According to the NCAA NEWS, the overall attendance for Division I-AA football games dropped slightly since 2004.A total of 5,436,122 fans attended a Division I-AA football game last season. A drop of 214,605 fans from the 5,650,727 in attendance in 2004, according to the article.

Nicholls totaled 22,318 fans through four games last year. An average of 5,580 attended the games with the majority coming from Family Day and the Southland Conference Championship Game.

However, Nicholls also saw a slight drop in attendance from the previous season.

In 2004, Nicholls averaged 5,801 fans per game, a 221 fan drop from last season due to the storms.

Head football coach Jay Thomas said that it was important for the Colonels’ fans to stay positive despite going through so much last semester.

“Considering what everyone went through with the devastation of the storms, we felt it was important to keep a positive atmosphere around campus,” Thomas said. “We all joined together and made a great year out of it. As the season went on, everyone could see the excitement in all of the students’ eyes.”

Thomas said despite the drop, the Colonels’ fans helped towards the end of the season.

“Once we got going last season, our student body really stepped up,” Thomas said. “They got to celebrate with us on the field. It’s great to have that relationship with our student body, the way they supported and rallied around the team.”

Of the 16 conferences in Division I-AA football, the Southland Conference finished 7th overall in attendance, averaging 9,518 fans per game through the 32 games played.

The Southern, Big Sky, Southwestern, Gateway and Mid-Eastern Conferences led all others in attendance in Division I-AA.

This past season also marked the third time that the average attendance of Division I-AA surpassed 13,000.

Of the 108 Division I-AA football teams, the University of Montana finished first in fan attendance, averaging 22,479 fans and totaling 157,355.

Delaware came in second, averaging 22,177 followed by Yale, Southern and Appalachian State.

Nicholls was not ranked in the Top 50, but Thomas said the fans here are unlike fans anywhere else.

“The support this year from our fans, boosters and local officials was unbelievable,” Thomas said. “We look forward to continuing that even more next season. We want that relationship with our fans. We’re down here, and it’s just a family atmosphere, and that’s the way people are in the South Louisiana. We just want to continue to build on that.”

Division I-A football, however, had an increase of 381,095 fans, according to the NCAA NEWS.

The increase in attendance allowed Division I-A to add a 12th game to its schedule beginning next season.

Michigan (110,915), Tennessee (107,593), Ohio State (105,017), Penn State (104,859) and Georgia (92,701) were the top five in attendance this past season.

LSU finished sixth averaging 91,580.

Overall, the attendance of all schools from Division I-A, I-AA, II and III was 43,486,574.

This year’s total marked the third highest since the NCAA began tracking attendance in 1948. The all-time record for all divisions combined was 46,114,539 set in 2003.