Iowa State Football: 3 reasons Cyclones have most loyal fan base in the country

1. ISU attendance up despite the national decrease

College football saw a pretty steep decline in total FBS attendance in 2017. Nearly 700,000 less fans witnessed games from the stadium itself compared to the year previous. Most programs will continue to see a trend in that direction in the coming years.

However, Iowa State saw a significant increase in their attendance from 2016 to 2017. The only Power Five programs that had a greater increase in attendance in the country were the Penn State Nittany Lions and Purdue Boilermakers. But, Iowa State saw a bigger percentage increase than the Nittany Lions, due to the massive size of Beaver Stadium.

Furthermore, Purdue did have the most impressive increase of attendance between the past two years. Yet, Jack Trice Stadium held more than 5,000 extra fans per game in 2017 than in 2016. Both Purdue and Iowa State did have much improved results in 2017.

Next: Early game-by-game predictions for Iowa State football in 2018

This was one of the few programs that could actually say their fan attendance is trending in a very positive direction entering 2018 and beyond. The loyalty and spirit the fans in Ames, and around the country, have backing the Clones is second to none. Few schools have the same true loyalty from their fans anywhere near the level of Iowa State.