Quote Originally Posted by walliver View Post
FU's attendance may pick up over the next few years, but neither Furman or the Citadel will ever have the crowds of the 80's and early 90's. Other than a few rapidly growing schools and marquee programs, college football attendance overall is down. Add to that a cohort of students who were in school during a down period and never developed an interest in the program. And almost every FCS game is now online.

I attended last years Wofford-Furman game and was impressed by the horrible attendance on both sides of the field for a game played on a beautiful afternoon.
I think other than the elite programs, attendance is always a bit of an issue. Just a few years ago Nick Saban chastized Alabama's student body for leaving games early and Michigan was trying to literally give away tickets.

You don't have to go back to the 80s or 90s. This was Furman's home attendance in 2004 regular season:
PC: 12,817
WCU: 14,412
Citadel: 14,481
GSU: 17,145
UTC: 11,692

In 2005:
Samford: 13,452
Hofstra: 9,844
GWU: 10,127
App: 14,138
Elon: 11,916
Wofford: 13,764

The 2006 and 2007 seasons were still 11-12k a game. Over the next several years you saw attendance drop slightly at the end of the Lamb years and beginning of Fowler's tenure. By the end of Fowler's time, though, attendance was abysmal. Again, you can only ask so much of a fan base. They aren't going to turn out just to watch bad football.