How do you get students to fill up their sections at football games and stay for the duration?

That's been a growing concern for schools around the nation and particularly in the Big Ten in recent years, and Saturday's Nebraska-Michigan State game highlighted the continuing challenges of filling those seats.

Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis said he and some students felt "disappointment and embarrassment" at the Spartans' student attendance during the 27-22 win over Nebraska. There was a large pocket of empty seats in the southeast corner of Spartan Stadium throughout the night despite the matchup of two top-20 teams in a key Big Ten showdown, and many students headed for the exits by the end of the third quarter.

Head coach Mark Dantonio was clearly upset after the game, too, though he chose his words carefully as not to offend his fan base. By the end of the game, as Nebraska mounted a furious late comeback, Michigan State had lost a large portion of its home-field advantage.

Two things must be noted here: First, the Spartans were dominating the game, leading 27-3 with 13 minutes to go. Many fans (students weren't the only ones who left) surely felt the outcome was well in hand and it was time to beat the traffic. And secondly, the temperatures that night were unseasonably cool, dipping down in the low 40s to go along at times with a swirling rain. I spent the last five minutes of the game on the sideline and was thankful that I had been in an indoor press box the previous few hours.

It's often very easy from the warmth of one's den to heckle fans who don't stick it out for hours in challenging conditions; a team in another sport dealt with that same issue on Saturday night as well.

Still, student turnout remains a puzzler for athletic departments -- with some notable exceptions, like the dazzling student support at Penn State and Ohio State. Schools have tried different things to change the trend, including investing millions in improved Wi-Fi connections at stadiums (because these kids today, you know, they like the Twitter and Instagram and such). I was surprised how easily I was able to stay in touch on my phone while on the sideline Saturday night, something that has been problematic in the past, so I don't think students left just so they could go Snapchat.

Hollis is one of the nation's brightest and most innovative athletic directors, so expect him to continue to find solutions to this problem. Communicating with students and finding out their wants and needs is crucial; decisions that simply come down from above, like Michigan's changing of student pricing and seating arrangements before last year, often don't go over well.

Ultimately, it may come down to something simple: This generation of students would rather do other things than sit in the bleachers for four hours. Dantonio at one point in his news conference shrugged and said, "Maybe it was just a Saturday night." There are more entertainment options in life than ever before, and attention spans are shorter.

A loud, fully engaged student section is one of the best ways to create an intimidating atmosphere at home games. But if those sections aren't going to be full for even the biggest of games, schools can't be blamed for taking away those seats and selling them to regular fans who want to be there. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. But students have to prove they deserve the privilege of having their own sections.