The only advantages in having this game is to have a local match up between two teams 35 minutes away and for Tennessee State to have an opportunity to knock us off. A supposed larger crowd may be a byproduct. Their game with us 19 years ago remains in the top 5 crowds for Floyd. I also find it interesting that 2 of the five top crowds are FCS or 1-AA schools.
In my opinion, I would rather rekindle games with LaLa, Ga Southern, or Appalachian State. I'm also trying to stop being so negative about our program.
TOP CROWDS
1. 30,502 Georgia Tech 9/10/11
2. 28,105 Memphis 9/12/09
3. 28,010 Troy 10/5/10
4. 27,568 Tennessee State 9/5/98
5. 27,519 Southeast Missouri 9/28/02
I would propose that there were other significant factors that were the driving force behind the two FCS games remaining in the top 5 for home attendance.
For starters with TSU, it was MT's last season in the OVC where TSU football and basketball games had typically been big rivalry games with great attendance. While I was fairly new to MT at the time, I believe the MTvsTSU game was the opener each season in football that was played at Vandy to handle the large crowds that neither MT or TSU could accommodate in their respective home stadiums. If I recall all of these circumstances correctly, the TSU game was the first MT home game in the just fully completed Floyd Stadium. My recollection of that game was that MT and M'boro was buzzing with the opening of the new stadium with MT readying for 1A. So MT had a wonderful crowd for that game. No doubt, the TSU fans had a good turn out for the last rivalry game vs each other in the OVC. It created a great crowd and an exciting game. As for the good attendance vs a 1AA team, MT was still 1AA in that game as well. The main factors in my opinion were the new stadium and final conference rivalry game.
The other FCS or 1AA game at that time with good attendance vs SEMO had some dramatic other factors significantly contributing to the good attendance. SEMO fans did not help with the attendance anywhere close to the way TSU had a few years earlier. MT fans turned out due to recent success, lots of big games vs SEC to start the season that generated lots of buzz, and it was MT's first home game early in that season. MT was just coming off of it's first successful season the year prior with the big 8 win season in the first season the SBC. MT returned a ton of talent that season of which a fair number went on to the NFL. So coming off the 8-3 season, MT played an incredibly close game at Alabama. Had it not been for a highly questionable call of defensive holding on MT late in the game, MT might have won that game. At that point, such a close game vs Alabama was huge for MT and created lots of buzz. Then the next week, MT went to play Tennessee in Knoxville. MT fans travelled incredibly well in a relatively close competitive game that MT just could not pull ahead in. The fact MT looked and played so well vs a good UT, there was still a lot of buzz around MT. I believe it was UK that MT went to next that wasn't such a great game. MT came home 0-3, but the team came home for the first home game to a buzzing MT community excited about the new 1A team that was strongly competing vs the titans of the SEC. Ticket sales and attendance were really good despite the 0-3 record. With a great crowd on hand expecting MT to have a great run the rest of the way through the season, MT laid a turd at midfield in losing to SEMO. It was one of those stomach turning losses that decimated attendance for the following home games.
Despite MT playing a 1AA or FCS team in SEMO, I'm convinced the opponent had very little to do with that good attendance. There was a lot of momentum and buzz from the previous season and good performances vs top SEC programs in the first few games of that season that generated fan interest in coming out to see MT.
Of note, I think it was that season that MT had to learn the hard way that even with a good MT team it is not wise to start the season with 3 straight games on the road vs really good SEC teams. I suspected that the players were pretty beat up by the time they got back to play a SEMO team that most were probably overlooking as a likely cake walk. Not making excuses, but I think that SEMO team ended up putting a couple of players into the NFL. If I recall correctly, one of those SEMO players was a lineman who had a big long career for many years in the NFL.