The Texas Tech football team had a thrilling comeback against West Virginia on Saturday, but they fell short in the end. A tweet from ESPN’s Jake Trotter might have you thinking there weren’t many fans who stayed to see it.
West Virginia won 42-34.
Trotter praised the Texas Tech football team for putting their all in the game. However, he also criticized Tech fans by tweeting in part, “Props to Texas Tech for not giving up on this game, unlike a good chunk of Tech fans.”
“I think they do need to stay, I’m a big fan of the ones that did, they were making the stadium as loud as they could,” said Tech student, Andrew Symons.
Texas Tech students are some of the best fans in the country, Symons said. He doesn’t believe the tweet reflects what fans are about.
Robert Giovannetti, senior associate athletics director for external operations, said they have been seeing a decrease in fans showing up to games recently. However, there were more than 14,000 in attendance Saturday.
“What we’ve seen here in the last couple of games is not unique to Texas Tech, it’s something that’s happened around the country. There’s so many options now,” Giovannetti said.
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury addressed the issue post game on Saturday.
“I would have left too, if it was that poor of a performance and effort in the first half. I don’t blame anybody for leaving,” Kingsbury said.
“Where some of the fans left at halftime, it’s not ideal, we’d love for everyone to stay ’til the end, but we also know there are choices out there,” Giovannetti said.
Win or lose, Symons says he’ll be sticking around to see that last play.
“It’s gonna go our way eventually, and I’m always there to stick it out, ’cause if that happens, that’s your opportunity to rush the field, so I’m waiting for my chance,” Symons said.
