Maryland football has second-worst attendance in Big Ten

At Maryland, sagging football attendance is an unwelcome trend that everyone — coaches, players and school officials — can see but nobody has fixed. Through five home games this season, the stadium has hosted an average of 21,226 spectators. That count, which Maryland provided to The Washington Post, includes ancillary attendees, such as staff, media and band members. Announced attendance, the metric publicly available, inflates the estimated crowd size because it includes distributed tickets that go unused.

Penn State blanks Maryland in another Terps flameout vs. Big Ten elite

This fall, Maryland’s attendance peaked with an actual crowd of 26,276 (36,204 was the announced attendance) against Purdue. Even then, a stadium that holds close to 52,000 was barely half-full. The Terps may top that mark Saturday, a credit to traveling Ohio State fans. When Maryland faces Rutgers two days after Thanksgiving, the usual scene probably will reappear. Tickets for that game are available for $3.

Maryland’s attendance woes have persisted for much of the past decade as the school jumped from the ACC to the Big Ten in 2014 and the Terps struggled on the field. Photos of vacant stands circulate online, reaching recruits and handing opposing fan bases an opportunity to mock, and they advertise the revenue hit Maryland takes each time it can’t fill its seats.

Maryland’s average announced attendance of 31,920 ranks 66th among 133 Football Bowl Subdivision schools and places the program on a tier with Boise State, Appalachian State, Navy and Stanford. The Terrapins have the second-worst mark in the Big Ten, behind only Northwestern. A chasm exists between Maryland and the powers it is chasing — evident during each road game played in front of a raucous opposing crowd.

The Terps’ smallest home crowd of the season — 17,293 people in the stands when Michigan State visited — was on a rainy day in College Park. Meanwhile, Penn State fans, armored with ponchos, packed Beaver Stadium last weekend in the rain when the Nittany Lions dismantled Maryland. After the game, a reporter asked defensive end Chop Robinson, who transferred from Maryland, how many fans would fill College Park’s stadium on a gloomy day in November, and he said, “Not a lot.” When pressed for an estimate, Robinson said, “Less than 10,000.”

Maryland’s campus sits inside the Beltway, and the stadium is fewer than 10 miles from the U.S. Capitol. The Terps’ program sells its location to recruits as a gateway to professional opportunities, but the transient nature of the city might not help breed loyal Maryland football fans. The…