NCAA football attendance for 2009

In its infinite wisdom, when the NCAA released football attendance figures for 2009, it did not list the schools in descending order of attendance after the top 30. Instead, it released the attendance figures in alphabetical order, to which I say, What good does that do!

So if you are like me and want to see the FBS attendance figures in their proper order, I've done the NCAA's job for them and compiled the following list of average home attendance. Note that all schools listed below the break had attendance figures worse than the top school in the lower division (Montana in the FCS).

Attendance is everything in college football. If you don't believe me, check the last 10 winners of the national championship in red. My motto is that fans have no right demanding that their team finish any higher than their own attendance rankings.

Attendance is also important because the top 81 teams make it into the Project Playoffs plan, which is the world's best plan for a college football playoff and conference realignment. Click the above link for this week's updated playoff seedings!

1 Michigan 108,933
2 Penn St. 107,008

3 Ohio St. 105,261

4 Texas 101,175

5 Tennessee 99,220
6 Georgia 92,746

7 LSU 92,489

8 Alabama 92,012

9 Florida 90,635

10 Nebraska 85,888

11 Southern California 84,799

12 Oklahoma 84,778

13 Auburn 84,614
14 Notre Dame 80,795
15 Wisconsin 80,109
16 Texas A&M 76,800
17 Clemson 75,793
18 South Carolina 75,369
19 Michigan St. 74,741
20 Florida St. 74,345
21 Iowa 70,214
22 Kentucky 69,594
23 Virginia Tech 66,233
24 Arkansas 65,112
25 UCLA 64,547
26 Washington 64,356
27 BYU 64,236
28 Missouri 64,120
29 Illinois 59,545
30 California 59,472
31 Oregon 58,544
32 West Virginia 57,317
33 North Carolina 56,607
34 North Carolina St. 56,422
35 Mississippi 55,767
36 Mississippi St. 53,792
37 Oklahoma St. 53,719
38 Pittsburgh 53,446
39 Arizona 52,555
40 South Fla. 52,553
41 Georgia Tech 51,584
42 Minnesota 50,805
43 Kansas 50,581
44 Purdue 50,457
45 Texas Tech 50,249
46 Colorado 50,088
47 Rutgers 49,113
48 Arizona St. 48,556
49 Virginia 47,986

50 Miami (FL) 47,551

51 Kansas St. 46,763
52 Iowa St. 46,242
53 Utah 45,155
54 Maryland 44,452
55 Oregon St. 42,328
56 Indiana 41,833
57 East Carolina 41,742
58 Stanford 41,436
59 Syracuse 39,043
60 Connecticut 38,229
61 TCU 38,187
62 UCF 38,078
63 Hawaii 36,725
64 Baylor 36,306
65 Boston College 35,716
66 Air Force 35,656
67 Vanderbilt 35,015
68 Cincinnati 33,957
69 Fresno St. 33,578
70 Boise St. 32,782
71 Louisville 32,450
72 Wake Forest 31,791
73 Navy 31,728
74 Southern Miss. 30,696
75 UTEP 29,010
76 Army 27,997
77 New Mexico 26,944
78 Duke 26,314
79 Washington St. 25,909
80 Memphis 25,795
81 Houston 25,242
82 Tulane 25,147
83 San Diego St. 24,464

84 Northwestern 24,190

85 Colorado St. 23,643
86 UNLV 22,775
87 Tulsa 22,502
88 Marshall 22,236
89 SMU 21,348
90 Middle Tenn. 20,517
91 Western Mich. 20,330
92 Louisiana Tech 20,000
93 Central Mich. 19,702
94 Wyoming 19,494
95 La.-Lafayette 18,666
96 Troy 18,413
97 North Texas 18,228
98 UAB 17,987
99 Ohio 17,947
100 Arkansas St. 17,689
101 Nevada 17,500
102 Akron 17,382
103 Temple 17,379
104 New Mexico St. 16,511
105 Toledo 16,285
106 Utah St. 15,971
107 Buffalo 15,960
108 Kent St. 15,512
109 San Jose St. 15,344
110 Fla. Atlantic 15,326
111 Northern Ill. 14,889
112 Western Ky. 14,103
113 Bowling Green 14,044
114 La.-Monroe 13,889
115 Rice 13,552
116 Idaho 12,546
117 Miami (OH) 11,810
118 Ball St. 10,888
119 FIU 10,204
120 Eastern Mich. 5,016