Owl student rooting section alone could number 20,000 strong

Cherry Crusaders showed up in force to support Owls vs. PSU two years ago. All indications are they will take it to a much higher level against 'Nova.

Tip of the day

Be seated inside the stadium NO LATER than 6:50 p.m. (That means leave the tailgates at 6:30) for the GREATEST Temple football video ever produced. It will give you goosebumps, I promise.

By Mike Gibson
Checked my twitter account the other day and noted that "The Cherry Crusade" is now following my tweets.
Geez, I don't tweet that much (I'm just getting used to the whole thing) but I could not have been more honored if Bill Cosby had become a follower (he hasn't, but I'm following him).
I checked and The Cherry Crusade is the official tweet site of the loud and organized Temple rooting section of the same name.
The Cherry Crusade, by all accounts, has done a spectacular job mobilizing the students for Thursday night's game against Villanova. An army of about 20,000 students reportedly already have tickets in hand.

Looks like our readers have nailed Thursday's attendance ....
Final results of poll:
Since 22K tickets have already been sold, your best guess on TU-VU attendance:

22-25K 24 (12%)

25-27K 28 (14%)

28-30K 39 (20%)

31-32K 42 (21%)

33-39K 34 (17%)

40-45K 15 (7%)

45K plus 12 (6%)



Votes so far: 194
Poll closed

The Cherry Crusade is the organized rooting section that usually numbers in the high single-digit thousands for Temple home football games.
That's usually.
Thursday won't be anything near usual and could be the start of something really big.
In the last four days, the Liacouras Center ticket office has been beseiged by long lines of Temple students purchasing their discounted tickets for the Villanova game.
Each day, the lines got longer at the Broad Street entrance.
It's spreading in a good way like the 1918 flu spread in a bad way.
You walk by and hear one student say to the other, "What's the long line for?"
"They are getting tickets to the game Thursday night," the other kid will say.
"I've got to go, too, then."
One post on Owlscoop.com mentioned millions of Temple students have lined up for tickets.
Millions is an exaggeration.
High thousands isn't.
"I'd say around 20,000 (students), give or take about a thousand each way," someone in the know emailed me this morning. "We're looking at 10K Temple alumni and about 5K Villanova fans for a grand total of about 35K, if all goes well."
I'm stunned, but in a very proud way.
I come from an era where Temple students didn't cheer and didn't get involved in extra-curricular activities.
You took the bus or subway to school, went to class, put out the Temple News and went to work. Maybe only 1,000 lived on or near campus. Now, according to the university's official website, 12,000 students live on or near campus and those students are Owls to the very core.
"Temple has a large and loud student section," a poster named UConnJack87 wrote on the Boneyard website last year. "The game was played in a Hurricane and I'd estimate that several sections of students alone stood and cheered the whole game. I didn't expect that."
Similar positive posts appeared on MAC websites about the nationally televised game with Ohio.
These students not only stand the whole game, they are loud, their cheers are funny and imaginative and, largely thanks to an ex-football player named Cap Poklemba, appropriate to the game situation at hand.
They are truly the Owls' 12th man.
What a difference from 20, 30 years ago.
Back in the day, you went to the games, sure, but you always wondered where the other students were.
Temple kids no longer have to wonder that anymore. The entire 12,000 kids who live on campus now apparently are going to the game Thursday night.
Throw in a few thousand of the commuters who want to have a total college experience and you have something big happening Thursday night.
Real big.
Thanks, Cherry Crusaders.
May you all cheer so loud Thursday night that you won't be able to speak Friday morning.
That's a good thing, not a bad thing.
I plan to have the same kind of worn-out vocal cords, too.
Hell is coming here, Villanova fans ....