As Student Attendance Dips Nationwide, UC Holds Strong

Over the past year or so, I’ve notice a spike among alumni and other fans in criticisms of the student section. I’ve always thought this was the most asinine and hypocritical thing to whine about, and here’s another reason why: Everyone is dealing with it.

Even the Big Ten is having issues, tradition and relevance be damned.

"Nittanyville president Brian Sanvido saw more empty seats for a September game against Eastern Michigan. Greg Licht of Iowa’s Hawk’s Nest noted that sweltering heat and an FCS opponent (Missouri State) kept students away for a Week 2 game."

Surprise, surprise. When you play a weak schedule, you get a weak turnout. The fact that the Bearcats have been able to keep student attendance levels up while playing the near-wasteland of an AAC schedule is impressive. Teams the Bearcats have played at home since the beginning of the 2013 season include Northwestern State, Temple, UConn, SMU, Miami (OH), and Memphis.

Not only is that a lot of weak, unexciting teams, but that’s also a lot of teams that the Bearcats and their fans don’t have any kind of emotional connection with.

Michigan State is abuzz with finger-pointing this week in the wake of their game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers:

"Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis said he and some students felt “disappointment and embarrassment” at the Spartans’ student attendance during the 27-22 win over Nebraska. There was a large pocket of empty seats in the southeast corner of Spartan Stadium throughout the night despite the matchup of two top-20 teams in a key Big Ten showdown, and many students headed for the exits by the end of the third quarter."

Gasp! Students of the 2013 Big Ten Champion Michigan State Spartans are leaving close games against a traditional power like the Nebraska Cornhuskers? It puts things into perspective after people raised a stink when the UC student section started to wane last year against 3-4 SMU. (Note: This is the same game that struggled to reach 28,000 fans. Given that the student section nearly always flirts with a sell-out of 6,000, it looks like the non-students were also struggling to seem interested.)

I’m not writing this to re-aggravate a non-issue from a year ago. I’m writing this to set up my next point: From my perspective, the Bearcats are doing better than most.

This was the scene for the opener against Toledo, in which the student attendance record was broken:

Eight days later, on September 20th, the Bearcats took the field against a team that had lost 19 games in a row. The game wasn’t played on UC’s home turf, it was played in the exile of Paul Brown Stadium, a place which can be a real pain to reach for students. Despite the unexciting matchup on the field and the lack of tradition at PBS, the students again broke the record, just a week after setting it.

10,333 students filled the north end of the stadium. 25% of fans in attendance were students. I can tell you that not many schools in the country are doing that.

The 2-2 start, lackluster schedule, and impending cold weather may catch up with us. I can guarantee we wont average 10,000 students at Paul Brown this year. Please don’t make it an issue. Student attendance is a struggle throughout the country, but I don’t think UC has a problem. Not right now. And just wait until next year when we can all return home to Nippert. You won’t find a seat.