As hot as it is, it might seem premature to be talking about college football, but we’re glad to see Baylor University raising the topic now, a couple of months before the season kicks off. Laying the foundation for a successful and vibrant season means not only whipping a great team into shape but whipping up enthusiasm among we the potential fans.

Filling the stands is easy when victory soars in the air. But where’s the spirit when a team is trying, perhaps trying hard, but the so-called fans have abdicated the stands to the wind?

Baylor’s new marketing blitz to rouse students, faculty and area residents to participate, beginning with the Sept. 4 opener against Sam Houston State, comes weeks after the Big 12 was saved from dissolution amid raids by the Pac-10 and Big Ten to pick off members. The league’s survival (and when every athletic pundit predicted otherwise) yields important lessons. First: Football remains king.

True, Baylor is about far more than football, a point that we’ve made often. But its inclusion in the Big 12 — itself so focused on football and TV rights — in the long run also lends a prestige and even legitimacy to Baylor in all that it strives to be. It fuels its bid for real greatness in both athletics and academics.

During the upheaval this spring, many of us noted that while Baylor’s football record is less than stellar, it remains a powerhouse in so many other sports, ranging from basketball to tennis. This was reaffirmed just last week when the Learfield Sports Directors Cup final rankings were released. These take all college sports into account and ranked Baylor 31st in the nation in sending different teams into postseason play. Yet, as we all discovered in the Battle of the Big 12, the attention still ultimately falls on football.

Baylor has stepped up in numerous ways to bolster its partnership with the Waco community. It has done everything from working with the city on improved walking trails to moving elements of its campus downtown. Now it seeks something from us. It encourages us to revel in an all-American pastime by taking advantage of the autumn weather ahead and showing up at some football games, maybe even joining in rollicking tailgate parties beforehand.

There’s a lot we can all do to help. For instance, while Baylor is grateful to businesses that buy up blocks of tickets, we ask that those businesses go one better by ensuring that people actually fill the seats, even if this means redistributing the tickets.

We certainly don’t need apathy like we saw at last season’s Nebraska game, which seemed to have more Nebraska fans than Baylor students. This looks pretty bad for us in Waco — especially in the very unforgiving glare of TV. If we’re proud of Baylor and the Big 12, it’s high time some of us really show it by showing up at games.

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