On another negative note,

[BULLheaded]

Its not like half the students showed.  NOBODY SHOWED!  If there were 200 students I'd be shocked.  Excuses are like bellie buttons and...well you get my drift.  It was just disappointing to know only a few thousand die hard alums./CF fans really care for this program.

This is exactly what I was talking about, people are talking like it was just a lesser turnout but it was NO turnout. What magpie said about all the students probably not able to fill even one section is right...I'd be shocked if they all filled 3 or 4 rows of a section.

Wonder what the team would look like if all the STUDENT athletes stayed home or worked instead of showing up. It's really nice they put all this effort for their fellow students who cares less.

[bullman3]

Had we beat army and cinci, we would have had 35,000 people at the game, including 4,000-5,000 students.  We blew it against those two teams, none of which are very good, and our support reflects the product that is one the field this year.

[USFCollin]

I wouldn't bash the students too much.  Ever see a Duke homegame at Cameron over Xmas break?  Or remember the Michigan State game we played at Lansing a couple years ago?  Is anyone going to say those student fan bases aren't loyal?  Especially with the number of students we have that are workign their way through college... I think we should cut them some slack on this one.

I'm actually more pissed at our usual fans who failed to show up for the most important game of the season.  I know 11am isn't our usual time, and it's Thanksgiving weekend, but the people who left town should have been replaced by the people who stayed home bringing their relatives from out of town!  

[Cubanbull]

If thats the case then the students SHOULD be in full force for the Pitt game. I drove from out of town and brought three with me. Most of our students reside in florida and could have driven back for the game. But ill look and see how many are there this next weekend.

[bigbull]

I was at the game yesterday and I am at all the basketball games, men's and women's and every sport for that matter.  There are two of us that go to everything and we need more studets to follow, but for basketball, we can fill the student sections but if the others dont show, the sundome will still look like crap.  

[WoolyBully]

I love it when we trot out the 40K student thing.

The student section was empty because some genius over on Fowler Avenue said ... hey Thanksgiving weekend, Saturday morning...what a winning combination.  I can swing by the game after I've picked up the mulch from Home Depot!

The dorms are empty...it's a holiday weekend. That 40K student business - bear in mind that it's not 40K kids between the age of 18 and 21. You've got a ton of students in their twenties to - dare I say it - forties that constitute the student body. But who sits in the student section? The 18-21 year olds.

There's legit reasons not to attend that game (hey...think we should drag this thread out to cover "leaving early"? ). The only one that won't apply next week is the 'holdiay weekend' argument.

BTW: letter to the trib today, sports section. Someone raised the question as to why, unlike for concerts, we don't get our money back for rescheduled Bulls games.  Remember, it was only the previous week that it was announced that this was a Saturday morning gig.  

[MikeG]

Thanksgiving weekend is a tough sell on our already tenuous connection to the Bulls fan in general. Hard to just point out the students as the culprit when you had plenty of empty seats EVERYWHERE for this game.

I think we need to move on and stop worrying about how many people got to see that clunker. This season is pretty much toast. If anything, having the Pitt game in December will serve as the closest call USF has to a bowl game atmosphere. I expect the Pitt fans to show up in big numbers as they need this game to complete their Big East conference championship. The strange thing is that USF might actually pull out a win against them and that would HURT the Big East somewhat and give the ESPN goon squad more fooder to throw at the "weak" Big East. I doubt we have to worry too hard about USF winning next week and most fans have realistic expectations along those lines. Anything is possible I suppose and I'll be there. But I won't bother worrying about who didn't go-- if they choose to stay home, that is their business. Truth be told-- I am not looking forward to next week either at this point. Winning against Pitt would be like putting lipstick on a pig of a season.

[USFMikeB]

Blaming the students is a cop out.  Hello, it was Thanksgiving weekend, the campus is freaking empty!

[Bull Matrix]

I am not blaming the students for that football game, but I am blaming to students that gave up on the basketball team last season. Lets see if the students support basketball because there really is no excuse not too since the SUNDOME is on the **** campus. The football thing is another issue because it is an off campus stadium. And, I have to say that it was the students that supported the football team in force during the beginning It was not the community. The community let USF down big time on the USM home game. There is no doubt about that. That game should have had at least 35k in attendence. This just goes to show you that I would rather have the stadium located on campus because the tri-city bay area does not really support USF football. I believe us diehards would still watch USF football games if they had an on-campus stadium one day. Better yet, I believe the attendence would be better because it has more of a college feel to it.

[BULLheaded]

Had we beat army and cinci, we would have had 35,000 people at the game, including 4,000-5,000 students.  We blew it against those two teams, none of which are very good, and our support reflects the product that is one the field this year.

Yep, this is the point...holiday weekend, work, early game are not the reasons for the no show of students but the fair weather usf fan is the reason for the lack of attendance. If everyone if fine with that then that's up to you but it really pisses me off that the students have been given a great team for years and after one bad season just disappear...yeah, that is some great support. Oh and for those pissed at the community, again I have to say that if the students don't give a crap why should the community care?