Preaching to the Choir-where were the people yesterday?

[JoinTheEAA]

Where were our fans yesterday? Less than 4000 were in Cheney. Yes, many were home watching college basketball or football on their big screens or they were in Pullman or Seattle watching some good local teams play. But for us die-hards on this blog, we were fortunate to be in Cheney to watch a great college football game in perfect football weather. The sun was out and the Red Turf was shining. 29 degrees didn't slow our fans down nor our #1 ranked team. The tailgate was rocking and everyone who works at EWU did a great job hosting the game. Many of the staff worked a 12 hour day with the Men's hoop team blowout capping the evening. Below are the crowds from all FCS playoff games yesterday. Take this data and call every EWU alumnus you know and embarrass them if you have to to get them to Cheney this weekend. The school pride of every alumnus is on the line when we face North Dakota State. Talked to one of the coaches after the game and the only disappointment he expressed was how small the crowd was. He and his fellow coaches work too hard for us to see a repeat again next weekend. Rally our fans! Start today!

The second-round crowd sizes:

North Dakota State at Montana State - 14,277 (average before game: 14,302)
Lehigh at Delaware - 13,649 (20,684)
Western Illinois at Appalachian State - 13,322 (29,449)
Wofford at Jacksonville State - 11,817 (18,432)
Georgia Southern at William & Mary - 8,243 (11,290)
New Hampshire at Bethune-Cookman - 5,738 (7,319)
Villanova at Stephen F. Austin - 4,938 (10,155)

Southeast Missouri State at Eastern Washington Eagles - 3,665 (7,492)

 

[kalm]

My eyes tell me there were at least as many people at that game as there were at the ISU game which drew 5700. Not saying that's great but perhaps the NCAA and/or EWU counts heads differently when the playoffs start.

With UW, WSU, and Idaho all done we should draw better this weekend. I know I will be recruiting hard.

 

[EWURanger]

We all knew attendance wouldn't be good with the Apple Cup going on. Still, pretty pathetic even with all that.

I did seem to think they were a lot more than what was announced. I remember attendance at home playoff games always seems to be way under-announced than regular season games which seemed to have been comparable.

Attendance should be way up this weekend. No one else playing and hopefully the weather will hold up. Should be a good contingent of NDSU folks as well, although perhaps not as many as made it to the MSU game due to the distance.

One thing that doesn't bode well is that classes will be out, so student attendance will undoubtedly be low. Everyone needs to get the word out to come out and watch the Eags in what will most likely be their last game at home this season. If we can find a way to win this weekend, the team will most likely be travelling to Boone.

 

[RockTheRed]

I don't think it matters one hoo-haw if students are on campus or not. We've had piss-poor student attendance the ENTIRE year. What I decided yesterday is that the students that were in attendance are likely the same students that have been attending all year. It's pathetic. Not sure what that means - but know there were twice as many at every game last year. Are our players unapproachable on campus? I mean, wth?

I doubt attendance will be way up - at least by way of Eagle fans. I suspect that an additional 8 hours (by car)of travel isn't going to stop ND fans from making the trek. In fact, I expect a huge contingency of their fans. They already have highlights on their website from the game yesterday (we don't). They are entirely prepared from staff, students, parents, team, web programmer, on down. WSU fans won't come because they'll be sore losers from yet another loss, some of which stated this one hurt more than any other loss of the year. It's not like THEY had a bowl game on the line!

Attendance up - yes. Just a whole lot more green and gold across from the press box.

 

[FormerEag]

EWU students are clueless. I remember having a conversation with a student about why people don't come to games- "Maybe if we could actually win some games..." I told him that we were consistently in the playoffs for the past 6 years. All a part of the culture thread I started earlier. The level of apathy from our STUDENTS is apalling. :x

 

[GOB1SON]

Attendance figures are reported as tickets sold. So during the regular season, all the season ticket no-shows are in the calculation, which is probably the difference. Season tickets that aren't picked up for playoff games are then made available to the general public.

 

[EdubAlum]

Attendance figures are reported as tickets sold. So during the regular season, all the season ticket no-shows are in the calculation, which is probably the difference. Season tickets that aren't picked up for playoff games are then made available to the general public.

agreed.

also, I was at the game, drove 5 hours from Portland, was tailgating by 9am in the freezing ass cold....where was everyone else?!?!?!

I suspect that not only will we get the EWU fans that watched the Apple cup back this week, but we'll also pick up some cougar fans looking to watch some real football...the Sam Houston state game a few years back we had a lot of RV's with cougar stuff on the windows show up.