Fan culture (students)

Donate To GopherHole
Schnauzer

Schnauzer

Pretty Sure You are Wrong
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
7,262
Reaction score
5,157
Points
113
I brought this up at the start of the season and I will do the same at its conclusion. I have seen a marked improvement in the student section in recent years in terms of size and participation. I was getting worried in the Coach Kill years as the Brewster regime and/or the move to campus actually brought smaller student sections than what we saw in the Metrodome, off campus. I probably paid too close attention to it and was too bothered by it but a vibrant student section is one of the reasons why I enjoy big time college football.

I think the biggest turning point was the 2019 Penn State game, but in general it seems like heading over the bank for Gopher football is very much a cool thing to do among the students now. This is sooooo important because it builds memories and sells future season ticket packages. The overall attendance is sort of luke warm and has fallen off a bit. But the student section has been improving.

Aside from the eye test, just looking at the number of kids in the second deck end zone seats - I am seeing a LOT of evidence in social media. As the first game neared: I saw a lot of tik toks with coeds walking through the "fits" they intended to wear to opening night. Then after a full season of lots of tik toks from students having a good time at tailgates and the games, after Saturday's Axe win my feed was wall to wall student-perspective videos of the great time they had as well as lots more with sentimental themes of "can't believe I just went to my last game as a student, I am going to miss this so much."

Really fun to see. So much of college life is following each other around like sheep and it gets pretty dreary in athletic venues when attending games there falls off the radar of students. I cringe a little bit when the field gets stormed over a win over a team we have beaten 6 times in a row, or over a team as dreadful as Wisconsin was this season. But, I am learning to accept that. Perhaps it becomes "our thing" and kids definitely don't want to miss out on the opportunity, as exhibited by the huge crowd of students sticking it out in a game played in a frozen snow storm.
 

Schnauzer said:
I brought this up at the start of the season and I will do the same at its conclusion. I have seen a marked improvement in the student section in recent years in terms of size and participation. I was getting worried in the Coach Kill years as the Brewster regime and/or the move to campus actually brought smaller student sections than what we saw in the Metrodome, off campus. I probably paid too close attention to it and was too bothered by it but a vibrant student section is one of the reasons why I enjoy big time college football.

I think the biggest turning point was the 2019 Penn State game, but in general it seems like heading over the bank for Gopher football is very much a cool thing to do among the students now. This is sooooo important because it builds memories and sells future season ticket packages. The overall attendance is sort of luke warm and has fallen off a bit. But the student section has been improving.

Aside from the eye test, just looking at the number of kids in the second deck end zone seats - I am seeing a LOT of evidence in social media. As the first game neared: I saw a lot of tik toks with coeds walking through the "fits" they intended to wear to opening night. Then after a full season of lots of tik toks from students having a good time at tailgates and the games, after Saturday's Axe win my feed was wall to wall student-perspective videos of the great time they had as well as lots more with sentimental themes of "can't believe I just went to my last game as a student, I am going to miss this so much."

Really fun to see. So much of college life is following each other around like sheep and it gets pretty dreary in athletic venues when attending games there falls off the radar of students. I cringe a little bit when the field gets stormed over a win over a team we have beaten 6 times in a row, or over a team as dreadful as Wisconsin was this season. But, I am learning to accept that. Perhaps it becomes "our thing" and kids definitely don't want to miss out on the opportunity, as exhibited by the huge crowd of students sticking it out in a game played in a frozen snow storm.
Click to expand...
I would also add to keep the kids coming back, they are going to have to fix the Wi-Fi situation as a game day experience, especially with the B1G tendency to have 5 minute commercials after every kickoff and change of possession.
 

Coming out of COVID also helped, as I think students were more than ready to do stuff outside their dorms and apartments. That's when I noticed the extra pick up.

Saturday's student section was as good as its ever been, given the weather and Thanksgiving break. It was full and energetic. It was a great atmosphere.
 

Another positive I noticed, usually for the Axe game it seems like there is a lot of red in the student section. While there of course was still some this year, it felt like less than in past years. I could be wrong but it seemed that way from the eye test.
 

Schnauzer said:
I cringe a little bit when the field gets stormed over a win over a team we have beaten 6 times in a row, or over a team as dreadful as Wisconsin was this season. But, I am learning to accept that. Perhaps it becomes "our thing" and kids definitely don't want to miss out on the opportunity, as exhibited by the huge crowd of students sticking it out in a game played in a frozen snow storm.
Click to expand...
I guess students storming the field makes sense in terms that this was only their second time beating Wisconsin in the Bank EVER, and with the last one having been in 2021 even the seniors would not have seen us beat Wisconsin at home, or win a non-Nebraska rivalry game at home, or win on Senior Day at all. So the more thought I give it the more it makes sense to me that students would want to storm the field.
 
Last edited:


Gophers1992 said:
Another positive I noticed, usually for the Axe game it seems like there is a lot of red in the student section. While there of course was still some this year, it felt like less than in past years. I could be wrong but it seemed that way from the eye test.
Click to expand...
yes, and the real head scratcher was some of that red rushed the field on Saturday. Go figure.
 



Students have been showing up and supportive far more than I remember.

Even when games got tough they have been loud and present.
 



From what I deciphered from TV it wasn’t really a true rush the field, in my opinion. Just looked like it started a few people leaked over when the axe got close, it did grow from there, but not a true field “rush”.

Besides, I don’t really see anything wrong with that, anywhere.
 

ergopher said:
I guess students storming the field makes sense in terms that this was only their second time beating Wisconsin in the Bank EVER, and with the last one having been in 2021 even the seniors would not have seen us beat Wisconsin at home, or win a non-Nebraska rivalry game at home, or win on Senior Day at all. So the more thought I give it the more it makes sense to me that students would want to storm the field.
Click to expand...
We don't need to justify fun. Storm if Bucky is a 0-win team.
Make a snow angel, give a badger fan the finger, who cares?
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom