“The biggest one-day event in the Dakotas” may not be so big next year, as the two largest universities in South Dakota have both scheduled their homecomings for Oct. 5, 2019.
Will Hobo Day and Dakota Days suffer from making students choose between the two?
It’s no secret that Jackrabbits don their Coyote gear at the D-Days tailgate, and vice versa. Students enjoy celebrating homecomings.
We, at The Collegian, hope Jackrabbits will stay loyal to Hobo Day and celebrate in Brookings. We also hope that Hobo Day attendance will blow D-Days out of the water.
After all, how can SDSU flex the “biggest one-day event in the Dakotas” title if we can’t prove it when it comes time for South Dakotans to choose?
The last time SDSU and USD had concurrent homecomings was Oct. 5, 2013. That year, USD’s student newspaper, The Volante, ran an opinion column in which its author spoke honestly about the clashing dates.
“And — this should be no surprise to anyone in the state — SDSU fans are, well, loyal,” the column read. And the prediction was right.
That year, SDSU lost its homecoming game against Southern Illinois, but still had 11,250 in attendance. USD, however, won its homecoming game, but attendance came in at a staggeringly low 6,710 — which wasn’t even the university’s lowest recorded attendance that season.
If this year’s attendance says anything about fan loyalty it’s this: the Jackrabbits are in fact the more dedicated of the two.
According to GoJacks.com and GoYotes.com, SDSU has had an average game attendance of 13,454 people while USD only had an average of 9,324 in 2018.
For D-Days, the Coyotes had 10,092 people in the crowd, its largest recorded attendance thus far. The Jackrabbits’ lowest recorded game attendance still surpasses USD’s largest by 226 people.
On Hobo Day, the Jacks recorded 14,357 in the crowd, the second lowest number of the season.
So, even on SDSU’s worst day, the football team still has more fans in attendance than USD on its best day.
The Collegian Editorial Board meets weekly and agrees on the issue of the editorial. The editorial represents the opinion of The Collegian.
