Unt Demolishes Smu (official Ncaa Attendance Stats Here)

[Objective Aggie]

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/Internet/attend...GATTENDANCE.pdf

* Interesting that Auburn did not sell out every game.

* Rice averaged 13k.

* La Tech averaged only 18k, somehow I thought they would have 25 to 30k?

(ignore teams from 120 on, these are neutral site games)

[LongJim]

To me, UCF is a striking example: They averaged about 98% of capacity this year, after many years of not being able to draw flies. The difference being a new stadium and more importantly: W-I-N-N-I-N-G.

[ADLER]

This may be an ArkStfan type of question, but I'll toss it out to the masses.

What happens to the schools that repetitively fall below the mandated 15,000 attendance plateau? There are NCAA regulations which will eventually force them down to the division formerly known as 1AA. What's the timeframe for probation and demotion? What happens to the conference(s) that fall below the 8 required Division 1 members.

While it's nothing to brag about, it's nice to see that the Sun Belt only has one team on that list.

New Mexico St. (WAC) 14412

Buffalo (MAC) 13568

Rice (CUSA) 13353

Utah St. (WAC) 13131

Ball St. (MAC) 13085

Idaho (WAC) 11479

Kent St. (MAC) 8999

Florida Int'l (SBC) 7982

Eastern Mich. (MAC) 6810

Edited December 10, 2007 by ADLER

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

---Interesting to note the only two that could be considered Southern universities are Rice which is very tiny (less than 5000) and FIU which had a long losing streak and only won their final game (unfortunately against us)..

[dodgefan]

I hope the title of this thread is tongue in cheek. NT has at least four times the alumni base, and 33,000 students, and we only outdrew a terrible SMU team (that beat NT) by 600 folks a game? If we are going to have an obssession on someone, how about TCU?

[Eagle1855]

Couple thoughts.

Not sure how we "demolished" SMU when we only averaged a few hundred more per game... which is especially pathetic considering we averaged about half our total enrollment.

I don't see how FIU will stay Div 1. yeah, they beat us, but they are awful, they have no attendance... what's the appeal? Can we trade them for La Tech? (kidding, but it would be preferable)

Edited December 10, 2007 by Eagle1855

[Objective Aggie]

Tongue in cheek? Me? Never!

Yeah, I havenoticed that people here like to take shots at SMU, so when I saw UNT nudging them on the attendance list, I thought I would lead with that. Not really the story here

[StealthEagle84]

17,734 a game....... not bad considering what the turn out was vs. Western Kentucky. We need to keep scheduling more games like Navy. I believe Air Force and K-State are coming to Denton in the next few years. Does anyone remember when they come to town?

[dodgefan]

You are right about the Navy game, can you imagine, what our average would have been without them? ouch!

[filmerj]

But SMU did have one more home game. Hey any time we beat smu at anything it's okay by me.

[emmitt01]

This may be an ArkStfan type of question, but I'll toss it out to the masses.

What happens to the schools that repetitively fall below the mandated 15,000 attendance plateau? There are NCAA regulations which will eventually force them down to the division formerly known as 1AA. What's the timeframe for probation and demotion? What happens to the conference(s) that fall below the 8 required Division 1 members.

While it's nothing to brag about, it's nice to see that the Sun Belt only has one team on that list.

New Mexico St. (WAC) 14412

Buffalo (MAC) 13568

Rice (CUSA) 13353

Utah St. (WAC) 13131

Ball St. (MAC) 13085

Idaho (WAC) 11479

Kent St. (MAC) 8999

Florida Int'l (SBC) 7982

Eastern Mich. (MAC) 6810

Blasphemy! How dare you post that the almighty WAC has 3 teams below the 15,000 mark and the SBC has 1? Don't you know that if we joined the WAC (you know, for the prestige and all) that these attendance woes would be solved overnight. Lord knows we'd easily send the 1,000 that NMSU needs, the 2,000 that Utah St needs and the nearly 4,000 that Idaho needs to stay afloat. And we could surely count on them to send at least that many to Denton, right? Since we're worried about new stadiums (we won't need that travel money) and attendance and all.

[TheTastyGreek]

Blasphemy! How dare you post that the almighty WAC has 3 teams below the 15,000 mark and the SBC has 1? Don't you know that if we joined the WAC (you know, for the prestige and all) that these attendance woes would be solved overnight. Lord knows we'd easily send the 1,000 that NMSU needs, the 2,000 that Utah St needs and the nearly 4,000 that Idaho needs to stay afloat. And we could surely count on them to send at least that many to Denton, right? Since we're worried about new stadiums (we won't need that travel money) and attendance and all.

So... are you saying that joining a conference where the "big name" schools we'll face can't even get their OWN FANS to show up won't help our attendance? Is it significant that so many teams have even LESS attendance and fan support than those in the much maligned Sun Belt?

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

You are right about the Navy game, can you imagine, what our average would have been without them? ouch!

---And the flip side what the attendance would have been without the wet and cold Western Kentucky game after a poor season. The two washed each other out.

[Cowtown]

and where would SMU be without the masses of Tech & NT fans visiting Ford?

[foutsrouts]

This may be an ArkStfan type of question, but I'll toss it out to the masses.

What happens to the schools that repetitively fall below the mandated 15,000 attendance plateau? There are NCAA regulations which will eventually force them down to the division formerly known as 1AA. What's the timeframe for probation and demotion? What happens to the conference(s) that fall below the 8 required Division 1 members.

While it's nothing to brag about, it's nice to see that the Sun Belt only has one team on that list.

New Mexico St. (WAC) 14412

Buffalo (MAC) 13568

Rice (CUSA) 13353

Utah St. (WAC) 13131

Ball St. (MAC) 13085

Idaho (WAC) 11479

Kent St. (MAC) 8999

Florida Int'l (SBC) 7982

Eastern Mich. (MAC) 6810

I attended 3 Rice games (including TT) and find it hard to believe that they averaged over 13k. Even the TT crowd was surprisingly small. Also interesting to note that the 3 WAC teams in the bottom 9 are SBC refugees. Would of looked pretty bad if 4 out of the 9 were from The Belt.

[GreenSquared]

Looking for a great Christmas present for the wife.

When can I re-new my season tickets?

Go Mean Green

[UNTFan23]

Looking for a great Christmas present for the wife.

When can I re-new my season tickets?

Go Mean Green

Is that a gift for the wife or for you [given to the wife]?

[STE]

Blasphemy! How dare you post that the almighty WAC has 3 teams below the 15,000 mark and the SBC has 1? Don't you know that if we joined the WAC (you know, for the prestige and all) that these attendance woes would be solved overnight. Lord knows we'd easily send the 1,000 that NMSU needs, the 2,000 that Utah St needs and the nearly 4,000 that Idaho needs to stay afloat. And we could surely count on them to send at least that many to Denton, right? Since we're worried about new stadiums (we won't need that travel money) and attendance and all.

No one said anything about solving anything overnight. However, the WAC would increase our national visibility.

Can you imagine the recruiting benefit Dodge would have if he could tell his recruits that we play in conference where we have a legitimate chance of going to a BCS game and/or competing for the Heisman?

Vizza would have gong to Nevada (a WAC team) had it not been for Dodge. I’m guessing that he originally committed to Nevada simply because of the conference affiliation/caliber of program. How much better would Dodge be at recruiting if he didn’t have to overcome the handicap of the Sun-belt?

Also, how many fans do the likes of Middle Tennessee and/or ASU bring to Fouts? I would argue that while we may lose some opposing fans that wouldn’t make the road trip if we joined the WAC – we would gain more North Texas fans that would want to come out to see the likes of a nationally ranked Hawaii, Boise, Fresno or Nevada. It’s pure conjecture on my part but I believe that we would more than make up the difference. Playing nationally ranked conference teams would also give us a legitimate shot a being nationally ranked ourselves. All this would generate more and more enthusiasm in the program and build pride in the student body.

And the 3 WAC schools with attendance lower than 15K – you guessed it – all former Sunbelt schools poached away by the WAC.

[UNTFan23]

No one said anything about solving anything overnight. However, the WAC would increase our national visibility.

Can you imagine the recruiting benefit Dodge would have if he could tell his recruits that we play in conference where we have a legitimate chance of going to a BCS game and/or competing for the Heisman?

Vizza would have gong to Nevada (a WAC team) had it not been for Dodge. I’m guessing that he originally committed to Nevada simply because of the conference affiliation/caliber of program. How much better would Dodge be at recruiting if he didn’t have to overcome the handicap of the Sun-belt?

Also, how many fans do the likes of Middle Tennessee and/or ASU bring to Fouts? I would argue that while we may lose some opposing fans that wouldn’t make the road trip if we joined the WAC – we would gain more North Texas fans that would want to come out to see the likes of a nationally ranked Hawaii, Boise, Fresno or Nevada. It’s pure conjecture on my part but I believe that we would more than make up the difference. Playing nationally ranked conference teams would also give us a legitimate shot a being nationally ranked ourselves. All this would generate more and more enthusiasm in the program and build pride in the student body.

And the 3 WAC schools with attendance lower than 15K – you guessed it – all former Sunbelt schools poached away by the WAC.

What makes you think the WAC will travel fans to to our school? The fans of the other WAC schools sure have traveled well to their new conference mates NMSU, Idaho, and USU.

The only reason the WAC is interested in us is for the benefit of LaTech. Why else would they be interested in a school located in the Central time zone? We only became a twinkle in their eye when the Texas/Oklahoma schools fled for other pastures leaving LaTech on an island.

[ADLER]

No one said anything about solving anything overnight. However, the WAC would increase our national visibility.

Can you imagine the recruiting benefit Dodge would have if he could tell his recruits that we play in conference where we have a legitimate chance of going to a BCS game and/or competing for the Heisman?

Vizza would have gong to Nevada (a WAC team) had it not been for Dodge. I’m guessing that he originally committed to Nevada simply because of the conference affiliation/caliber of program. How much better would Dodge be at recruiting if he didn’t have to overcome the handicap of the Sun-belt?

Also, how many fans do the likes of Middle Tennessee and/or ASU bring to Fouts? I would argue that while we may lose some opposing fans that wouldn’t make the road trip if we joined the WAC – we would gain more North Texas fans that would want to come out to see the likes of a nationally ranked Hawaii, Boise, Fresno or Nevada. It’s pure conjecture on my part but I believe that we would more than make up the difference. Playing nationally ranked conference teams would also give us a legitimate shot a being nationally ranked ourselves. All this would generate more and more enthusiasm in the program and build pride in the student body.

And the 3 WAC schools with attendance lower than 15K – you guessed it – all former Sunbelt schools poached away by the WAC.

Joining the WAC right now would be like buying a ticket on the Titanic right before it hit the iceberg. The WAC is composed of 4 higher profile schools (Boise St, Hawaii, Fresno St, and Nevada) and 5 schools that garner very little fan interest. Three of the four higher profile teams, Boise Fresno and Hawaii, have been campaigning for MWC membership while Hawaii has publicly contemplated the benefits of going independant.

If these moves were to happen after North Texas jumped to the WAC, not only would we have screwed the Sun Belt , but would have done it to join the dregs of the WAC in a doomed conference.

[STE]

Joining the WAC right now would be like buying a ticket on the Titanic right before it hit the iceberg. The WAC is composed of 4 higher profile schools (Boise St, Hawaii, Fresno St, and Nevada) and 5 schools that garner very little fan interest. Three of the four higher profile teams, Boise Fresno and Hawaii, have been campaigning for MWC membership while Hawaii has publicly contemplated the benefits of going independant.

If these moves were to happen after North Texas jumped to the WAC, not only would we have screwed the Sun Belt , but would have done it to join the dregs of the WAC in a doomed conference.

You’re right. That could happen. Conversely they could keep winning BCS berths and getting their teams nationally ranked. Some people say Conference USA is going to implode but that doesn’t stop many on this board from wishing we could join that conference and elevate our program (perception wise) to a higher lever of competition.

Eveything at our level is just a stepping stone to the next conference. How long before Troy starts looking to jump ship?

[STE]

What makes you think the WAC will travel fans to to our school? The fans of the other WAC schools sure have traveled well to their new conference mates NMSU, Idaho, and USU.

The only reason the WAC is interested in us is for the benefit of LaTech. Why else would they be interested in a school located in the Central time zone? We only became a twinkle in their eye when the Texas/Oklahoma schools fled for other pastures leaving LaTech on an island.

I don't think they will travel well. What I’m saying is that our fans base will grow with better competition coming into Fouts (assuming we continue to improve).

And sure – they want us for La Tech and the DFW media market. I say let’s take advantage of our natural resources.

As Adler points out this league could fall apart. However, the last two years have worked out great for the WAC.

[UNTFan23]

I don't think they will travel well. What I’m saying is that our fans base will grow with better competition coming into Fouts (assuming we continue to improve).

If that is the case, why haven't the fan bases of NMSU, USU, and Idaho increased if the WAC is a more viable conference? Seems kinda spare to blame the Sun Belt after having been removed from the conference 2 years now.

And sure – they want us for La Tech and the DFW media market. I say let’s take advantage of our natural resources.

I think you have it the other way around. The WAC is wanting to take advantage of our natural resources. WAC schools would love to tap Texas recruiting. Why should we give them an easier route in to take potential recruits from us?

As Adler points out this league could fall apart. However, the last two years have worked out great for the WAC.

If the rats are looking to abandon ship, why are we looking to get on?

Gotta love your signature, losing with dignity by joining the WAC. So instead of losing along the lines of 45-7 to one school, we'd be losing by that much to 4 to 5 schools. GMG?

[STE]

If that is the case, why haven't the fan bases of NMSU, USU, and Idaho increased if the WAC is a more viable conference? Seems kinda spare to blame the Sun Belt after having been removed from the conference 2 years now.

I think you have it the other way around. The WAC is wanting to take advantage of our natural resources. WAC schools would love to tap Texas recruiting. Why should we give them an easier route in to take potential recruits from us?

If the rats are looking to abandon ship, why are we looking to get on?

Gotta love your signature, losing with dignity by joining the WAC. So instead of losing along the lines of 45-7 to one school, we'd be losing by that much to 4 to 5 schools. GMG?

Those schools with the exception of possibly NMSU will likely always be the doormats of any conference they are in. Idaho and USU will probably always play second fiddle to Boise and Utah respectively. We would have the advantage of being the only Texas school in the WAC located in the heart of one of the best recruiting areas in the nation. What do you think? Would it help Dodge or hurt Dodge to be in the WAC? Also - I don’t have time to check all the box scores but I did see that Idaho’s attendance for Hawaii in week 5 was greater than their average for the year. I bet the same would be true for us if we played a nationally ranked team at home.

WAC schools are already tapping Texas recruiting. Case in Point, Vizza would have gone to Nevada but for Dodge. Think about that. Dodge stays at SLC and the state of Texas loses one of the best "dual threat" qbs in the state to an out of state school simply because of the conference they play in. Using your logic we should never play in a conference where we are the only Texas school. Using that logic it would be too easy for them to take our recruits away from us. Perhaps that's why we're losing all of our current recruits to the other Sunbelt teams.

None of the nonBCS conferences are really stable right now. If you're not moving up you're moving down. Do you think FIU is going to make it? How about Troy? Are they going to stay in Sunbelt?

I don't think we're going to lose much longer. And if so, I'd rather lose to the likes of nationally ranked programs than schools like FIU that no one has ever heard of.

.

Edited December 11, 2007 by STE

[UNTFan23]

I don't think we're going to lose much longer. And if so, I'd rather lose to the likes of nationally ranked programs than schools like FIU that no one has ever heard of.

I'd rather we join a B©S conference to get beat by programs that are consistently in the top 25, plus get all the benefits and money that comes with losing to those nationally ranked programs then to join the WAC where we play Boise/Hawaii (who may or may not be ranked) and walk out of the stadium with just a loss.

The WAC has been very lucky with those two schools. There is nothing to say they'll be able to maintain that level for an extended period of time. Time will tell if they are a flash in the pan or not.