I was planning on writing this column about how Harvard exploited all of Penn's weaknesses Saturday at Franklin Field.
The Crimson were able to capitalize on things like Penn's recent inability to shut down the run en route to its first victory at Franklin Field since 1980.
But an even more glaring problem with Penn football was made entirely transparent on Saturday -- a problem that had little to do with the players on the field.
Only 15,123 fans showed up to what was essentially the Ivy League title game.
That's an embarrassing number, considering the fact that the last time these two teams played under almost the same circumstances, in 2002, 18,630 people showed up to Franklin Field. Let's not forget, also, that the 2002 game was also played in the rain.
This Saturday, on the other hand, was a sunny, late fall day. The perfect weather for football.
The Penn Athletic Department had its annual Fan Appreciation Day -- giving out free T-shirts, food and, if two lucky students threw a football through a tiny hole, free tuition. Luckily for Penn, both students missed.
It was too late in the school year for students to be studying for midterms and too early to start studying for finals.
Harvard's fans traveled in droves to Philadelphia.
All the elements were in place for a massive turnout. And yet, somehow, not that many people showed up.
I, for one, am not surprised.
After all, attendance has been quite poor all season for big games.
Last year's Homecoming game against Princeton drew 21,060 fans. This year, only 13,422 showed up.
Last season, 16,510 spectators showed up on Family Weekend for a game against Yale. This year's game had 12,314 fans.
Why the drop in attendance?
Some of it has to do with the talent on the field and the expectations entering the season.
In 2003, there was a lot of hype surrounding the Penn football team. They Quakers returned many key players from the previous year's Ivy title squad and were the consensus pick to repeat.
This year, however, there were a lot more questions surrounding the program. There was a new starting quarterback and offensive line, and many people were picking the Quakers to finish second or third in the Ancient Eight.
But this still does not explain the bad attendance on Saturday.
Whatever the expectations were before the season, by the time this weekend's game rolled around, everyone should have known that Penn was a legitimate contender for the Ivy title.
I place the blame on the marketing effort of the Penn Athletic Department.
Not to toot my own horn, but if it weren't for The Daily Pennsylvanian, I don't know how many people on campus would have known about the game.
Some schools, like Yale, post their home football schedules on every lamp post on campus.
Penn, on the other hand, hands out a few magnets at the dining halls.
Other Ivy League schools host large tailgating parties each week to lure fans to the game. This creates a culture of football at the school -- where going to the football game on the weekend is the thing to do.
Penn hosts a Fan Appreciation Day once a year, where they give out a free hot dog, pretzel and a soda. And how do they promote it? With a tiny quarter-page ad in the sports section of Thursday's and Friday's DP. It's not exactly the best way to lure thousands of students to a game.
The school could put a banner over Locust Walk. Football players could hand out fliers on Locust Walk, letting students know that their attendance is important.
Like Cornell, Penn could make a concerted effort to get every student to attend just one game. The Big Red host a Sell Out Schoellkopf game every year, where Cornell makes a huge effort to fill seats, even if it means giving them away for free to everyone in Ithaca, N.Y.
Penn spent millions of dollars this offseason renovating Franklin Field. This offseason, they better spend some more time trying to get people to actually visit the stadium. David Burrick is a junior urban studies and philosophy, politics and economics major from Short Hills, N.J. His e-mail address is dburrick@sas.upenn.edu.
