(10-10-2013 06:04 PM)DetroitRocket Wrote: We'll see about NIU's attendance. They've only had one home game this season. Last year they were 12-2 and averaged 15,670. In 2011 they were 11-3 and averaged 15,209. In 2010 they were 11-3 and averaged 17,760.
Why Can't NIU Draw A Crowd In DeKalb? http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/12/27/w...in-dekalb/
I don't know the source for your attendance numbers, but my source (NCAA) shows different numbers:
2012: NIU = 20,877, UT = 20,552, average MAC =15,526 (11th out 11 FBS conferences)
2011: NIU = 18,903, UT = 22,157, average MAC = 17,033 (11th out of 11 FBS conferences)
2010: NIU = 17,760, UT = 19,333, MAC = 15,609 (11th out of 11 FBS conferences)
As you noted NIU has only played one home game this year against a FCS school with an attendance over 23,000 where UT has played two games, one against a FCS school (attendance over 20,000) and one against a MAC school (attendance over 17,000).
Granted, NIU is located in the middle of a gigantic corn field in the middle of nowhere, a hundred miles from Chicago---so all other things being equal, their attendance should generally be less than UT; however, last year, presumably on the strength of their winning ways, their attendance was actually slightly better than UT's was even with our big home games against Cincinnati and BG.
Obviously attendance in the MAC as a conference is usually the poorest in all of FBS football and even the attendance leaders don't have a lot to brag about compared to most FBS programs. On top of that, NIU is not ideally situated to be a mecca for large crowds, still winning has helped their cause.
Just out of curiosity , I also compared the attendance numbers for 2001, UT's banner year which tell a sad story about changes in UT's attendance fortunes vis-a-vis NIU over the past dozen years:
for 2001: NIU = 14,604, UT = 32,012
Reference:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/publ...index.html