A little over a week ago, Pat Fitzgerald told reporters Northwestern students need to show up to games, bemoaning his team’s fan base for not matching the team’s on-field performance.
He’s completely right. Northwestern gameday atmospheres are worse than most of its Big Ten counterparts, and students don’t show up in great numbers. There are only 8,100+ students at the school to begin with, so...yeah, there are a lot of empty seats for pretty much every home game.
As a student myself, I see this process regularly on Saturdays. Students tailgate before the games in neighborhood off-campus houses, and some trickle out for the 15 minute walk to Ryan Field.