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My last college football map featured the 44th-highest drawing teams (from 2007 attendance figures). I was able to get up to 58 teams for this one…so this map shows all NCAA Division I teams that drew over 40,000 per game in 2007.
[I can tell I am really pushing the limit on memory in the drawing program, because it took a long time to download the map, when I inserted it into this post. Plus, the whole configuration prevents the addition of any more teams...it would just become too crowded and hard to see each team. So I will put this type of map aside now, and return to posts featuring maps of NCAA Division I football Conferences (like I made last November and December). I will start with the SEC, next week.]
This map finally includes the teams that comprise pretty much all of the biggest rivalries in college football. This can be seen with the inclusion of teams like Oregon State (v. Oregon), Oklahoma State (v. Oklahoma), Iowa State (v. Iowa), Utah (v. BYU), Kansas and Kansas State, and Mississsippi and Mississippi State. Also, finally, there are actually some teams from the northeast…Rutgers and Boston College. The team closest to my hometown (of Rochester, NY), Syracuse, did not make the cut. Their program is really in the doldrums, with their head coach set for the axe, and they only drew 35,009 last season (62nd highest).
On the map, I wish I could have shown teams that have become recently successful, like Boise State and TCU, or that are high-flying upstarts like Ball State. But all these teams’ average gates fell short of 40,000, although Boise plays to capacity.
Boise State’s stadium only holds 30,000, and they played to 101% capacity last season. The Broncos are currently ranked #11; they were the 69th highest-drawing team last season, at 30,338 per game.
TCU, Texas Christian University, drew 30,018 per game in ’07 (68% capacity), the 77th highest. The Horned Frogs are currently ranked #12.
Ball State, of Muncie, Indiana, is most famous, it seems, for being David Letterman’s alma mater. In the first week of October, the Cardinals, powered by their potent offense, made it to the AP Poll for the first time ever, at #25. They currently are #18, and remain undefeated. Ball State averaged only 13,085 per game last season (115th in Division I, and I bet there were a few lower division teams that outdrew that figure).
Tulsa is a school better known for it’s very competitive basketball program. The Golden Hurricanes football team (currently ranked #19) drew 24,539 last season, at 69% capacity and the 86th highest in Division I.
So that’s all the teams in the current AP top 25 Poll {Click here} that didn’t make the map. For the record, the teams that just missed the map, drawing between 39,881 and 38,068 in 2007 were: Louisville, Stanford, Connecticut, and Air Force Academy.
2007 Division I attendance figures {Click here}.
