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Mississippi State was venturing into the Northeast for the first time in 30 years, while UMass was roughly 100 miles removed from its Amherst campus when the two teams met for Saturday’s non-conference matchup in Foxborough, Mass.
So nobody should really be all that surprised that the game drew only a sparse announced crowd of 13,074 who bothered to show up at Gillette Stadium, home of the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
The game only became a reality last year when Tulane backed out of a game that had been scheduled to have been played at MSU’s Davis Wade Stadium, leaving the Bulldogs scrambling to find an opponent for this week.
UMass agreed to a three-game series between the schools, with the Minutemen scheduled make return trips to Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville on Sept. 23, 2017 and Oct. 17, 2020.
The NFL, however, remains the undisputed King of the Hill in the Northeast and it was readily apparent Saturday.
That's because there wasn't 13,000 people here. https://t.co/OngqOfNkVd
— Michael Bonner (@michaelbbonner) September 24, 2016
| Attendance | Game | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102,455 | Florida at Tennessee | Sept. 24 | Neyland Stadium |
| 101,821 | Kent State at Alabama | Sept. 24 | Bryant-Denny Stadium |
| 87,451 | LSU at Auburn | Sept. 24 | Jordan-Hare Stadium |
| 67,751 | Arkansas vs. Texas A&M | Sept. 24 | AT&T Stadium |
| 65,843 | Georgia at Ole Miss | Sept. 24 | Vaught-Hemingway Stadium |
| 53,472 | Delaware State at Missouri | Sept. 24 | Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field |
| 51,702 | South Carolina at Kentucky | Sept. 24 | Commonwealth Stadium |
| 23,674 | Vanderbilt at Western Kentucky | Sept. 24 | L.T. Smith Stadium |
| 13,074 | Mississippi State vs. Massachusetts | Sept. 24 | Gillette Stadium |
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
