Michigan 1st, Ohio State 2nd in average attendance per game for 2016 season

It’s obvious that Jim Harbaugh, 5-star recruits, including the No. 1 recruit in the nation last year, and the long-lasting traditions at the University of Michigan are some of the many things that attract students and fans to The Big House on Saturday’s during the season.

This year, those things helped claim the attendance crown, according to Jon Solomon of CBSSports.com.

The Wolverines led all of the FBS in average attendance with 110,468 spectators visiting Michigan Stadium per game. Rival Ohio State was a close second with 107,278. Rounding out the top five are Texas A&M, Alabama and LSU.

Michigan outscored its opponents 342-83 at home in 2016, with huge blowouts against Hawaii (63-3), UCF (51-14), Penn State (49-10) and Illinois (41-8).

Purdue, with its 34,451 attendance average, was the lowest in the Big 10, with Northwestern not too far behind at 34,798. Ball State of the Mid-American Conference drew the smallest average crowd in the country with 7,789 fans per game.

Here’s a real surprise — Rutgers (44,804) had a higher attendance average than Stanford (44,142). If you would’ve told me that at the beginning of the year, I wouldn’t have believed you.

I’m not sure there is a better place in the country to watch a college football game than The Big House, so kudos to everyone who went out an attended a Michigan football game this season.

Especially if you went to the Indiana game. You are a hero if you went to that one.