Texas is notorious (probably one of the few big-time schools that’s worse than Michigan) for having terrible fans.

Hardcore UT fans have been calling out flakey students or lazy alumni for years. Ugh. I have no idea why it’s like that.

The only excuse I can give is that it was only against Baylor, it was in the morning, and it came after a heart-breaking loss. But even against Oklahoma State, I thought our fans were a bit of a downer at times. Sigh.

First, their is a student section. Students are mainly in the lower deck, sections 24-27. There is also a small section that sits in the south endzone, and another section in the upper deck above sections 24-27.

The upper deck student section doesn’t usually fill up because students just sneak into the lower deck student section where everyone is standing anyways. That area is also right next to the away team section. Baylor doesn’t show up in mass.

While the stadium wasn’t at capacity, 70% is a gross exaggeration. Maybe if an entire endzone was empty you’d have a case.

As for tailgating, I’m not sure you realized where the tailgating took place. Everyone tailgates right across MLK from the stadiums. There are half a dozen parking lots where everyone gathers. Sometimes a sister isn’t going to the best for showing you around gameday… just a thought.

I believe I am well able to comment on this since I attended both school as a student (UM for four years and UT for two years) and attended every single football game.

UT and UM fans are virtually identical. This year aside for UM, both fan bases expect to win every game and therefore only get excited for the big games. My experience with the Big House and with DKR is that they can get very loud for rivalry games but are quiet for the cupcakes. Also, both fanbases tend to empty out early (this seemed somewhat understandable in my 1st yr at UT when VY was running up 50 pts by halftime.)

As a comparable game at the U of M, Michigan was undefeated in 2006 (9-0) heading into a november game vs Ball State. The attendance was pathetic, with many ticket holders not showing up at all. Very similar to the Baylor game.

I think you are fairly accurate. Texas fans have their moments. If you went to all the home games plus Tx/OU, in Dallas, you probably would have a slightly different take. There is no excuse for fans leaving a game like they did Saturday against Baylor. It is a great crowd when there is something on the line. We do travel well. If you where at the Rose Bowl vs. UT then you know. I’m not surprised that the alums of both schools are similar. Austin is an unique and special place as is UT. Unfortunately we don’t always have that SEC fervor.
I think the players, no matter what school, deserve that the fans to be there until the school song is finished. Beat the hell out of OSU!!!!!

This guy is on the right track about texas fans not staying the whole game, and definitely about texas (student section) showing up late to the games, but WAY OVER EXAGERATING ON A FEW POINTS……most of the pictures are from pre-game, and the pictures at the end are with only about 4 minutes left in the game (baylor kicking off after last TD) also one of the pics of him showing the upper deck is at the end of the game – not during-…………..It is really funny to me how over exagerating this guy is………I was at the game, and tailgating was a normal baylor game…a lot of people but not in full force…..student section wasn’t full until 5 minutes into the game (but it was FULL) and most students left when Texas missed the field goal w/ about 10 minutes to play……..the whole thing about only 70% full is crap…..the stadium was 95% full from the 5 minute mark of the first until10 minutes left in the game….. Apples and Oranges….Longhorn fans to Michigan fans…think about it, what else is there to do in Michigan ? and now what else could a college kid do in Austin ? exactly 6th street, live music ect….a lot more for the majority to do, than live and die football……

sorry for the novel, but just erks me when people say something that is exagerated or use false material to percieve a inaccurate perception.

this guy is WAY over the top…….. I too am a BIG Michigan fan…..but a BIGGER Horn fan 1 Love them both

To all you “BIG” Horn fans, (I’m talking to you Hookm36), I completely disagree with the student section being “full,” and that the stadium was 95% full for 45 minutes. I too, was at the game, and am calling you out buddy. YOU ARE WRONG. Just look at those pictures. I would say the stadium NEARED maximum capacity for a good 10 minutes, tops.

Sure, Austin is a lot cooler than any city in Michigan, but the level of fandom at the actual game was terrible. I’ve heard us get much louder for Purdue, Eastern Michigan and even Ball State, and to have that kind of showing when you’re a top five team? It’s pathetic.

Also, to all who extoll the virtues of tailgating on MLK (dahobbs): Yes, we know where to tailgate and it SUCKS. I would say you have about an acre or two of tailgating space along MLK, tops. Tailgating is ubiquitous in Ann Arbor. It’s a little different, asshole.

I guess I’m a little mean spirited because, as a Michigan fan in Austin, I love this city, but the two programs can’t even be compared when it comes to fans and gameday culture. The UT tradition, pageantry and fanbase are real turnoffs if you’re an experienced Michigan football fan. If you just like to throw two fingers in the air and yell “hook ’em”, you’re more than than welcome to. UT is a great school with a great football program – just not as sweet as Michigan’s.

Sure, Saturday was by far the worst fan showing of our home games this year. But what were you expecting, exactly? It was an 11am kick against a non-rival after a heart-grinding loss.

Michigan is probably a lot more rockin’ against tOSU than you are against some random nonconference game. Likewise, if you want to see the best of Texas football, come back for a rivalry game with an afternoon or night kick, or better yet, go to the Cotton Bowl for the OU game.

I thought for sure that every major program mirrored what it was like when I was at Bama. I’m not writing these things to stick my nose up, it’s just some shared insight so that you can turn things around on your campuses.

Say what you want about Fraternities and Sorrorities, but it’s a hell of a way to pass on the Game Day tradition and pull alumni into student circles and carry on tradition. Here’s how it rolled at Bama (88-93)

The partying starts Thursday w swaps (a sorrority goes to frat houses for some goofy parties and mingling w the opposite sex). Friday is pep rallys and more parties w Bands at Frat houses, etc.. Your date to the game will go to this party with you and start pre-game girl talk with your friends’ dates that builds a friend for them to talk with at the game, while you’re enjoying the game and talking and enjoying football. This overlooked component of “Lady maintenance” keeps the “eve” from enticing the “adam” to do the wrong thing like show up late, leave early or not go at all. It’s like the perfect blind date George Castanza had with Jerry Seinfeld. It’s a win win. On Saturday, everyone is at your Frat or Sorrority House EARLY Sat with Alumni, like 8am!!! At every house there is brunch, bloody marries, whiskey, whatever. Even if it’s like UT Chattanooga and you’re having a bad season, everyone is starting early in the morning WITH a date. Then you go to the game b4 kickoff. The Student Section is what makes it awesome too. Each Fraternity can block off several rows of seats for their students so it’s a group of people who party together going to the game together. And NO ONE leaves freakin early unless their going to have sex, pass out or smoke weed. Get it together Texas. How the hell do you recruit?

I know this doesn’t make a bunch of sense to most. I’m a die hard alumni and I skipped this game…I do every year. The score over the last 10 years is 486-99.

We just finished the most brutal 4 week stretch in our history. Everyone needed a break.

Here’s an example of how a weekend might go for us at UT (I’m in a fraternity):

- Thursday night, 6th Street is swamped with college kids. Alot of tabs, parties, etc…
- Friday night, we either have big parties, formals or tabs downtown…
- Saturday, every fraternity has a big barbeque/tailgate at their houses. This is a big reason that the MLK tailgates are not bigger, and are more skewed towards alumni. The fact that ~5000 drunk students walk the 30+ minutes to the stadium for the game shows at least some loyalty.

A few other things:
- I will admit that this is the worst showing I’d seen in my 4 seasons here. Some reasons behind this have been mentioned before (11am starting time, Baylor, coming off the big loss, etc.), but I’d like to mention another one. The games starting at 2 (Bama at LSU, Iowa at PSU) had such a huge impact on our season. Many people left early to make sure they catch these games at a sports bar, or even just to make the long walk back home to catch them. Personally, I left towards the end of the 3rd quarter for this very reason.
- The third picture shown (with the completely empty section of the upper deck) is of one of the Baylor sections. We have two visiting sections: one there, and one in the endzone on the east side.
- How is it acceptable for people to leave Bama games early to smoke weed, but not to go drink and watch other (more important) games? You’re bashing us for our football fandom, yet you say its acceptable to leave and go veg out on the couch with a bong. Every sports bar and fraternity house was filled to the brim in Austin this weekend from 2pm to 10pm watching the games that would ultimately help decide out season.
- You may want to check this out:
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/124369
Ya’ll are at the top (as usual), but notice who leads in % of capacity? This was for the early non-conference games as well (Mizzou and OKST were near 99,000).
- It is also ludacris to say that even the most fervent fanbases attend cupcakes and rivals in the same way. LSU (considered THE best college atmosphere w/ great fans, tailgating, stadium, etc.) didn’t even reach capacity for games earlier this year against UNT and App St. (Their capacity is 92,000+ and those attendances were in the 91,000s). We, on the other hand, were 3,000 over capacity even for this game (97,000 compared to 94,000).

We are not the best fan base in the country, but overall we have nothing to be ashamed of. Games like OU and Mizzou were incredible, rivaling the best stadiums around (my friend of LSU said the Mizzou game was on par with a big LSU game).

/rant

bfim87, no hard feelings man, I’m not saying it’s ok to leave a game ever, I never did. I’m just referencing the 5 or 6 people I saw leave a game EVER in 5 YEARS at Bama.

But hey, if we didn’t have a student section, we may have left early too, it’s a crime that they don’t have that at TX.

To contrast, check Bama Mississippii State in the 4th Quarter and you’ll see what I mean.

Texas fans are good, but incredibly spoiled. They’re a late arriving, early leaving crowd and the stadium can be dead when they’re in full “not into it” mode. Yes, they had a tough stretch, tough loss, blah, blah, blah. Cry me a river. If, and it’s a big if, they ever go through a down 3-4 years, attendance will fall like off a cliff.