Still The Biggest House

Amid one of the best season's Penn State has had in a long time, and one of the worst Michigan has had...Michigan still edged out the Nittany Lions for the top spot in overall attendance for 2008. This, also when Penn State had a higher capacity due to the construction project going on until 2010 at the Big House.

I do find it amusing, that given all the things going against Michigan last year, and all the things going for PSU, that Michigan still edged them out. Michigan averaged about 108,500 for their 7 home games, while Penn State averaged about 108,200 for their seven home contests.

The good folks at the Penn State blog The Nittany Line will tell you that it was their game against Coastal Carolina that hindered their average. That may be true. And Michigan did benefit from having a good home opener against eventual Mountain West Conference champ and undefeated 13-0 Utah.

And venerable PSU blog Zombie Nation notes the 2 extra inches of seat space that Beaver Stadium gives you, as compared to the cramped seats of Michigan Stadium. I will whole-heatedly agree that wider seats would be nice, it seems worthwhile to be able to claim the top spot every year.

No one knows for sure how many people Michigan will cram into the stadium once the renovation is completed. Estimates have put the number of actual seats at 108,000+. But I expect gameday figures to be somewhere in the 113,000-115,000 range.