Feb 22, 2010 10:29:54 AM

After three consecutive record-breaking seasons, college football attendance declined slightly for the first time in five years. A total of 48,284,673 fans attended games at all 630 NCAA schools during the 2009 season (including home games, neutral-site games and postseason contests), a drop of 554,330 from the record set in 2008.

The dip was most apparent in regular-season home attendance at Division I schools. Football Bowl Subdivision teams saw a decline of 410,750, while Football Championship Subdivision home attendance dropped by 306,085 (although attendance at 18 FCS neutral-site games was up 326,930).

Home attendance at Divisions II and III games increased by 55,053 and 32,737, respectively.

Michigan's 108,933 fans per game over eight home contests edged Penn State's 107,008 to give the Wolverines their 12th straight attendance title. Two other programs also topped the 100,000 mark: Ohio State at 105,261 and Texas at 101,175. This was the third straight year that Big Ten Conference teams held the top three spots.

Despite that, though, the Southeastern Conference was the best Division I conference draw for the 12th straight year. SEC schools claimed five of the remaining top 10 spots. The other two top-10 marks went to the Big 12 Conference with Texas at No. 4 and Nebraska at No. 10.

Other highlights:

• The 120 FBS teams averaged 45,545 fans in 757 games this season. That's down a little over 900 fans per game from 2008.
• The SEC totaled 6,560,738 fans while averaging 76,288 per game, shy of the SEC's all-time conference record of 76,844 in 2008.
• The Big Ten (71,769), Big 12 (62,875), Pacific-10 (54,186) and Atlantic Coast (51,249) rounded out the top five in conference attendance. The Big Ten and Sun Belt set league bests in total attendance. No conference topped its previous high for fans per game.
• The average number of fans attending a Football Bowl Subdivision game in 2009 was 46,281, off by an average of 691 fans from the record-setting season of 2008. The drop in the Football Championship Subdivision was only 169 fans per game.
• The FBS postseason featured 34 bowl games that totaled 1,769,886 spectators for an average of 52,055 fans per contest.
• As for NCAA championship tournaments, total attendance for the FCS tournament was 153,933 for a 10,262 average over 15 playoff games. The Division II tournament totaled 125,561 fans for a 5,459 average in 23 games. The Division III tournament had 71,953 total fans for a 2,321 average over 31 games.
• The all-time record for single-season home attendance average is 111,175 by Michigan in 1999. Michigan was the first to average more than 100,000 a game in 1976 and has captured the attendance title 40 times since 1949, including 34 since 1974.
• For all-game attendance – including home, road and neutral site games – Ohio State was tops as 1,225,379 fans watched the Buckeyes over 13 games. Eleven teams played in front more than one million fans this season.
• Three Division I teams this season enjoyed increased crowds from the previous season of more than 10,000 fans per game. Leading the way was Mississippi State with a 10,339-person increase per game from 2008 to 2009. The Bulldogs were followed by Yale (10,174) and Indiana (10,051).
• Montana led FCS attendance for the third time in five years with an average of 24,417 fans per game. The Grizzlies' attendance total of 219,753 in nine games was also tops in the subdivision.
• In Division II, Tuskegee captured the attendance title for the second straight season, averaging 14,553 fans per game. Next was Miles at 13,750, followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville (11,155), Grand Valley State (9,957) and North Alabama (9,389).
• In Division III, St. John's (Minnesota) ran away with its ninth straight attendance title by averaging 8,208 per game. The rest of the top five were Hampden-Sydney (4,765), Emory & Henry (4,714), Mississippi College (4,695) and Wisconsin-Whitewater (4,452).