A total of 43 citations were issued for Saturday night’s University of Wisconsin football game against Penn State, up from the Oct. 4 night game against Ohio State.
Seventy-six people were ejected, 38 of whom were not issued a citation but forced to leave for reasons including possession of alcohol, throwing objects, body passing and disorderly conduct.
Overall, ejections have declined over the last three night games. In the 2007 night game against Iowa, 99 were ejected, and two weeks ago against Ohio State, 86 were ejected.
But in general, Sgt. Ruth Ewing said the decline in ejections cannot be attributed to anything in particular.
“It all depends on what the atmosphere of the crowd is,” Ewing said. “You can’t really call it one thing or another.”
Two citations for possession of marijuana were issued, and one was issued for possession of drug paraphernalia. Ewing could offer no further details about the marijuana cases.
As is often the case, there were more ejections than citations issued, according to Ewing, who said this is because officers sometimes do not give citations to intoxicated attendees who are of age.
Traffic flow outside the student section was not a problem for this game either, Ewing said.
This is a departure from what happened in September’s game against Marshall, when students were backed up in the concourse for up to 20 minutes, even though they arrived to the game on time.
The Athletic Department switched from the wristband system to the old ticket system beginning with the Ohio State game.
Senior Associate Athletic Director Vince Sweeney said response to that move has been positive, both informally and formally through surveys sent out by UW.
“Feedback was measurably improved, and I think anecdotally that people were telling us that it worked better,” Sweeney said. “All in all, it was a good move to make, and it was well accepted by the students.”
Sweeney and the Athletic Department were also promoting improved student behavior in the days before the first night game as a part of the “Roll Out the Red Carpet” campaign, trying to remind students that “we’re rivals, not enemies” with Ohio State and Penn State.
“I thought the students were very enthusiastic,” Sweeney said. “In general, they did a better job of getting there earlier than previous games.”
After missing the Ohio State game due to allegations of hazing, the UW Marching Band returned to Camp Randall, playing during the pre-game, half-time and Fifth Quarter shows.
The band is still under sanctions from the Sept. 26-27 trip to Michigan. The group is currently scheduled to play at Lambeau Field next Sunday afternoon for a game between the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts, but it is still unclear whether that will happen.
The Penn State game was the last home night game this season for UW. The Badgers travel to Iowa City this Saturday to play the Hawkeyes. Kickoff is at 11 a.m.
