With so much talk about the NFL struggling during national anthem protests, it's just assumed college football is the beneficiary of the league's struggles.

That's not the case.

According to CBS Sportsline, major-college football had its largest per-game attendance drop in 34 years.

Based on a NCAA figures, attendance, per the report, among the 129 FBS teams in 2017 was down an average of 1,409 fans per game from 2016.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline points out that drop is the largest since 1983 when average attendance declined 1,527 fans per game from 1982.

Per the report:

In 2017, the SEC experienced its sharpest per-game decline -- down an average 2,433 fans -- since 1992. That figure led the Power Five in fans lost per game in 2017.

While the SEC led all FBS conferences in average attendance for the 20th consecutive year, its average attendance (75,074) was the lowest since 2005. The SEC has slipped an average of 2,926 fans per game (3.7 percent) since a record 78,630 average in 2015.

While the SEC may have slipped in attendance, Alabama and Auburn don't appear to be the reason why.

Over seven games in 2017, Auburn averaged 86,446 fans (86,937 in 2016) a game. Alabama, on the other hand, averaged 101,722 fans (101,821 in 2016).

Here is the breakdown of the other 12 SEC teams:

Team 2017 2016

Arkansas 63,224 69,581

Florida 86,715 87,846

Georgia 92,746 92,746

Kentucky 56,468 53,643

LSU 98,506 101,231

Miss. State 58,100 58,317

Missouri 51,490 52,236

Ole Miss 58,631 64,910

South Carolina 78,586 76,920

Tennessee 95,779 100,968

Texas A&M 98,802 101,917

Vanderbilt 31,341 31,242

Arkansas and Ole Miss each saw steep attendance drops from 2016 to 2017 at roughly 6,000 fans a game. Tennessee dropped 5,000 .

Kentucky, on the other hand, saw attendance improve by 3,000 in 2017.

The 2017 FBS average of 42,203 fans per game is the lowest since 1997.

But why is attendance dropping. Dodd suggests college football fights the attraction of tailgating or watching from one's couch.

"It's a technology issue," Wright Waters, Football Bowl Association executive director and former Sun Belt commissioner, told Dodd. "The public is ahead of us every day in what they can get from technology. We have not been able to keep up."

Here is the conference break down, per the report:

Conference 2017 2016 Difference Change

SEC 75,704 77,507 -2,433 -3.14 percent

ACC 48,442 49,734 -1,292 -2.59 percent

Big 12 56,852 57,531 -678 -1.12 percent

Pac 12 49,601 50,073 -472 -0.09 percent

Big Ten 66,227 66,151 76 0.01 percent

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.