Weather. No new QB.
Devin Gardner? The crowd's reaction to him taking the field was pretty cool. I'm just going to assume you were saying no new starting QB.
Yes. I think most would have assumed Tate all the way this year.
After today, there is no way in hell Tate takes the first snap against UConn. He looked straight up lost out there.
Robinson will keep the seat warm (and probably ignite it) until Gardner goes Heisman on the NCAA.
I'm pretty sure FA was talking about people's expectations going into today.
Well we've also known for awhile that Denard was running with the 1's so that doesn't make much sense to me either.
Not all of our fanbase lives within easy driving distance and can decide on the spur of the moment to go. People from out of town may need more time to plan their visits. Prior to spring ball, Tate seemed clearly to be in the driver's seat.
Ok, now I'm very confused. No sarcasm here at all. Going into spring ball, yes, Forcier was the #1. Going into today, I thought it was well known that Denard was the #1. Maybe I'm wrong and I will admit it if I am.
From what I heard it was neck and neck. Going into the game, they were supposed to be pretty close in passing ability. Forcier was supposed to have the advantage in reading the defense. Robinson had the advantage on running the read option and obviously with speed.
I guarantee if we had the weather we did on Thursday for the spring game, more people would've showed up.
Also don't forget the suites were brand new last year and everyone wanted to peek and see what was going on with those despite being half constructed.
30k seemed a low estimate. unless the crowd was only allowed in half the stadium, what was shown was 2/3 full
at the beginning of the game there was definitely over 40,000 people there
...seemed that way to me. Watched BTN's live stream and one of the opening shots looked as if maybe there might have been close to 65K or 70K. Then I thought I heard over the PA that the attendance was 30K. Cant believe there arent more local people attending the game. I made it last year and just from speaking to people around town, they didnt even know there was a spring game. What kind of marketing is done locally, T.V. / Radio / Print, to promote the game?
Zip Zero Zilch Nada
From the stands I would have guessed about 45k. The end zone sides were very empty.
45K sounds about right. I was there and 35K sounded lower than I expected, but not that much lower. Still curious as how they approximate the number
I figured there were probably around 40k at its peak.
10 middle sections on the home field side, lower bowl, were about 90% full, 8 middle sections on the vistors side were about the same. The corner sections were maybe 50% full. The endzone areas, 10%. The upper ring around the entire stadium 5%. They said 35,000 attendance at the game. I guessed 40,000 before they made the announcement.... Somewhere in there was about right. 40 to 45 degF temps and windy made it rather chilly there today. Better weather would have probably got us another 5 to 10K for the game.....
Anyone watching the Alabama spring game? The stadium is full. I guess that's what happens when you win a national title. I have faith that we'll be there in a couple years.
Not to mention perfect weather.
College football's the only game in town in Alabama.
that and cock fighting of course.
Urban Meyer was at the Bama spring game challenging another reporter?
...without seeing or hearing about the A-Day game. Its on billboards, in the paper, on the radio, nightly news you name it.
I live in Jackson and I feel like most of the people here don't even know about it. I got some friends to come with me at the last minute today. Hopefully in the future we can advertise for the game a little better and break the record that Alabama set for spring game attendance.
Definitely only 50k there. End zones were empty basically, maybe 1/3 full between the two ends. Press box sideline was maybe 2/3 full, opposite sideline maybe 1/2 full.
It was really, really windy and in general just uncomfortable. Low energy the entire time, really. Gardner did not impress much, but D. Robinson sure did. T. Robinson is FAST, Hopkins is a tank, Roh almost had a pick. Cox had some nice runs, Roundtree some nice catches. C. Gordon looked pretty good.
You must have been watching a different spring game. Gardner was the most impressive player on the field today, without a doubt.
I left after about only an hour, but Gardner didn't impress me at all. He wasn't very accurate and that interception when he started inside his own five was a very typical freshman mistake. Maybe he did more later, and I definitely think he will be great in a few years, but he didn't show me much today.
I couldn't hook up my laptop to my TV for the first bit of the game, so I must have missed that. Afterwards I thought he was impressive.
He really wasn't. He did make some good throws (two), and had a couple of impressive scrambles. Other than that, he seemed to be really out of focus. I was there, btw.
fumbled the opening snap, threw an interception right to the defender without an offensive player within 5 yards. He did have some nice throws and runs. All in all, played like a freshmen.......with a TON of potential...
Today's weather was nowhere close to the 70-80 degree beauty we had for the spring game last year. Im sure if it was sunny out, a lot more people would have come, if for no other reason than to just be outside in the sun.
Looking at the image posted in the spring game thread, it looked to me like attendance was about the same or possibly a hair larger than last year. Last year the endzones were mostly empty also.
At any rate, it must be stated that we historically haven't made a big deal of the spring game. The attendance the last two years has been probably double what we were averaging in previous years.
...was pretty good later in the afternoon. That was my first trip to AA for the spring game. I was really hoping for 70K+.
So when they said 35k, I was a little surprised. But then those "full" sections in the middle had a lot of space in them.
I mean, it was damn cold. Particularly with the wind. Not, oooohhh, a little cool out today...November cold. That's where you lose a lot of women, children, and, sad to say, students. Not that couldn't get tickets to Opening Day this is my right of Spring enjoying the weather day.
I mean, lackluster season number #2 probably killed a little optimism and circle the wagons mentality among the fanbase, but 99% of it was weather.
Edit: I mean I saw snowflakes pre-game...at like 10 am. It's 46 out right now, the "heat" of the day.
How do you think the weather affected all of the recruits at the game today? Will this turn them off to the program?lower attendance than expected...was there at least a good energy around the game today?
It probably won't matter. The weather's not THAT bad - it's like 45 degrees and windy. It's just not as beautiful as it was earlier in the week.
i think 35,000 sounds about right. you have to remember that even in the sections where it seems pretty full, those people are not packed in like they are during games.
i was there around the 30 yard line toward the endzone they were driving towards and i had a couple seats to myself and the bench in front of me for a footrest.
they need to market it more around town. put up a bunch of posters in downtown or something. seemed like there were about zero students in there other than the band.
I would guess higher, but that's just me.
I was at Blimpy and the people behind me had NO CLUE it was the Spring Game today. I think there was some sort of event over at Ross School Of Business too, since I saw people heading in there.
[EDIT: Ignore this because I divergently came up with it long after a handful of others pointed out the same thing. I should have read before posting.]
Please recognize that people don't pack in densely when they don't have to. Sure (or *maybe*), one-half to two-thirds of the bowl's surface area was covered with bodies. Still, I think it's sensible for the official attendance to highlight that this sort of spring game surface area coverage translates to an attendance of roughly 30,000--not of 60,000.
I walked in and instantly knew that there were fewer people this year than last year. Last year it was "full" almost up to the top of the bowl. The endzones were almost empty.
put a spring jacket on and watch some football. Go Blue. What ever. I even got a few brews at the BOX house ... very sad. Get off your couch.
He said about 35K, which is what I would guess too. End zones essentially empty, and people were far from packed in together in the lower part of the bowl the way they are for a game.
As for why, I think it's a combo of the weather (it was no better than many a November game) and the disappointing last two seasons. It was a typical Michigan crowd otherwise—got really noisy at Denard's long TD pass to Roundtree, but pretty quiet in between. Lots of little kids with their parents, but for the most part the fans I saw looked pretty hard-core. I didn't see any of the white-wine-and-brie set. At least nobody yelled down in front.
Gardner looked raw as hell, and the shot-putting character of his throws is accurate for the most part.
April 17th, 2010 at 10:52 PM ^
there were still the "down in front" types.
we took up 8 seats (1 for pizza) and it was cool with the wind. People milled around the hole time, it seemed no one sat down they just wanted to walk in front of our seats. The troop of old guys behind me could never figure out who was who or where they came from. After 20 minutes of that I started answering question, why is 44 a line backer, who is he? GEEEESSSSSSSHHHHHHH, read a blog. #4 on defence, he doesn't look like he knows what he's doing, AAAARRRGGGGGG.
So for the day it was worth it, took my daughter there for the first time, spent some quality time with my dad and bro in law.... good times.