http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...ohio-state

Quote:4. Mixed bag for FBS newbies

Appalachian State and Georgia Southern both moved to the Sun Belt this year. GSU won the conference outright with an 8-0 record, and the Eagles nearly took down ACC runner-up Georgia Tech. Appalachian State wasn't quite as successful, but the Mountaineers were still a respectable 7-5.

However, GSU saw far better attendance returns, as the Eagles claimed a 43 percent increase and the Mountaineers claimed a seven percent decrease. Still, Appalachian State remained ahead in average attendance, 23,166 to 21,102. Old Dominion, which fully joined Conference USA this year, had no change.

Article failed to mention Georgia Southern's expanded capacity this year, and the fact that App had really only 1 home game after their awful start.

(12-16-2014 05:53 PM)Eagleditka Wrote:  http://www.sbnation.com/college-football...ohio-state

Quote:4. Mixed bag for FBS newbies

Appalachian State and Georgia Southern both moved to the Sun Belt this year. GSU won the conference outright with an 8-0 record, and the Eagles nearly took down ACC runner-up Georgia Tech. Appalachian State wasn't quite as successful, but the Mountaineers were still a respectable 7-5.

However, GSU saw far better attendance returns, as the Eagles claimed a 43 percent increase and the Mountaineers claimed a seven percent decrease. Still, Appalachian State remained ahead in average attendance, 23,166 to 21,102. Old Dominion, which fully joined Conference USA this year, had no change.

That's why I don't pay attention to these pre-season predictions. The chemistry on each team is different every year.

(12-16-2014 05:57 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  Article failed to mention Georgia Southern's expanded capacity this year, and the fact that App had really only 1 home game after their awful start.

The only reason we had a 43% increase from last year is because the construction going on in the stadium last season limited stadium capacity to about 14k and we were able to pack in about 15k per game. Now that the construction is complete and we have 25k seats, our attendance was bound to go up. We actually had only a slightly above normal attendance average compared to recent years probably due to the new stadium and new competition.

Another thing that surely affected USA's attendance was scheduling the Navy game in the early afternoon on BLACK FRIDAY for cryin' out loud... SHEESH!