Penn State head coach James Franklin may have wanted a full house on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, but the 68,000 fans that showed up for the annual Blue White Game is nothing to be ashamed of. Penn State’s spring game crowd currently ranks third in the nation and gives the Big Ten the top three spots in the order.
Ohio State set a new national spring game record with 99,391 fans filling up Ohio Stadium. A large crowd at Ohio State was expected coming off a national championship, and nobody in the country was going to rival that this spring. Nebraska, always a perennial spring game powerhouse, is in a firm second place with 76,881 fans showing up for the spring game in Lincoln earlier this month. Penn State’s spring game attendance narrowly beat out Alabama (65,175) and had a little more breathing room over Auburn (62,143) this weekend.
68,000 fans at the Blue White Game should clinch a top 10 spring game attendance. Will clinch third in Big Ten behind OSU and NEB.
— Nittany Lions Den (@NittanyLionsDen) April 18, 2015
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It looks pretty safe to say Penn State will lock down a top five spring game attendance, for those who care about such stats. This weekend will see Tennessee give Penn State a run. The Vols are another traditionally strong draw, and the optimism is rightfully pretty high this season. Last year Tennessee had 68,500 fans at the spring game, which would be enough to knock Penn State down a spot in the national spring game rankings. Other programs still to hold spring games — Arkansas, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Washington State, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin etc.) are not expected to challenge Penn State’s spring total.
National Top 10 Spring Attendance (as of April 20)
- Ohio State – 99,391
- Nebraska – 76,881
- Penn State – 68,000
- Alabama – 65,175
- Auburn -62,143
- Michigan – 60,000
- Georgia – 46,815
- Oklahoma – 42,807
- Clemson – 37,000
- Missouri – 30,117
Big Ten Spring Game Attendance (as of April 20)
- Ohio State – 99,391
- Nebraska – 76,881
- Penn State – 68,000
- Michigan – 60,000
- Minnesota – 10,100
- Indiana – 10,014
- Purdue – 5,145
You can browse the spring game attendance figures on this Google Doc, which ranks each school in the nation and breaks it down by conference. It is regularly updated accordingly once numbers become official or confirmed.
Photo credit: The Morning Call (Abby Drey / McClatchy-Tribune)
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