I don't have a media guide handy, so I'm going off memory on this one.
In 1998, Weber State started off the season on fire. It was Jerry Graybeal's first year and the team had some serious talent,.. talent mind you, not depth. Fairly early in the season, the starting quarterback (John Buck was it?) got injured. We might have had a legitimate backup had Josh Huepel decided to stick around after his freshman year (and coach Dave Arslanian's departure to USU). As it was Huepel was at Oklahoma and our backup QB was a bit rough.
Still fairly early in the season, the University of Montana visited and got beat in a thriller by Weber State. Attendance-wise, everything fell into place. BYU and Utah had road games, the weather was perfect, and it might have even been homecoming. Around 15,000 showed up that night. After winning that game, Weber State shot up to, I believe, 9th in the national poll. The ranking was a bit tenuous, but it was still 9th. It seemed like there was some real excitement about our chances. Then, at the following home game (possibly Montana State), there were less than 6,000 people in the stands. I noticed the decline, the players noticed the decline, and everything started to fall apart. Injuries were the biggest reason for the implosion, but why did so few return to the stands after the Montana game?
The biggest reason was--and still is--the fact that Weber State is a commuter school with FCS-level sports. Don't get me wrong, I love FCS football, but it doesn't exactly steal headlines from the big boys. The biggest challenge is trying to draw students to games who have grown up here, have families here, and have other obligations keeping them from campus. The U of U struggles with the same issues, but there are some key differences. One big recent difference is the fact that they had Urban Meyer inject a lot of excitement into their entire sports program--more excitement than even Rick Majerus was able to generate. Ron McBride is generating excitement here, but it won't result in a BCS-bowl game on national television. Keep it up Ron!
Consistent winning is the best medicine... and it's very tough to maintain balance on top of the athletic apex once you get up there. Just look back at 1998.
