No. 14 Ole Miss hosts No. 7 Kentucky. Both teams are undefeated. This is a big game to say the least.
The few hotel rooms available in the area are $600 a night, you can forget about a Friday night reservation at the City Grocery, and the cops are already warning everyone about the traffic.
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium is sold out and the school is encouraging the more than 60,000 fans to wear coordinating colors to Stripe the Vaught in red or navy depending on their section.
This is top SEC football.
However, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin isn’t without concerns from fans, though he has vowed to stop caring and just prepare his team.
It’s not that Oxford isn’t overrun with people. It’s that Kiffin doesn’t know when they’ll arrive at the actual stadium, let alone how long they’ll stay.
The game is an attraction, but so are the Grove, the Square and the Library Sports Bar, among other options for those looking for a drink.
It’s fun the way it’s supposed to be. But Kiffin isn’t afraid to call out to his fans for perhaps caring too much about the party, not only at the expense of supporting the team, but to the team’s actual detriment.
“You come out before the game or halftime … and you run out of the tunnel and it looks like a high school game in a college stadium,” Kiffin said this week of lackluster attendance ahead of the first and third quarters.
“You mustn’t let that affect you,” he continued. “It has psychology. There’s a reason home field advantage doesn’t exist for nothing. When it goes the other way, you kind of feel, ‘Are we still playing a game here?’ The players have to fight against that.”
This isn’t unique to Ole Miss. It’s a college football thing.
Mississippi head coach Lane Kiffin ponders a reporter’s question during a press conference ahead of the college football season. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Filling huge stadiums in often small university towns is an increasing challenge. The average number of visitors has fallen nationwide for seven years in a row. The 39,848 in 2021 was the lowest since 1981, according to CBSSports.com
Even Alabama’s Nick Saban routinely lectured his undergraduate division to hold out the whole game and not refill at halftime. “You should stay and support the team,” he said.
The story goes on
Considering that college football programs generally only play six or seven home games a year, it might seem bizarre that a sport that inspires such passion should struggle with fan engagement. But it’s real.
The sports departments did everything they could to fight it. If football isn’t enough – and halftime marching bands have limited appeal these days – they’ve devised entire in-game entertainment scripts to keep fans engaged (and showcased).
WiFi capabilities have been expanded. DJs were hired. Third quarter LED shows have been created. Some schools have signature sing-alongs, such as Florida (Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”) and Michigan (The Killers “Mr. Brightside”). In Wisconsin, they literally jump to “jump around.” ”
The most effective move might be the growing number of schools (Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, and others) now selling alcohol in stadiums. It presumably puts the brakes on fans who are loading up on one last beer before the game – or looking for another in the second half.
Some schools are redesigning (a la pro sports) the physical stadium to include more party decks and general admission areas. Tennessee, for example, promises its new North End Zone Social Deck will offer a “modernized game-day experience.” Gone are the days when seats were just stuffed into a big bowl.
Of course, Ole Miss implemented all of this. You can buy alcohol, there are multiple party decks for students, a Blue Moon brewhouse, an upgraded audio system for the DJ, LED lights, hype videos, more vendors and outlets, and so on and so on.
Perhaps the real problem is the competitive nature (or lack thereof) of sport. NFL fans like to party, too, but they stay to the bitter end in large part because games are almost always in doubt until the last minute. Not so in college sports.
Ole Miss’ last two home games that lacked crowds included a 59-3 win over Central Arkansas and a win over Tulsa in which the Rebels led 35-17 at halftime. Throw in the Mississippi heat this time of year, and yes, you can see why people would want to get under a hatchback tent again.
After all, returning to the MetLife Stadium parking lot is one thing. It’s something else entirely to settle down at The Grove, a picturesque 10-acre site in the middle of campus.
09/11/2021; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels fans at the Grove during pregame play against the Austin Peay Governors. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
A great college football game isn’t just a great college football game. It’s a big college football weekend.
Because of this, Lane Kiffin has all but given up trying to coach his fans and says he will just coach his team instead.
“I tried social media and came in here [to news conferences] for two years,” Kiffin said, shrugging at his failure. “We’re going to worry about what we can control and that prepares our players to play.”
It’s up to the fans to put down the cocktails and get down to the actual game…you know, the point of it all.
At least supposedly.