Michigan State hung on for a close win over Nebraska on Saturday, and thanks to an avalanche of top-10 losses all of a sudden the Spartans may be right back in the hunt for a College Football Playoff spot.
But everything on Saturday in East Lansing wasn’t a positive. Athletic director Mark Hollis took to Twitter to vent his frustrations about the student section, which saw a good chunk of people leave the game before Nebraska’s fourth-quarter surge:More than 13k students bought season tickets for the 2014 season. Thanks to those that supported Spartan football & our student-athletes.
— Mark Hollis (@MSUAD) October 6, 2014
I spoke with many students & they share my disappointment and embarrassment of the support coming from the southeast corner on Saturday.
— Mark Hollis (@MSUAD) October 6, 2014
We will work together to build a student section that enhances our teams ability to win championships. From kickoff to the end of the game.
— Mark Hollis (@MSUAD) October 6, 2014
As a program, we are prepared to make the changes that will fill Spartan Stadium with Spartan fans that want to be there.
— Mark Hollis (@MSUAD) October 6, 2014
We appreciate all the voices we have heard from today and together, we will continue to build our Spartan Nation.
— Mark Hollis (@MSUAD) October 6, 2014
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. Colleges have struggled with how to get students to show up to games recently, while Nick Saban blasted Alabama students for leaving games early last year.
It’s worth noting, though, that Saturday’s weather in the Midwest was unseasonably cold. Speaking from my own experience, walking from my car to the press box for the Notre Dame-Stanford game was brutal; it was windy and downright frigid with wind chills hovering in the 30’s all afternoon. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to continue to sit outside in similar conditions up the road in East Lansing when Michigan State held a comfortable lead in the second half.
ESPN’s Dan Murphy was at the Michigan State game, too, and had a similar observation:In students’ defense, it was miserable weather for a 4+ hour night game where MSU was dominating.
— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) October 6, 2014Yeah, it’s disappointing when your team has to fend off a rally and there aren’t a lot of students who stuck around to see it. But the circumstances of Saturday night in East Lansing maybe made this less of an issue than Hollis is making it out to be.