Bright lights, national television cameras and a glorious Friday night featuring a Ball State University football game in prime time.
There is no reason for the student population to not come out in full force tonight when the Cardinals host Navy. It will be the most entertaining home game this season. There's no question it's a grudge match after last year's first installment. Plus, a 2-0 record would be one hell of a way for Ball State to kick off 2008.
I have no doubts Scheumann Stadium will be rocking as the 7 p.m. kickoff approaches. There will probably be a fair share of belligerently drunk students.
Regardless, I'm concerned what the student section will look like in the third and fourth quarters.
I'm not worried about the score being competitive after two quarters. Rather, I'm inclined to predict a 20-percent decrease in student attendance when the Cardinals take the field for the last 30 minutes.
Students leaving at halftime has been a common theme during the past few seasons. The only game I can remember the student population not going AWOL is the Indiana University game in 2006. In every other home contest, many of the students have jetted to their late-night parties faster than Vince Vaughn running from the shotgun-carrying grandma in "Wedding Crashers." A small contingent of students even left midway through last year's University of Toledo game, the first home contest ever broadcast on ESPN's family of networks.
That can't happen tonight when ESPN parks its truck in the Alumni Center parking lot.
I'm not going to scream about how much the players deserve support from their student body. There are bigger issues to address.
ESPN's decision to travel its primary station to Ball State and dub Scheumann Stadium the Mecca of college football tonight provides a platform for the university to show off. Muncie is the only town hosting a Division I game tonight, and the eyes of college football fans across the nation will be fixated on this campus.
University officials have done just about all they can to prepare for their big opportunity. They've polished the stadium with giant Ball State banners, presented a quality opponent and promoted the game as if the Pope were singing the national anthem.
The one variable it can't control is you. And if there's ever a time to shed the football apathy the student body has shown too many times on this campus, it's tonight.
"With everything involved, and some of the things they've done out at the stadium, ESPN, it's going to be exciting," coach Brady Hoke said.
Like most mid-major programs, Ball State has its small group of die-hard loyals who paint their chests red and white and stay sober (enough) to actually remember the game. This column is not meant to chastise you. Instead, the responsibility falls on you to keep your fellow students in the stadium when Hoke gives his intermission speech.
I don't care what you do - as long as it's legal - just get it done. The university can't afford the embarrassment of having a bare east grandstands for half the game.
Make no mistakes about it. The scoreboard will decide which team is successful on the gridiron, but the students will decide whether it was a successful night for the university.
Write to Ryan at rtwood@bsu.edu
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