Ohio Stadium with crowd

Ohio State will win the NCAA attendance title this season thanks to down crowds at Michigan and a renovation to Ohio Stadium that increased capacity.

(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State will wrap up a win over Michigan on Saturday well before kickoff. Actually, it'll happen as fans are taking their seats.

Ohio State will dethrone Michigan as the king of college attendance on Saturday, ending a 16-year run of the Wolverines leading the nation in fans. Actually, Michigan Stadium has seen the largest college football crowds on average in 39 of the last 40 years dating back to 1973, finishing second only in 1997, when Tennessee edged Michigan by 90 fans per game.

Ohio State will win its first attendance crown since 1973, when the Buckeyes averaged 87,228 fans compared to 85,024 for Michigan.

The numbers have grown since then.

Last year, Michigan was first with 111,592 fans per game, and Ohio State second at 104,933. This year, Ohio State leads at 105,910 with Michigan at 104,909.

Michigan has averaged more than 100,000 fans per game every year since 1976. Ohio State didn't start hitting the six-figure mark until the 2001 stadium expansion.

This season, another increase in the size of the Shoe, with another 2,500 seats added to the South stands, coupled with attendance woes at Michigan, have flipped the standings. Ohio Stadium's official capacity increased to 104,829, though the school counts every person in the stadium for attendance and regularly bests that capacity by several thousand fans.

The new OSU single-game stadium record of 108,362 was set against against Cincinnati. So even a season-low crowd of 101,426 for last Saturday's noon start against Indiana didn't knock the Buckeyes below Michigan.

Though Michigan's capacity remains quite a bit larger than Ohio Stadium at 109,901, Michigan ended the season with an average attendance of 104,909 for seven home games during a down year without great opponent draws. The Wolverines played Appalachian State, Miami (Ohio), Utah, Minnesota, Penn State, Indiana and Maryland at home this year, going 4-3.

Their rivalry games against Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State were all road games.

Ohio State's average attendance of 105,910 so far through six games came against Virginia Tech, Kent State, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Illinois and Indiana. The crowd for the noon start against Michigan should be a good one. And the Wolverines will help the Buckeyes extend that lead and end that Michigan winning streak.

So welcome to Michigan week. This is just the start.

In addition to game coverage, we'll look at much more around the game all this week, even on Thanksgiving. So to be safe, you should check cleveland.com several times a day. We're sure to have something new for you.

And for even more coverage about the Wolverines, read our friends at Mlive.com.

Here's our coverage from the weekend, after Ohio State's 42-27 win over the Hoosiers.

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