Athletic Life in College: The Football “Scene”

College Search & Selection
121

<p>From the Games Played on 10/27/07</p>

<p>College , Opponent , W/L Score , Attendance</p>

<p>MAJOR DIV 1 (Public)<br>
UC Berkeley , @ Arizona State , L , 20-31 , 71,706
U Virginia , @ NC State , L , 24-29 , 55,342
UCLA , @ Washington State , L , 7-27 , 31,027
U Michigan , U Minnesota , W , 34-10 , 109,432
U North Carolina , @ Wake Forest , L , 10-37 , 33,023</p>

<p>MAJOR DIV 1 (Private)<br>
Stanford , @ Oregon State , L , 6-23 , 42,089
Duke , @ Florida State , L , 6-25 , 79,159
Northwestern , @ Purdue , L , 17-35 , 58,237
Vanderbilt , U Miami (OH) , W , 24-13 , 26,450
Notre Dame , did not play , , ,<br>
USC , @ U Oregon L 17-24 59,277
Wake Forest , U North Carolina , W , 37-10 , 33,023
Rice , @ Marshall , L , 21-34 , 31,768
Georgetown (Div I-AA) , @ Lehigh , L , 0-48 , 9084</p>

<p>IVIES (All Div I-AA)<br>
Princeton , Cornell , W , 34-31 , 5773
Harvard , Dartmouth , W , 28-21 , 11,006
Yale , @ Columbia , W , 28-7 , 2555
U Penn , @ Brown , L , 17-31 , 5,127
Columbia , Yale , L , 7-28 , 2555
Dartmouth , @ Harvard , L , 21-28 , 11,006
Cornell , @ Princeton , L , 31-34 , 5,773
Brown , U Penn , W , 31-17 , 5127</p>

<p>DIVISION III<br>
MIT , @ Plymouth State , L , 0-27 , 727
U Chicago , Case , L , 3-35 , 1039
Wash U , @ Carnegie Mellon , L , 13-18 , 1413
Johns Hopkins , @ Juniata , W , 42-21 , 750
Carnegie Mellon , Wash U , W , 18-13 , 1413
Tufts , Amherst , W , 29-10 , 1000</p>

<p>NO TEAM<br>
Caltech<br>
Emory</p>

122

<p>From the Games Played on 11/3/07</p>

<p>College , Opponent , W/L Score , Attendance</p>

<p>MAJOR DIV 1 (Public)<br>
UC Berkeley , Washington State , W , 20-17 , 55,711
U Virginia , Wake Forest , W , 17-16 , 60,106
UCLA , @ U Arizona , L , 27-34 , 41,727
U Michigan , @ Michigan State , W , 28-24 , 77,009
U North Carolina , U Maryland , W , 16-13 , 56,000</p>

<p>MAJOR DIV 1 (Private)<br>
Stanford , U Washington , L , 9-27 , 36,570
Duke , Clemson , L , 10-47 , 20,457
Northwestern , U Iowa , L , 17-28 , 30,173
Vanderbilt , @ U Florida , L , 22-49 , 90,222
Notre Dame , Navy , L , 46-48 , 80,795
USC , Oregon State W 24-3 85,713
Wake Forest , @ U Virginia , L , 16-17 , 60,106
Rice , UTEP , W , 56-48 , 12,313
Georgetown (Div I-AA) , @ Marist , L , 34-37 , na</p>

<p>IVIES (All Div I-AA)<br>
Princeton , @ U Penn , W , 7-0 , 12,397
Harvard , @ Columbia , W , 27-12 , 2283
Yale , Brown , W , 17-7 , 3000
U Penn , Princeton , L , 0-7 , 12,397
Columbia , Harvard , L , 12-27 , 2283
Dartmouth , Cornell , W , 59-31 , 3711
Cornell , @ Dartmouth , L , 31-59 , 3711
Brown , @ Yale , L , 7-17 , 3000</p>

<p>DIVISION III<br>
MIT , @ Endicott College , , ,<br>
U Chicago , Northwestern (MN) , L , 0-37 , 936
Wash U , @ Case Western , L , 27-35 , 2392
Johns Hopkins , Franklin & Marshall , L , 11-19 , 1900
Carnegie Mellon , @ Bethany , W , 42-19 , 1187
Tufts , @ Colby , L , 16-19 , 500</p>

<p>NO TEAM<br>
Caltech<br>
Emory</p>

123

<p>From the Games Played on 11/10/07</p>

<p>College , Opponent , W/L Score , Attendance</p>

<p>MAJOR DIV 1 (Public)<br>
UC Berkeley , USC , L , 17-24 , 72,516
U Virginia , @ U Miami , W , 48-0 , 62,106
UCLA , Arizona State , L , 20-24 , 78,690
U Michigan , @ U Wisconsin , L , 21-37 , 82,352
U North Carolina , @ NC State , L , 27-31 , 57,583</p>

<p>MAJOR DIV 1 (Private)<br>
Stanford , @ Washington State , L , 17-33 , 31,110
Duke , Georgia Tech , L , 24-41 , 18,788
Northwestern , U Indiana , W , 31-28 , 20,466
Vanderbilt , U Kentucky , L , 20-27 , 39,773
Notre Dame , Air Force , L , 24-41 , 80,795
USC , @ UC Berkeley , W , 24-17 , 72,516
Wake Forest , @ Clemson , L , 10-44 , 81,500
Rice , @ Southern Methodist , W , 43-42 , 13,902
Georgetown (Div I-AA) , Colgate , L , 12-45 , 2718</p>

<p>IVIES (All Div I-AA)<br>
Princeton , Yale , L , 6-27 , 13,408
Harvard , U Penn , W , 23-7 , 10,116
Yale , @ Princeton , W , 27-6 , 13,408
U Penn , @ Harvard , L , 7-23 , 10,116
Columbia , @ Cornell , L , 14-34 , 3369
Dartmouth , @ Brown , L , 35-56 , 5119
Cornell , Columbia , W , 34-14 , 3,369
Brown , Dartmouth , W , 56-35 , 5119</p>

<p>DIVISION III<br>
MIT , regular season concluded<br>
U Chicago , Eureka , W , 51-6 , 1041
Wash U , @ Greenville , W , 30-20 , 500
Johns Hopkins , @ McDaniel , W , 31-3 , 1332
Carnegie Mellon , Washington & Lee , W , 39-21 , 2172
Tufts , Middlebury , L , 19-21 , 1700</p>

<p>NO TEAM<br>
Caltech<br>
Emory </p>

<p>From the Games Played on 11/17/07</p>

<p>College , Opponent , W/L Score , Attendance</p>

<p>MAJOR DIV 1 (Public)<br>
UC Berkeley , @ U Washington , L , 23-37 , 60,005
U Virginia , did not play<br>
UCLA , did not play<br>
U Michigan , Ohio State , L , 3-14 , 111,941
U North Carolina , @ Georgia Tech , L , 25-27 , 45,490</p>

<p>MAJOR DIV 1 (Private)<br>
Stanford , did not play<br>
Duke , @ Notre Dame , L , 7-28 , 80,795
Northwestern , @ U Illinois , L , 22-41 , 54,116
Vanderbilt , @ U Tennessee , L , 24-25 , 105,077
Notre Dame , Duke , W , 28-7 , 80,795
USC , did not play<br>
Wake Forest , NC State , W , 38-18 , 33,052
Rice , Tulane , L , 31-45 , 11,539
Georgetown (Div I-AA) , regular season concluded </p>

<p>IVIES (All Div I-AA)<br>
Princeton , @ Dartmouth , W , 17-14 , 4017
Harvard , @ Yale , W , 37-6 , 57,248
Yale , Harvard , L , 6-37 , 57,248
U Penn , Cornell , W , 45-9 , 6838
Columbia , Brown , W , 22-30 , 3976
Dartmouth , Princeton , L , 14-17 , 4017
Cornell , @ U Penn , L , 9-45 , 6838
Brown , @ Columbia , W , 30-22 , 3976</p>

<p>DIVISION III<br>
MIT , regular season concluded<br>
U Chicago , regular season concluded<br>
Wash U , regular season concluded<br>
Johns Hopkins , regular season concluded<br>
Carnegie Mellon , regular season concluded<br>
Tufts , regular season concluded </p>

<p>NO TEAM<br>
Caltech<br>
Emory</p>

124

<p>Holy Cross 27- Colgate20.</p>

125

<p>Now that the football season has concluded for most of the USNWR Top 30, here are some interesting final numbers:</p>

<p>Rank , Total Attendance at Home Games , College </p>

<p>1 , 882,115 , U Michigan 8 home games
2 , 565,565 , Notre Dame 7
3 , 433,302 , USC 5
4 , 385,837 , UCLA 5
5 , 378,816 , UC Berkeley 6
6 , 297,233 , U Virginia 5
7 , 292,500 , U North Carolina 5
8 , 249,384 , Vanderbilt 7
9 , 216,495 , Stanford 6
10 , 195,570 , Wake Forest 6
11 , 178,125 , Northwestern 7
12 , 113,964 , Yale 5
13 , 100,321 , Duke 5
14 , 62,026 , Harvard 5
15 , 57,254 , Rice 4
16 , 55,448 , U Penn 5
17 , 51,076 , Princeton 5
18 , 43,486 , Cornell 5
19 , 30,832 , Brown 6
20 , 27,492 , Dartmouth 5
21 , 21,934 , Georgetown (Div I-AA) 6
22 , 20,860 , Columbia 5
23 , 11,460 , Carnegie Mellon 5
24 , 9,234 , U Chicago 7
25 , 6,990 , Tufts 4
26 , 6,645 , Wash U 5
27 , 5,600 , Johns Hopkins 5
28 , 2,278 , MIT 5</p>

<p>29 , No Team , Caltech
29 , No Team , Emory</p>

126

<p>Some folks like seeing these numbers as related to the size of the undergraduate population, so here is that:</p>

<p>Rank, Ratio of Home Attendance/Undergraduate Students, College, Undergraduate Students</p>

<p>1 , 9.67 , Notre Dame , 8352 undergraduates
2 , 7.52 , Wake Forest , 4332
3 , 5.62 , Stanford , 6422
4 , 5.59 , Vanderbilt , 6378
5 , 5.18 , USC , 16,729
6 , 4.69 , Rice , 3049
7 , 4.31 , U Michigan , 25,555
8 , 4.27 , Yale , 5333
9 , 4.05 , U Virginia , 14,676
10 , 3.42 , U North Carolina , 17,124
11 , 3.17 , Duke , 6330
12 , 3.12 , Northwestern , 8153
13 , 3.03 , UCLA , 25432
14 , 2.65 , UC Berkeley , 23,863
15 , 2.15 , Princeton , 4760
16 , 1.85 , Harvard , 6715
17 , 1.35 , Dartmouth , 4085
18 , 1.14 , U Penn , 9730
19 , 0.86 , Brown , 6010
20 , 0.79 , Columbia , 5260
21 , 0.64 , Cornell , 13,562
22 , 0.53 , Georgetown (Div I-AA) , 6853
23 , 0.40 , Carnegie Mellon , 5669
24 , 0.35 , Tufts , 4995
25 , 0.27 , U Chicago , 4807
26 , 0.25 , Johns Hopkins , 4478
27 , 0.18 , Wash U , 7386
28 , 0.11 , MIT , 4127</p>

<p>29 , No Team , Caltech , 864
29 , No Team , Emory , 6646</p>

<p>The Yale numbers might be surprising to some. This is heavily influenced by the 57,000+ that attended yesterday's Harvard game. However, even without that game, Yale home attendance for its other games was still tops in the Ivies with an average home crowd of 14,179 and a ratio of home attendance to undergrads of 2.66.</p>

127

<p>My D, who attends a small LAC in the south, attended yesterday's UMich game. She was amazed that, out of the 110,000 or so in attendance ... she bumped into a guy from her college as she was leaving the stadium!</p>

<p>For what it's worth, her experience at the game made her even more satisfied with her own school. She wasn't impressed by the masses of drunken, rude people. If you like that scene, though, I guess a big football school might be for you.</p>

128

<p>Rank, College, Average Home Attendance</p>

<p>1 U Michigan 110,264
2 USC 86,660
3 Notre Dame 80,795
4 UCLA 77,167
5 UC Berkeley 63,136
6 U Virginia 59,447
7 U North Carolina 58,500
8 Stanford 36,083
9 Vanderbilt 35,626
10 Wake Forest 32,595
11 Northwestern 25,446
12 Yale 22,793
13 Duke 20,064
14 Rice 14,314
15 Harvard 12,405
16 U Penn 11,090
17 Princeton 10,215
18 Cornell 8697
19 Dartmouth 5498
20 Brown 5139
21 Columbia 4172
22 Georgetown (Div I-AA) 3656
23 Carnegie Mellon 2292
24 Tufts 1748
25 Wash U 1329
26 U Chicago 1319
27 Johns Hopkins 1120
28 MIT 456</p>

<p>29 Caltech
29 Emory</p>

129

<p>Rank, College, Number of Games, Total Attendance at ALL games home and away</p>

<p>1 U Michigan , 12 games , 1,145,158
2 Notre Dame , 11 , 927,614
3 USC , 10 , 799,503
4 UC Berkeley , 11 , 681,099
5 U Virginia , 11 , 580,310
6 Vanderbilt , 10 , 580,102
7 U North Carolina , 11 , 575,909
8 UCLA , 10 , 570,944
9 Northwestern , 12 , 473,034
10 Wake Forest , 11 , 436,594
11 Stanford , 10 , 430,089
12 Duke , 11 , 404,437
13 Rice , 11 , 279,894
14 Yale , 10 , 160,095
15 Harvard , 10 , 152,221
16 Princeton , 10 , 94,909
17 U Penn , 10 , 94,304
18 Dartmouth , 10 , 79,231
19 Cornell , 10 , 78,419
20 Brown , 10 , 64,051
21 Columbia , 10 , 52,088
22 Georgetown (Div I-AA) , 9 , 42,383
23 Carnegie Mellon , 9 , 16,258
24 Wash U , 10 , 14,050
25 Johns Hopkins , 9 , 13,960
26 U Chicago , 9 , 12,120
27 Tufts , 8 , 11,661
28 MIT , 8 , 5,749</p>

<p>29 Caltech<br>
29 Emory</p>

130

<p>kelsmom,
Sorry that you daughter didn't have too good a time at yesterday's game. No excuse for bad behaviour anywhere, but you can run into rude, drunken people even at smaller venues, so please don't tarnish the entire scene (either at U Michigan or at other schools with a strong football scene) with so broad a brush. There is an awful lot of good stuff that goes on at the football scenes at many of America's top colleges and tremendous amounts of fun can be had.</p>

<p>As for your daughter and her college choice, I believe you said elsewhere that she attends Furman. Obviously not a football power, but athletics play an important role in the social life of many schools and, when a college can be a player on the national athletic scene, that can be very exciting and fun for the students (and the alumni). </p>

<p>Athletic life is an integral part of many students’ college experience and while it is not always realized during football season, I hope you will agree that the athletic scene should be considered in how it affects a student’s undergraduate experience. Sometimes students love it, sometimes they don’t, but for many it can be an important differentiating element of a college search process. </p>

<p>(BTW, I think Furman is one of the relatively undiscovered jewels of college education. Beyond its strong academics, one would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful campus anywhere in the USA. Glad that your daughter feels that she made the right choice for her.)</p>

131

<p>Thanks for the fun stats, hawkette. Obviously the attendance numbers will be limited by the size of respective stadiums (e.g., UMich 110,000 seats vs. USC's Coliseum 94,000 seats).</p>

132

<p>Bay,
You make a good point about the capacity at these stadiums. I wonder how many tickets U Michigan or Notre Dame could sell if there was no limit, particularly when you consider major rivalry games. I think that is a little less true with USC as their attendance at home games at the Coliseum is not always at capacity. Probably during the national championship years, there was an issue with getting tickets, but not as acute a problem this year. </p>

<p>But big rivalry games like USC-UCLA, UC Berkeley-Stanford, Notre Dame-most opponents, U Michigan-Ohio State & others, U Virginia-Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt-U Tennessee are really only limited by the stadium size in which the games will take place. Sellouts are a certainty and the tailgates are to die for. :)</p>

133

<p>You said Furman isnt a football power...if there are any Paladins reading this board i think they would beg to differ, they have been a power for many years in 1-AA</p>

134

<p>USC Trojans are the new L.A. Raiders... Huge fair weather, bandwaggon fan base.</p>

135

<p>Having attended a small liberal arts college in the South, I can report with some confidence that crowds of rude, drunken people can be found on those kinds of campuses, too. LOL. And I think the most scared I've ever been, in terms of being a big crowd of fans who seemed potentially dangerous, was at a particularly close Lehigh-Lafayette game. I'd pick a Big Ten crowd of revelers any day over that experience.</p>

136

<p>USC fans are not exactly abandoning their team-they have averaged nearly 87,000 per game so far this year with not exactly home marquee opponents (Idaho, Wash State, Stanford, Arizona, and Oregon State). Still to come is the UCLA matchup which will be a sellout and also a very tough ticket if USC is in the mix for the Rose Bowl. </p>

<p>As measured by school size, here is how all of the USNWR Top 30 stacked in terms of average home attendance and the numbers are broken out to compare colleges of similar size:</p>

<p>Rank, College, Average Home Attendance</p>

<p>Schools of greater than 10,000 undergraduate students
1 U Michigan 110,264
2 USC 86,660
3 UCLA 77,167
4 UC Berkeley 63,136
5 U Virginia 59,447
6 U North Carolina 58,500
7 Cornell 8,697</p>

<pre><code>Schools with 5,000-10,000 undergraduates

</code></pre>

<p>1 Notre Dame 80,795
2 Stanford 36,083
3 Vanderbilt 35,626
4 Northwestern 25,446
5 Duke 20,064
6 Yale 19,420
7 Harvard 12,755
8 U Penn 11,090
9 Brown 5,139
10 Columbia 4,576
11 Georgetown (Div I-AA) 3,656
12 Carnegie Mellon 2,292
13 Wash U 1,329
14 Emory </p>

<pre><code>Schools with less than 5000 undergraduates

</code></pre>

<p>1 Wake Forest 32,595
2 Rice 14,314
3 Princeton 10,215
4 Dartmouth 5,223
5 Tufts 1,748
6 U Chicago 1,319</p>

<p>7 Johns Hopkins 1,120
8 MIT 416
9 Caltech</p>

137

<p>A couple of interesting observations on some of the above attendance figures in the various posts:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The total attendance for ALL Ivy League games (80 games total) for the entire season (home and away, conference and out-of-conference) was 775,318. The total attendance for just the HOME games at U Michigan (8 games) was 882,115.</p></li>
<li><p>If you add to the Ivy numbers, the total attendance for ALL games (62 games) played by the Division III colleges and Georgetown, you get a total attendance of 891,499. So, essentially, the HOME attendance at 8 U Michigan games was equal to the annual attendance, home and away, of 15 other USNWR Top 30 colleges (17 if you count the two colleges that don’t play football) that played a total of 142 games. </p></li>
<li><p>Notre Dame, despite its historically atrocious season, also had great attendance at home (all sellouts) and away. The attendance (927,614) for their 11 games, home and away, was also greater than the 142 games played by the Ivies, Georgetown and the D3 colleges.</p></li>
</ol>

138

<p>
[quote]
So, essentially, the HOME attendance at 8 U Michigan games was equal to the annual attendance, home and away, of 15 other USNWR Top 30 colleges

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Hah, I asked my mother, who spent the majority of her life in the Midwest, what she thought of Michigan. She said, "Isn't that a football school?" Seems rather accurate. =p</p>

139

<p>Holy Cross QB named National Player of the Week by the Sports Network for completing 29 of 42 passes for 441 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for 32 yards on six carries to get 473 yards of total offense in win against Colgate.</p>

<p>Dominic</a> Randolph Named National Player Of The Week :: Junior quarterback recognized by the Sports Network.</p>

140

<p>Some people are seriously thinking that Dom Randolph has what it takes to get to the NFL. Randolph was named one of 16 Finalists for 2007 Walter Payton Award.</p>