Will attendance start slipping?

Last year, NC State led the nation in attendance as a percentage of capacity. We're doing it again this year. The fans have done a great job filling Carter-Finley Stadium during the Amato era, even during the 2004 crapfest. But the mood among Wolfpack fans is the worst it's been in a long time, and I gotta wonder when that starts to translate into empty bleachers (Aside: even though the Clemson game was listed as a sellout, I thought attendance was noticeably less-than-capacity--even before the game got ugly.).

Wolfpack fans are angry, and from an attendance standpoint, anger can be every bit as bad as apathy. In and of itself, apathy doesn't motivate people to avoid showing support. Anger does. When high expectations turn to disappointment and frustration, there are always people who feel like they can hasten a change by staying home. That will never work around here, but it ain't gonna stop fans from trying, either.

This will be NC State's first home game since a pair of vomit-inducing losses. It doesn't help that the football team has this problem where, like, they keep losing at home and stuff. My friends missed the Student Wolfpack Club's ticket distribution for the USM game and still got good seats from the leftovers. It sounds like a lot of student tickets could go unused this weekend. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the stadium, though it seems like season ticket holders--many of whom have sunk a lot of cash into seats and lifetime rights--would be a little more reluctant to stay home. Or not.

Hang in there, y'all. Remote as the chance may be, we can still turn the season around (in any case, it doesn't hurt to keep telling that to yourself).