We can all sit here and have are closed club where we want the students to be happy to show up and watch a football team that even locals (who have lived here all of their lives) don't watch, we can ask everyone to wear UNLV colors, and we can complain about anything else, but the simple fact is with rare exceptions, UNLV football has been bad for a long time. Right now I will just be happy to have people in the seats to cover up the silver color of the bleachers.
Asking why students don't show up when even UNLV didn't really back the football program until this year, in fact people like Maxson and Harter did everything they could to get rid of football, seems a little crazy. Now that UNLV suddenly backs the program, after +20 years, doesn't buy a pass that requires anyone to show up to the games. They spent over 20 years tearing down the program, the average attendance in the 80's was at least 10,000 more than currently attend games, and this is not going to be fixed in one season. I have dozens of friends that bought tickets for many years who finally got tired of supporting a losing program when UNLV decided to significantly increase the price of tickets some years back even while the program was horrible. Ticket prices may be back down now, but for those who have been around a long time know this did happen with no improvement on the field. If they could get back just those past fans that quit supporting the team, they would have a full stadium every weekend they play.
If we want to see great crowds at the game, we keep supporting the program the best we can, and wait for improvements on and off the field which will eventually draw in new fans, and bring back many of those who got tired of buying season tickets when UNLV was unwilling to put anything into the program.