in the total number of people watching on TV/streams. I bet they are at all-time highs. Also, financial backing. I don't have stats, but it seems that financial donations to athletics is near all-time highs as well?

--Consider the entire college football landscape:
The SEC is down in attendance. The SEC. Where weather is not usually a factor, a ranked team is playing on national TV several times each weekend, and a hot coaching candidate is leading a team. And it sounds like they have wayyy better concessions.

From USA Today/Montgomery Advertiser: The SEC saw a drop of more than 2,400 fans per game last season, which was the biggest decline of any Power Five conference.

The drop in attendance wasn't limited to the SEC, with the entire Football Bowl Subdivision losing an average of about 1,400 fans per game in 2017. The American Athletic Conference had the biggest drop at nearly 3,000 per game. (Source: https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/sports/college... /)
I agree with you that attendance is down all across CFB ... the stats reflect that. No question.

But look at it from this perspective ... a 1,400 fans per game drop in an 80,000 person stadium is roughly 2% drop.

A nearly 4,000 fan per game drop in a 24,000 seat stadium is a nearly 17% drop.

I don't think there is really any way to tell how many Ohio fans are watching weeknight #MACtion on TV vs. non-Ohio fans that tune in. So you could very well be right that more fans are watching on TV.

Be completely honest ... do you feel like the buzz around the program is as strong as it was in 2011 or 2012? The stadium has a noticeably different feel for home games the last few years. It's obviously nothing like in 90s ... but I just don't get the feeling like there's more excitement around things.

I think the excitement of simply making a bowl game has dulled. We're used to it now. 10th time in 14 years ... 8th in last 9 years. That has become the norm for Ohio football.

I stand by earlier comments that casual fans seem "bored" with the 58% success that some on here rave about. Even some of the more dedicated fans are a little bored?

A 4-0 start with a win at Pitt and Marshall next year would be a nice jolt for the program ... I think it would really provide some spark to the fanbase entering the MAC season.

They missed that opportunity this year with the loss at UC and NIU early in the year. Whatever excitement around being MAC favorites faded in a 3-3 start the year.

Let this marinate ... in 2014 ... a 6-6 (4-4) non-bowl season .... Ohio drew the third biggest crowd in Peden Stadium history against Idaho. Ida-freakin-ho!?! Then turned around against Eastern Illinois of FCS fame and drew 23000+

And we can't draw 20k for any home game with a team projected to win the league that has one of the most exciting offenses in school history?!?!
We were blessed with great weather a lot in recent years. This year was not as good
Hmmm? The weather was pretty good for Howard & UMass ... and BG looked good on TV (was out of town for that game)

Saturday attendance was awful this year
mail
OhioCatFan
12/3/2018 9:36 PM
GoCats105 wrote:expand_more
Last year NIU sold 11.3K tickets per home game. NIU purchased back tickets to have the NCAA minimum of 15K per game in order to meet a bowl standard. I assume Ohio must meet the same standard. Has anyone else heard of this?
Yes. That's actually one of the criteria the NCAA has in place in order for the school to remain in the FBS level. Buying back the tickets is how they get around that/meet that stipulation. EMU has been notorious for that.

I believe this over a rolling 3-year period as well. I'm not 100% on that portion. These damn Cincinnati microbrews and their IPAs have my NCAA Rules class in college fading into the abyss.
The other issue is that the NCAA doesn't really enforce that rule. I was told once the someone "in the know" that there are some legal aspects that make it difficult for the NCAA to enforce the attendance rule. Schools still give lip service to it, and try to meet it, but I understand that several schools haven't met it at times, and have suffered no ill consequences. Back, when it first was promulgated they did enforce the rule, but not in this century.
mail
TWT
12/4/2018 12:29 AM
cbus cat fan wrote:expand_more
Unless a MAC team consistently cracks the Top 25 or even Top 10, we will never see the attendance figures that we did a few years back. The sports landscape has changed. If the SEC and Big Ten have peaked, you know there is a trend. Look at the NFL, they are happy that they have recovered 5% of the audience they lost in the last few years, even though their losses have been in the double digits. NFL ad revenue is nowhere near what it was five years ago.
Older fans tend to buy into the idea their school is at a certain level because its in the Big Ten or SEC ect. They have not heard of many of the G5 schools before. They have a sense of entitlement which drives their support. While the level of football might have hurt the MAC trying to build fans in the past it did invite some fans to demand better and hang in. For today's students a trip to the football stadium is something to be tried once like a walk through the student union art gallery.
mail
OhioStunter
12/20/2018 2:19 PM
OhioStunter wrote:expand_more
For those of you continuing to bitch about the lack of a MAC championship, you are limiting yourselves to using that as the only measure of success. Is the loss to Miami frustrating? Hell, yeah. But lets look at the bigger picture and expand the definition of a successful program.

1. For the most part, avoids negative news and incidents that embarrass the university and alums-CHECK.

2. Is consistently competitive-CHECK

3. Wins a conference championship-NOPE

4. Gets to the post-season-CHECK

5. Has a fun game day atmosphere-DEBATABLE, although for me, spending an afternoon/evening in Athens is always a pleasure. I could care less if it's sold out or there are 2K in the stands. And thank you for the decision to have Jackie O's on tap.

6. Develops NFL-caliber players-CHECK (and thank you TJ Carrie for another good game for the Browns yesterday).

7. Student athletes graduate-CHECK

Looking at my list, this would look a hell of a lot different pre-Solich (I was there from 1990-1995). There's probably more. Feel free to accuse me of settling for mediocrity.
I think this is the most important post I've read here. We all want the elusive MAC title. But there's also a bigger picture here. And in the end, it won't really affect the type of bowl we're going to.

Lost in this disappointment is how much this Ohio team dominated the conference this year.

-Beating the MAC East champion by 35 points
-In MAC games won, winning by an average of 29 points
-In MAC games lost, losing by an average of 2.5 points
-In all losses, losing by an average of 5.5 points
-In all wins, winning by an average of 25 points
-MAC average per game scoring differential -- 21 points
-The team averaged more than 6 yards per rushing attempt
-Rourke is in the top 15 in the nation in passing efficiency
-Zervos is in the top 25 in scoring
-AJ is in the top 20 in rushing yards
-Irons and Rourke are in the top 20 in yards per carry
-Team is in the top 10 in scoring

Great performances. Came up two points short at Miami. Three points short at NIU. Disappointing.

But I enjoyed the season overall. The guys played well. The coaches coached well. Will enjoy the bowl game and look forward to another good season next year and competing for the MAC title. I hope, for Frank's sake more than anyone else, that we get that.
I didn't do the math, but some of these stats likely go up after last night.
Showing Messages: 101 - 104 of 104
reply
vertical_align_top
vertical_align_center
vertical_align_bottom
add_comment
chevron_backward
MAC News Links



extra small (< 576px)
small (>= 576px)
medium (>= 768px)
large (>= 992px)
x-large (>= 1200px)
xx-large (>= 1400px)