The stadium looks full because everyone wears red and the seats in the lower bowl are red. (You listening SU?) I'd say about 15-20% of the lower bowl seats were empty. The funny thing is NCSt gives passouts and a ton of fans left to go out to tailgate at halftime. Most never returned. It kills any sort of home field advantage they have.
That said overall NCSt is a must do trip anytime it falls on a 3 day weekend...if you live in CNY you can make it down in 11 hours by car with a few quick stops. It is a nobrainer any weekend by car for those living within 5-6 hours.
Out of all the venues for college football that I have ever visited, and I have been to a fair number over the years, I have never seen a crowd that size (a legit 56K) that was so quiet. They didn't make noise on SU 3rd down plays, on big plays for NC State, or for anything. It was as though they had all been drugged.
The NC State people tried to get the crowd into it. They, like UConn and a couple of other schools with apathetic fan bases, make an announcement every time NC State gets a first down. Almost no one does it. I think we tried it at the Dome for a short time and rightly gave it up as a lame exercise. And like at the Dome, they tried to get the crowd to do an organized cheer, with one side of the stadium yelling "Wolf" and the other "Pack". Almost no one did that either. I heard no equivalent of "Let's Go Orange" and saw no evidence of other traditions or fan customs.
At one point in the game, it looked like NC State was going to break through their malaise and score a touchdown to take the lead. I think it was right after Thomas, their QB, had made a long run to get the ball to around the SU 25. The crowd started to show some signs of life. Mark said to me "looks like the crowd is finally going to be a factor", but they couldn't get a first down from there (a WR fell down on a pass to the right flat on 3rd down that would have otherwise been a first down) and that was the end of that.
The thing that was most shocking to me about the crowd though was its behavior before the game and after the half. At least 5K of seats were empty at kickoff time. When the 2nd half started, I would guess that 20-25K of the crowd was gone and they never returned.
The only other place I have seen whereI have seen similar behavior is BC, but even there, it wasn't as bad a situation as NC State has. By the start of the 4th quarter, the game was still very close and there were maybe 20K in the stands. Not sure if it was the misty rain, the boring play of their team or the lure of the tailgate (I am assuming the latter). But it was hard to fathom. A lot of people spent a lot of money to sit in uncomfortable chairs, smell bad hot dogs cooking (NC hot dogs are not good) and drink beer.
