When ASU was losing to UCLA on Thursday, those who stuck around noticed a peculiar sight. Most of the fans were gone.
The supporters were repulsed by the team’s embarrassing performance on a big stage. After the Sun Devils jumped out to a 17-6 lead, UCLA went on a 42-3 run sparked by a pick-six to close out the first half and a kickoff return touchdown to begin the second.
Just as the momentum swung fully in favor of the Bruins, ASU fans began to disappear.
https://twitter.com/ICBeck21/status/515366966551269376
Last week wasn’t the first game ASU fans didn’t stick around for, and it certainly won’t be the last. Remember the 2013 Pac-12 championship game and the blackout against Oregon in 2012?
Early departures are not restricted to losses either; fans will prematurely go home after blowout wins too.
Redshirt sophomore Mike Bercovici looks for a receiver during the 4th quarter of the game against UCLA. The Sun Devils lost to UCLA on Sept 25 at Sun Devil Stadium with a score of 62-27. (Photo by Andrew Ybanez)Many college football blowouts are from out-of-conference cupcakes, but not all.
UCLA, Stanford and Oregon were all conference games that were billed as the most important contests of their respective seasons.
The shock from an in-conference blowout (12.8 average margin of victory in 2014 Power Five conference games), deterred fans, who were expecting a much better game. I detailed the out-of-conference games below, using Sports Reference for game scores.
ASU is not the only school facing the problem of fans exiting early. It’s a nationwide phenomenon.
Even premier programs with storied history and recent success see fans often duck out early.
Alabama students had seating privileges taken away for leaving games early.
LSU fans missed a frantic fourth quarter comeback attempt against Mississippi State.
South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw ripped his own fans for leaving a game early last year.
Michigan fans are obviously outraged with the program’s direction, even before Shane Morris' concussion scandal, and have left the last two games early. There are plenty more examples, but I’ll just stop there.
If historic programs like Alabama, LSU and Michigan can’t keep fans in the stadium, how is ASU, a school with significantly less tradition and pedigree, going to retain its?
As a culture, we want to be entertained. Just like people will walk out of a bad movie if it isn't entertaining, people will walk out of college football games if they fail to capture fan attention.
On the surface, the games are dramatic, but the reality is too many games aren’t close.
Nearly three of every 10 regular season college football games involving an FBS team is decided by at four possessions or more (25 points). I compared the sport to the NFL, one of its closest competitors for sports fans’ dollars.
I defined a one-score game as a game decided by eight points or less, 9-16 for a two-score game, 17-24 for a three-score game and 25 or more for a blowout.
While college football will never match the NFL’s parity (those fans aren't immune from early departures either), the games could be closer.
I have a few recommendations to make games better. The first is stop scheduling FCS schools and include more Power Five out-of-conference matchups.
But beyond who plays who, adopting the NFL’s clock rule on first downs would make a small difference by eliminating a few plays. (NFL teams run a play every 27.47 seconds, while college football teams run a play every 25 seconds). Blowouts will still happen with those changes, but perhaps at a lower rate.
It isn't fair to blame ASU fans for going home early. The product on the field is what deserves blame.
Reach the columnist at jmjanss1@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @jjanssen11
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