Talking Rutgers' dismal attendance, potential upsets and John's McNulty's No. 1 goal | Beat writers Q&A

Krach: I’ve always felt that basketball is a “what have you done for me lately” sport for a lot of fan bases, especially when the matchup is not great. If the team is winning, people are engaged and they show up. If it’s not, they don’t.

South Carolina made the Final Four last year, but when I was in school the Gamecocks were bad for the most part. There were plenty of games where the crowd was relatively sparse and comparative to Rutgers crowds (the arena there is much bigger, with a capacity of 18,000). I’ve covered three games at the RAC so far. The place was packed when about-to-be-ranked Ohio State was there, and not so much for mediocre-at-best Iowa and Nebraska teams. I expect it will be packed when No. 3 Purdue shows up next weekend.

I think that’s how it works at most places when the team is not really in the NCAA Tournament hunt and isn’t consistently winning. It takes a while to build up that sort of team-fan culture that football boasts and make every game the place to be.

One other note I would make: At South Carolina, the visiting teams often helped generate fan turnout. No matter how either team was playing, there was an excitement when the Gamecocks were hosting Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Those rivalries run deep and there was a regional appeal. The opposing schools would also travel well when the games were on weekends. I don’t know if Rutgers really enjoys that sort of energy when most of the league’s teams show up. It doesn’t help that Maryland and Penn State are not playing at the RAC this season, which is an incredibly stupid job of scheduling by the conference. Rutgers should get at least one home game against its closest rivals each year.

When it comes to football attendance, that’s just on the fans. You’re in the Big Ten. Act like it. You have to show up and buy in low. That’s how this thing gets built.

Sargeant: I’ll agree that Rutgers isn’t unique to sagging attendance. Because of that fact, I’ve shied away from criticizing Rutgers fans for not packing High Point Solutions Stadium for football games because I’m not one to tell anyone how to spend their money.

That said, Rutgers’ average home attendance in its first Big Ten season was 50,632. Last season it dipped to 39,749 (the first time it was below 40,000 since 2005). A 21.5 percent attendance decrease in four years is hard to fathom and, more than anything else, explains why the football program is losing money.