College game day is a big deal at many Division I universities. Students and fans alike don their school colors-and body paint-and fill the stands to cheer on their football team.
But that’s not the case at SMU.
According to the SMU Ticket Office, the average student attendance at home football games is between 1,500 and 2,500 students.
That means as little as 13 percent of the student body, graduate students included, attend home games.
Attendance at SMU home games is much lower than similar schools and conference schools.
Senior wide receiver Bobby Chase said that, “As a whole there’s not enough school spirit for all our athletic programs. College football is such a big deal everywhere except at SMU.”
Chase also said the only people supporting the football team are the coaches and faculty.
Baylor University, with an enrollment of just more than 12,500 students, averages about 5,500 students at each home game – 44 percent of the student body – and expects to end the season with closer to 6,000 students in attendance, according to Marketing Director Ray Deweese.
Texas Christian University averages 58 percent of the student body at each home game. While TCU out-performed SMU last season, aside from SMU’s victory over TCU, both teams currently have four wins this season.
The University of Texas has a student body of 50,000 and a record of 7-1.
They average 18,000 students at each home game, 36 percent of the student body.
University of Texas at El Paso, part of Conference USA, caps the number of student tickets distributed for home games.
UTEP has an enrollment of 17,000 and allows 10,000 student tickets per home game, about 58 percent of the student body.
“We’ve sold out all student tickets at all four home games. There’s probably more students attending, but we can’t keep track of that,” said Charles Staniszewski, Assistant Director of Media Relations.
Within SMU’s conference, student attendance is most similar to University of Central Florida and the University of Houston.
Houston is a public university and commuter school with a student body of 35,000.
Last year the school averaged 1,500 students per home game, 11 percent of the student body, or 2 percent less than SMU. But SMU is a small private university with most students living on campus or nearby.
SMU and Houston had comparable seasons last year, with SMU finishing the season 5-6 and Houston 6-6.
Some SMU students prefer to follow other football teams.
“If Oklahoma’s playing a Top 25 team, I’m watching the Oklahoma game on TV. If it’s anyone else, I’m at the SMU football games,” said sophomore Casey Wolf.
Some students point to SMU’s lack of success as a factor for low attendance, but Chase explained his side.
“It’s kind of disheartening for all of the football team,” he said.
“We’re working so hard to get better and it seems like no one’s behind us,” he added. Chase gave as an example the Marshall game two weeks ago. Going into the game SMU was 4-3, the best record the team had seen early in the season since receiving the death penalty from the NCAA in 1987.
“We haven’t done that in a long time and it felt like there were only 100 people in the stands,” said Chase.
SMU beat Marshall 31-21.
The Mustangs take on the University of Alabama at Birmingham (3-5) tonight at 6:30 p.m. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.
