Regarding the numbers of OSU fans in MIchigan Stadium

I was at the game. Not a noticeable difference in opposing-fan attendance than at other games. I estimated 5% "red." My friend with me estimated 4%. My wife, watching on TV, said "whole stadium" was red. Now, there were some Buck-nuts throughout the stadium, but in very small pockets, and scattered. It may be that red "stands out" in ways that darker colors (blue) do not. This was NOT a red crowd.

OSU and Michigan give each other the required Big Ten minimum of seats. Period. Can't remember if it's 3000 or 3500.

Thank you, Sec 1, for this excellent explanation. People snatched up the OSU packages (with EMU and DSU) at $165 because they were cheaper than a normal OSU single (usually >$200).

There are many reasons for the red in the stadium on Saturday - from red is a brighter color, to the seats we give to OSU each year, to UM season ticket holders selling tickets, to the athletic department selling these packages. As you noted, the AthDept had a very good reason for selling these packages, but to the extent that anyone is to "blame" (and I'm not sure any blame is necessary) the AthDept probably gets a share of it, too.

Thank you for attempting to be logical with this, although I suspect it's going to be lost in the "ONLY MICHIGAN FANS SHOULD EVER HAVE MICHIGAN TICKETS" mentality that's sweeping the boards.

All these are from the past day, and are either directly about all of the "traitors" in our midst or devolve into it partially through the thread.

There are valid reasons for the amount of OSU fans in the stadium and the amount of visible red. Getting people to listen to them is another matter entirely.

This explanation makes sense to me. I was among the group (of Michigan fans) who bought these one-time-only season tickets. They were small, white tickets.

I wondered if there were any OSU-related packages. I bought the entire season for $400 (times two). If there was a subset OSU package for $165 that would fully explain a large number of those seats available. I'm sure those busy Buckeye fans would tip each other off to their availability.

There definitely were more visiting fans there than usual. And they did stand out more because they all wear red. Some of the estimates I've seen (20%) are much exaggerated. 5-8% seems about right to me.

Excellent post.

Let them in. Then beat the crap out of theIr team. This will stop being a problem when Michigan returns to form, which I expect under Rodriguez, but will happen, as it has for more than a century.

I'm not complacent; I expect UM to do what needs to be done.

My seats are in section 1, row 28, and not near the aisle, and I have had them for a while. Most of the seats in our section are licensed by alumni who have been there for quite some time. Yesterday, I recognized very few of the people who normally occupy the seats. My son and I were surrounded by OSU folks, including four ladies, all recent OSU grads in front of us, who were disgustingly nice. My guess is that there were at least 10 percent OSU fans in our section and probably a good deal more than that. I find that damned cheer they do around OUR stadium appalling in that we let it occur.

ND was the only other school we played at home this year with a good number of fans in attendance, and they were not close in number to what I saw yesterday.

Echoing what others said--I saw it on TV and found it surprising how "red" the stadium appeared, but on wider shots from the field it didn't look so bad. I'm not sure what was at work there.

I appreciate the OP. We all know how nuts OSU fans are--it's a huge game to them, no matter what kind of team we're fielding that year; of course they're going to make a big effort to obtain whatever seats were available, through whatever means.

I'm glad that we can be hospitable -- and can hopefully show some of them a thing or two about manners and class. Would that it sticks.

Another reason for the number of OSU fans in attendance is the close proximity to the Ohio border and the large number of OSU fans in Northwest Ohio. Compared to a Michigan fan that has a minimum 3 hour drive to Columbus to get treated like crap for 4 hours on a saturday afternoon. This post explains the number of red visible in the high dollar seats between the 10 yard lines especially on the East side of the stadium. Don't believe for one second that their weren't any Michigan season tickets holders that sold tickets to Buckeyes. The number of OSU fans reminded me of how Sparty buys all of the upper bowl tickets and takes over Crisler. It was sickening especially during the O-H-I-O chant. The band needed to do something or atleast play music over the loud speakers to drown them out.

It was sickening. 10% red couldn't be that loud or get the chant O H I O so easily flowing around the stadium. It was ridiculous & I hated every bit of it. If it weren't for the student section they easily would have been just about 40% of the stadium. And my guess is they had around a 35% overall showing inside the stadium. So many fans were bitching and pissed as they left saying the exact same thing. I want to feel like I am at the Bighouse representing Michigan with a 90% turnout of my people. Not like I am at a neutral site. The last time I was in Columbus was 2006 & we smelled a national championship, yet i didn't see more than 5% in the Shoe. Bullshit.

Ohio State fans come to Ann Arbor because Michigan fans are for the most part relatively respectful. There would be more Michigan fans at the games in Columbus if we knew that we would not be physically abused. It's that simple.

Great post, Section 1. It's for information like this that I read mgoblog.

Let's hope for seas of maize next year. (Don't worry, people will still find other things to freak out about.)

But I bought those ticket packages this year, $400 for all 8 games, bought 4 tickets actually. I wanted to be select with my OSU tickets, and keep them for Michigan fans. I wasn't even asking over face value.

I couldn't give the damn things away to Michigan fans. In the end, I sold them to two friends (a Buckeye and an Iowa State fan) and a really nice old lady who was a Buckeye fan before the game. It was really sad to see the disinterest in the game by fans.

And just like I experienced when at the Oregon game in 2007, Ohio State 2007, Illinois 2008, MSU 2008, and Ohio State this year, Michigan fans left at the first sign of trouble in the fourth quarter. Ohio State fans were right to do that goodbye cheer as Michigan fans poured out of the stadium after Forcier through his third pick in the end zone. Heck, I still believed they had a chance after the fourth pick (that is until DRob was brought in).

Not only was I upset at fans for leaving early, but the things said about Tate. He's a true freshman, he's GOING to make bad mistakes at times. He had a bad game against Ohio State, the biggest game of his life. He's still a true freshman. It's not like he's a fifth year senior who shouldn't make those mistakes (and still, lets show so class). I am just getting disappointed in Michigan fans more and more.

I felt a bit like the Nebraska/ND game in the early 2000s when ND students and fans sold their tickets expecting a blow out. The stands were a sea of red, and I remember hearing the loud cheers for Nebraska when the took the field, and the boos for ND when they took the field. ND nearly one that game, despite playing in front of a hostile crowd. I kind of felt like that yesterday, particularly in the south end zone.

So fans need attend the games, especially against or biggest rivals. $50 to see your Wolverines play their hated rivals. Come on, you can afford it.

Judge for yourself. Not counting the normal section at the top of the south enzone, I'd put the percentage in the mid- to low single digits. If you add in the 2/3 designated sections of OSU fans, then I could MAYBE see an argument for 9-10%.

10 percent = 10,900 people. If you don't think that many people can be loud, well, you're wrong.

Or does it seem like most of these OSU fans probably never went to much past the ninth grade. They must be spending a couple of weeks worth of pay to get to and in the Big House. Just that is touching but to see a 250 lb 5'5" guy doing the hula dance with warpaint on occupying his primo 45 yard line seats is amazing. To think all of it just to see us!

There's one more important factor: geography.

Ann Arbor is 45 minutes from Toledo. Columbus is 2.5 hours from anywhere in Michigan.

Add the numerous other factors mentioned (seating changes, general malaise of UM fans, etc. . .) and you have a Big House full of Buckeyes.

Although I understand why it happened, I couldn't stand seeing all those OSU fans singing O-H-I-O at the end.

I also got stuck next to Superfan and his cowbell (see post from a few months ago revealing him as an assface), so this was not the ideal gameday experience by any means.

Anyway, did someone say something about our promising basketball season starting?

From a visiting team in the stadium. Made me sick. You could tell lots of people sold them on Stub hub or the like. Wished our fans had more faith. Take away the turnovers and we win that game. They played that well. Then those people who sold their tickets would have been really mad!

Always a lot of Buckeyes at UM vs OSu game in A2. Safe to visit our stadium, whereas not safe for Wolverines to visit the fields in Columbus!

The stadium had 110,000. 15% of that is about 16,000 fans. Put a few drops of red dye in water and you see a lot of red. It does catch the eye, just like cops can see red cars easier than darker colored cars when using radar at a speed trap.

Nonetheless, I've gone to 100+ UM games over the years. OSU always travels well, but that is clearly the MOST OSU fans I've ever seen in the Big House. The first UM play of the game, they stuffed us and the cheers went up. You'd think that we had just run for 10 yds and not got stuffed for a 2 yd loss.

A few OSU fans were telling me that the games like USC and Iowa last week would sell for $200-$250 per ticket. The $165 price for EMU-DSU-OSU was a bargain to them. Especially when you consider that we have won 1 time in 9 years. Hey, that gave us a bit extra room for the EMU and DSU games to sit in our seat.

Canham told of the time he advertised UM tickets in OHIO of all places to get people to fill the Big House for the 1969 game. Word is that some 20,000 OSU fans were there for the game. Canham had no idea that we would be 7-2 going into the game.

Yes, the O-H-I-O cheer as OSU's band played the "Hang on Snoopy" song was nauseating. But, that's the tradition of college football.

RichRod's job is to get this team where it is as good as OSU. Except for 2003 (our last win) and 2004 (when we got smoked even though we had the better team at 8-2), OSU has had better teams or at least as good. The only evenly matched teams were in 2001 and perhaps 2007 (if Henne and Hart hadn't been hurt). The troubles go back before RichRod.

If we are significantly better matched by the time the 2011 game rolls around in A-Squared, RichRod will be sharpening up his resume.

It is better to hear that those inside the stadium only estimated 5-10% of the patrons were actually OSU supporters. However, when I was in school, the Athletic Department made a big push to create "Maize Outs" much like the "White Outs" of PSU. These seemed to be quite successful, and it was apparent who "owned" the stadium that day. Actually, one of the most memorable "Maize Outs" was the last second comeback win over PSU in 2005 (even though the student T-shirt was blue that year, but that's another story).

Has the Athletic Department stopped sponsoring these events? I know the weather does not promote wearing the maize T-shirts that most students got this year, but it seems like cold weather venues like Camp Randall and Beaver Stadium both produce overwhelming blocks of red and white, respectively.

It could be a consequence of the renovations, or of a lame duck AD, but there needed to be some kind of crowd support during the game since it was, in fact, in Ann Arbor.

If the Athletic Department will push for getting a true home field advantage, than maybe it's time for the fans, students, boosters and alumni to start stepping up.