Clearly, thud drills just ain't gonna cut it. Duke, Stanford, Cal, Indiana, Vanderbilt and Washington State. Those are the only BCS schools that had lower attendance at their spring game this season (only 900 showed up for Wazzou...yikes). Meanwhile non-BCS schools Southern Miss, Hawaii, Marshall, Central Michigan, Louisiana Tech, Idaho and East Carolina all outdrew the Orange as well. Peep the whole list here (via Donnie Webb) and cry yourself to sleep tonight for the 14th winningest program in Division 1-A history.
Of course, that's just the spring game. It's not the real thing. Surely Greg Robinson used the day as a rouse to lull the mainstream and even the fans into a distracted state so that when the Orange go 11-1 this season, we'll all feel like idiots for ever thinking a 37-play scrimmage wasn't worth it.
The even better news is that when we go 11-1 and win the Big East (ahem), we'll be going back to the BCS bowl of choice. Last week, the BCS reaffirmed the participation of all six leagues currently involved through the end of the 2013 season. It wasn't too long ago everyone was counting the Big East out of the equation. But that was before West Virginia vs. Georgia. That was before three straight BCS bowl wins.
Orange Bowl, here we come! Hopefully we travel better for that than the spring game.