Warszawski: Fresno State can afford fan discontent, but not disinterest

The easy thing now would be to succumb to despair. Abandon all hope and care. Affix a forever stamp to this pratfall of a season and mail in the rest.

That doesn’t just pertain to Fresno State players and coaches.

It also applies to Fresno State fans.

The Bulldogs are a bad football team, and that’s being kind. They have an offense with no apparent strengths or identity and a defense that continuously gets overpowered before wearing out from overuse.

Even in a weak division and with four of the seven remaining games at home, there’s little indication anything will change.

So I understand the anger and frustration being felt right now and expressed on social media. It’s both justifiable and warranted. When fans invest their time, devotion and money into something, they expect more in return than getting throttled in back-to-back weeks by in-state rivals.

To illustrate what I’m talking about, here’s a sampling of my email and Twitter inbox from Saturday night’s 21-7 pillow-smothering by San Diego State:

“Is this still a D-I football program?”

“We passed embarrassing a couple weeks back.”

“I think fans should go 2 the game next wknd but wear tape over bulldog logo.”

“Can you explain why when we need 1 yd, we put qb back 5 yds and run sideways?”

“Time for some coaching changes. Totally unacceptable!”

Bitterness? Check.

Sarcasm? Check.

Anger? Check.

Understanding where that’s coming from, and also the primal need to vent, here’s a kernel of uncomfortable truth:

If Bulldogs fans react to this 1-4 start by staying home, by withdrawing their support for the program, they’ll help seal the team’s fate not just for this season but for seasons to come.

Irrespective of the head coach or coordinators.

Eighty percent – that’s 8-0 – of Fresno State’s total athletic department revenues are attached to football, and home games are a huge chunk of that.

Season-ticket sales dipped to about 19,000 this season (down from 25,242 a year ago), and school officials were hoping a quick start to Mountain West Conference play would help slice into that deficit – especially for this stretch of three home games in 26 days, starting Saturday night against Utah State.

That seems like fool’s gold now, and I can tell you the folks who track the numbers and compare them to budget projections are getting nervous.

With new commitments to cost-of-attendance stipends and an expanded training table, not to mention a $1 million deficit for road game guarantees, the last thing Fresno State can afford is cratering football attendance.

I should point out that Bulldogs fans have surprised before, and in the not-too-distant past.

Last November, with Fresno State coming off a disastrous 45-17 loss to Wyoming, 36,909 turned out the following Saturday night against San Jose State. Only the Nebraska game had a larger crowd.

“We typically get a great buzz off the Red Wave, and we’re going to need them this week,” coach Tim DeRuyter said Monday.

That’s no exaggeration. Saturday night the Bulldogs will be up against a Utah State defense whose front seven is better and more physical than the one that just held Fresno State to 89 total yards.

DeRuyter also said: “We hopefully will have the Red Wave behind us this weekend because we can draw from their energy.”

It was telling how DeRuyter interjected “typically” and “hopefully” into his answers to questions about playing at home.

He sounded like a guy who was asking for the support of Bulldogs fans, rather than expecting it.

He sounded humble and sincere.

Of course, fans don’t want humble and sincere. They want a football team that wins games. Short of that, they want a team that battles hard every week and gives a strong account of itself.

Fresno State has fallen well short of that minimum standard in 2015. In all four games against FBS opponents, they’ve been outplayed and outcoached. Rather badly, in fact.

Fans have a right to be angry. They have a right to demand DeRuyter’s head on a platter and call upon athletic director Jim Bartko to fix this mess. After all, he’s the one trying to sell an $80 million stadium renovation.

They also have a right to lose interest and stop showing up to games. This easiest option is also easily the most damaging.

Right about now Bulldogs fans are better served by buying a ticket to a remaining game, if only to boo the home team through all four quarters, than they are by sitting home.

One way indicates displeasure. The other indicates disinterest. Fresno State can afford the former but not the latter.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Warszawski: Fresno State can afford fan discontent, but not disinterest."