How quickly a fanbase gets spoiled.
We all entered this season with lowered expectations for our Tigers. Who could blame us? We lost upward of 20 seniors, including four seniors from our offensive line, a Lombardi-winning lineman and SuperCam himself from last year's team.
That would be a lot to overcome for a team that wasn't about to play a squad with nearly half of the players in their first year of college. But we are.
This team needs the fans to help out. This team needs us. Let me repeat that. The team needs us.
Homefield advantage means nothing if the crowd isn't disrupting the opposing team's offense. It's easy to cheer for the Tigers when they're making big plays and firing on all cylinders. It's easy to cheer for the Tigers when they're doing everything right. It's even easier to do when we're riding a 17-game win streak.
What makes a fanbase truly loyal and truly committed to their team is supporting that team even when they aren't playing well. When the Tigers fail to stop the opposing offense on third down, that's no reason to stop making noise; if anything, we need to make more noise. If you were one of the fans making noise on every defensive play last night, this isn't aimed at you.
But to the tens of thousands of students I saw checking their phones, tweeting funny messages and taking super-cute photos for their Facebook profiles, you should be ashamed.
Until this crowd is on its feet shouting for every defensive play, at every game, and staying until the end of the game, whether the Tigers are playing well or not, then Coach Chizik is lying every Saturday when he says, "You are the best fans in the country."
War Eagle.
Drew Roberts
senior, English language arts education
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