This letter is in response to everyone criticizing the student body for not showing up to football games. Let's compare last season, when nobody complained, to this year, when everyone is complaining. Last year, our athletic department did not schedule five noon games against less than mediocre teams. How could you expect the student body to get excited for a season by playing a 2-8 Akron team or 3-7 Syracuse team?

Remember, the only game that we went into this year where the opponent was a ranked team was Ohio State. Last year, we did not have the cumbersome and seemingly forced ticket system that we have this year. If a student cannot buy and sell his tickets freely, let alone get into the stadium freely, then how can you expect the student section to be full at kickoff?

Of course, our team was flat out better last year than this year. Even worse, we were overrated this year, so each loss hurt more than it could have and made games seemingly meaningless at the end of the season.

However, the athletic department's blatant mistakes can be summed up by the proposed student section in 2011. Why should a senior show up to a game when he can only sit at the 10 yard line? Ultimately, there are no excuses for Iowa and especially Ohio State this year. However, most of the blame should fall on our athletic department because for some reason, they thought controlling a great football team and, even worse, the best student section in the country, was a bright idea.

Zach Mastromatto

senior-security and risk analysis