Quote Originally Posted by walliver View Post
Samford's attendance has always been problematic. Their average attendance is right around the school's total enrollment, whereas at most schools, attendance is usually several times the enrollment. Apparently a significant part of Samford total enrollment of 5500 consists of graduate students (who are generally less likely to attend games) and actual undergrad enrollment is 3500 or so, which is still larger than undergrad enrollment at Furman and the Citadel, and twice that of Wofford and VMI.

I don't know if it is a tradition thing, or if Samford's alumni are just more likely to live farther away from campus than the other school's alumni.
I think it’s similar to the problem that Furman and Wofford have, but compounded. Furman and Wofford are overshadowed by Clemson and USC, and really struggle to compete for attention. Samford has to deal with Alabama and Auburn - much, much worse.

Furman and Wofford, however, have stronger and longer football traditions, and that helps (though, not a ton, if you’re not winning). Samford, while they’ve turned into a really good program as of late, don’t have that benefit. And they also lack the resources of larger upstart programs.

I’d be interested to see how Mercer’s attendance has been this year. They built and capitalized on the excitement of the program so well those first couple of years. But the games I’ve seen on TV, it looks like their fan base has maybe come back down to earth a little bit.