NCAA Football 2018 Attendance, Week 13: Championship Week and FCS Playoffs Round Two

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by

Chris Ford
in

FBS Conference Championships happened this week, with another smattering of teams rescheduling games in an attempt to make a bowl.  While that happened, top draw FCS playoff matchups happened with a berth in the quarterfinals on the line. Lots of reasons to see good football, but still plenty of empty seats.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

 

Worst overall Division I attendance: 3,042 – South Dakota State vs Duquesne. It was a snowy day in Brookings which presumably kept most of the Jackrabbit fans home, and apparently the entire Duquesne team decided to stay on the bus as the Jackrabbits won 51-6 to advance to the quarterfinals where they’ll travel to Kennesaw State.

Duquesne takes on South Dakota State in Brookings, SD in the 2018 FCS Playoffs. Image courtesy GoDuquesne.com

 

Worst overall FBS attendance: 10,255 – Buffalo vs Northern Illinois.  After Northern Illinois’ Athletic Department came after AMSTS for posting “Fake News” for (accurately) reporting that NIU had the lowest FBS attendance of any game all season (the week they clinched the division title, nonetheless, it’s no surprise that the MAC had the lowest attended conference championship game of the week.  Barely a hair over 10,000 attended the game in Detroit, which would’ve made it look like any old Red Wings or Pistons game had it been hosted in Little Caesars Arena.  Unfortunately, the dimensions didn’t work and they played inside 65,000 seat Ford Field.  Bummer.  NIU won the game 30-29.  An action shot:

 

 

Worst overall Power Five attendance: 31,336 – Virginia Tech vs Marshall.  This game wasn’t scheduled to happen unless Virginia Tech won lat week, and it turns out they were able to pull off the upset, so it’s no surprise that not many showed up.  While some shots circulating on Twitter make the crowd look small, it appears that at least one end zone was full of fans who eventually saw VT clinch a bowl berth.

 

 

Special category: Worst reported attendance to actual attendance: 56,738 – Iowa State vs Drake.  Iowa State reported that there were only 57 open seats for their game against Drake.  I’m no math-doing guy but that feels off a bit:

 

Emptiest FCS stadium as a percentage of capacity: South Dakota State (15.7% full, 3,042 in attendance)

Emptiest FBS stadium as a percentage of capacity: MAC Championship (15.8% full, 10,255 in attendance)

Emptiest FBS Power Five stadium as a percentage of capacity: Virginia Tech (47.3% full, 31,336 in attendance)

 

 

And now, for your browsing pleasure, every game and the corresponding attendance for week 14.

Enjoy!

 

Week 14:

DateDivisionConferenceHome TeamHome ScoreAway TeamAway ScoreAttendanceVenueCapacity% Full
12/1/2018FCSMissouri ValleySouth Dakota State51Duquesne63042Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium1934015.7%
12/1/2018FCSBig SouthKennesaw State13Wofford103515Fifth Third Bank Stadium831842.3%
12/1/2018FCSBig SkyEastern Washington42Nicholls State215250Roos Field860061.0%
12/1/2018FCSColonial AthleticMaine55Jacksonville State276145Morse Field At Harold Alfond Stadium1000061.5%
12/1/2018FCSPatriot LeagueColgate23James Madison206418Andy Kerr Stadium1022162.8%
11/29/2018FCSSouthernThe Citadel43Charleston Southern147877Johnson Hagood Stadium2100037.5%
12/1/2018FCSBig SkyUC-Davis23Northern Iowa168306Aggie Stadium (UC Davis)1074377.3%
12/1/2018FCSBig SkyWeber State48Southeast Missouri State238838Stewart Stadium1731251.1%
11/30/2018FBSMACBuffalo29Northern Illinois3010255Ford Field6500015.8%
12/1/2018FBSIndependentLiberty52Norfolk State1713243Williams Stadium (VA)1920069.0%
12/1/2018FBSSun BeltAppalachian State30Louisiana1914963Kidd Brewer Stadium2405062.2%
12/1/2018FBSConference USAMiddle Tennessee25UAB2715806Floyd Stadium3078851.3%
12/1/2018FCSMissouri ValleyNorth Dakota State52Montana State1017007Fargodome1900089.5%
12/1/2018FCSSWACAlcorn State37Southern2820652Jack Spinks Stadium2250091.8%
12/1/2018FBSMountain WestBoise State16Fresno State1923662Albertsons Stadium3638765.0%
12/1/2018FBSACCVirginia Tech41Marshall2031336Lane Stadium6623347.3%
11/30/2018FBSPac 12Washington10Utah335134Levi’s Stadium6850051.3%
12/1/2018FBSThe AmericanCentral Florida56Memphis4145176Spectrum Stadium4845393.2%
12/1/2018FBSSECSouth Carolina28Akron353420Williams-Brice Stadium8025066.6%
12/1/2018FBSBig 12Iowa State27Drake2456738Jack Trice Stadium5679599.9%
12/1/2018FBSACCNorth Carolina State58East Carolina357223Carter-Finley Stadium5758399.4%
12/1/2018FBSPac 12California13Stanford2357857Memorial Stadium (Berkeley, CA)6246792.6%
12/1/2018FBSBig TenOhio State45Northwestern2466375Lucas Oil Stadium62421106.3%
12/1/2018FBSACCPittsburgh10Clemson4267784Bank of America Stadium7552589.8%
12/1/2018FBSSECGeorgia28Alabama3577141Mercedes-Benz Stadium8300092.9%
12/1/2018FBSBig 12Oklahoma39Texas2783114AT&T Stadium80000103.9%