(07-04-2020 11:08 AM)goofus Wrote: I am not sure if it is still true today, but a few years ago, the top 7 teams (OSU, Mich, PSU, Neb, Wisc, MSU, Iowa) in the Big Ten all had average football attendance over 70,000 and bottom 7 teams all had average attendance below 50,000. There was a clear line between the top 7 football schools and bottom 7.
More recently NW, Purdue, Minnesota, and Indiana have had some decent bowl seasons to help blur the lines. It will be interesting if an increase in attendance follows. Maybe before the pandemic. Now I am not so sure.
Actually the attendance disparity between the top of the B10 and the bottom is almost 97,000 to 38,000 or 2.5 to one. The top being OSU, PSU, scUM, Nebraksa, and Wisky and then Illinois, Rutgers, NW, Indiana, Minn, and MD.
The top schools in the B10 start the season with about 3.5 conference wins and at least 2.5 OOC wins. This allows the top 6-7 to work their way to a high ranking playing only 4-5 competitive games.
Put another way, the Globtrotters need the Generals to stage a game. The Big 10 is starkly this way. The SEC and the ACC are somewhat more competitive until recent times. In the SEC 4-5 programs rotate around the top and one sits at the bottom with about 7-8 in the middle. In the ACC 1-3 programs rotate around the top, but the remaining 11 rotate around the middle.
The following conferences would be be fully competitive in football:
Medium Boys
Minnesota, NW, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers, Syracuse, and BC
Pitt, MD, UVa, NCSU, UNC, Duke, WF, GT,
Average attendance in this conference - about 40K - ranging up to about 58-60K
Big Boys
Miami, FSU, Clemson, VT, PSU, Ohio State
Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska
Average attendance in the conference - about 90K - ranging up to 110K