They can try giving away all the tickets they want, but at this point the brand of football is holding SBU back more than anything. Back in the Big South days when we had Maysonett, Essington, etc. our offense put up way more points and was exciting to watch as Kyle could make all the throws and we had a clear talent advantage over the rest of that conference. These days? It's run up the middle three times and then punt against much more formidable competition in the CAA.
i certainly agree, and wanted to further point out- i would suppose that the average SBU student that attends a game does NOT know the distinction between P5 vs nonP5, or maybe even FCS vs FBS. or who is in the CAA, for example.
to them it's just college football. they don't know the American vs USA. the ohio valley from the missouri valley. southern vs southland. few in the northeast do.
meaning, only winning and excitement is what matters to these fans (not to me by the way). they probably mostly don't know or even care who we play, what conference, etc.