Train,
When you scolded people about attendance, I decided to look something up. Turns out attendance in the "Golden Age" was really nothing to brag about. In 1991, the figure was 11,619. Even after that championship, 1992 produced at average of only 11,935. Even worse was 1993 when the figure dropped to 10,717. It took two titles and three consecutive championship game appearances to climb over 15k when we drew 16,181 in 1994. We averaged over 18k only once, in Tressel's final season in 2000, when the figure was 18,109.
I think that we are guilty of remembering selective large crowds and pretending that they were normal. We have never drawn as consistently well as a Delaware or a Montana. We are, however, in the top 15% for FCS schools on a yearly basis, and for that we should be grateful.