6 pictures of the Panthers sparse crowd show just how far Carolina has fallen

Tickets for Falcons-Panthers were astonishingly low and *still* no one showed up.

Look, 2023 was never going to be a great year for the Carolina Panthers. With a new head coach and a rookie quarterback behind center, the best Frank Reich’s team could hope for was a spot contending for a division title in the weak NFC South.

Oh, friends, things did not turn out that way. In fact, it’s tough to imagine them being any worse.

Reich didn’t even make it to December after being fired. Bryce Young’s struggles have been monumental and exacerbated by the success of CJ Stroud — the quarterback drafted one spot after him — with the Houston Texans. At 1-12 Carolina came into Week 15 with the league’s worst record. There’s no silver lining to that; their pending first round draft pick, which will almost certainly be first overall, is headed to the Chicago Bears as part of the massive trade that made Young a Panther in the first place.

This all led to extremely low ticket prices for Sunday’s game vs. the Atlanta Falcons. But a rainy day in Charlotte meant even these $12 seats weren’t selling.

The 2023 Cure Bowl was held in a downpour and featured a showdown between the Miami Redhawks and Appalachian State Mountaineers in Orlando, a place a significant distance from either team’s home base. And attendance for that game was roughly on par with an actual, meaningful NFL game Sunday.

Things looked a little better closer to halftime and the upper levels, loaded with cheap seats, added a few more fans.

Still, very few people could be bothered to watch the Panthers and Falcons on a rainy day in Charlotte — as these pictures filled with empty teal seats prove.

Marcus Freeman shares in mourning Mike Leach

RIP to college football’s pirate.

There have been thousands upon thousands of college football coaches over the years but you’ll be hard pressed to find another with the same personality of Mike Leach.  The former Texas Tech and Washington State head coach took over the Mississippi State job in 2020 where he led the Bulldogs to an 8-4 regular season this year.

Leach suffered a major heart attack over the weekend and passed away on Tuesday morning at just 61 years old.  I never covered Leach as a reporter and he didn’t coach any teams that I paid overly close attention to over the years.  However, his personality was one of a kind and will certainly be missed by the college football world.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman never met Leach but that didn’t keep him from mourning the loss of the one-of-a-kind, and incredibly accomplished football coach.

Such an overwhelming feeling of sadness with the loss of Coach Leach. Regretfully, I never got to meet him, but his immense impact on the college football world is very visible. We’re sending our love & compassion to Coach Leach’s family & his beloved Mississippi State program.

-Marcus Freeman on Twitter, December 13, 2022

We at Fighting Irish Wire join the entire college football world in mourning a true great.  His personality and incredible interview answers received a ton of play on social media over the years and I’ve seen a ton of it again today.  He’ll certainly be remembered for his wedding advice, handicapping of a mascot battle royal, and his Halloween candy thoughts, but I hope we also don’t forget just how innovative and successful he was at three places that winning certainly doesn’t come easily.

Rest easy, Coach.  And keep swinging that sword.

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Related:

Bob Stoops: ‘Nobody like Mike Leach’

What to know about Mike Leach’s family and football legacy