Despite being more than 250 miles from home, Ohio State's football team almost had home-field advantage Saturday at Spartan Stadium.

Fans clothed in scarlet and gray dominated the stadium's north end and dotted virtually every other section.

"They're the No. 1 team in the nation, so everybody wants to see them play," said MSU senior quarterback Drew Stanton. "It wasn't surprising to see how many people they had."

The official attendance of 73,498 is almost 6,700 less than the crowd that filled Spartan Stadium for the Notre Dame game three weeks ago.

While head coach John L. Smith said he didn't notice the large Ohio State presence in the crowd and several players said it didn't matter to them, it was tough not to notice the noise they were making.

At the end of two quarters, MSU's offense was struggling to move the ball, and its defense was struggling to stop Ohio State. But as the Spartans went into the locker room, down 24-0, cheers still rang out from the Spartan Stadium crowd.

The roar was Buckeye fans, acknowledging the performance of their No. 1 Ohio State team. If Spartan fans were booing, it wasn't heard.

Ohio State fans have a reputation for traveling to away games, but Saturday's crowd was even unusual to Buckeyes wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez, who is in his fourth year with the program.

"I'm surprised that (the Spartans) don't have more support," Gonzalez said. "I couldn't hear the boos. Usually, on the road you can really hear the boos, but I thought the cheers were pretty loud today."

As the second half dragged on, more and more MSU fans exited the stadium. By the time MSU scored with about one minute left to avoid getting shut out, the Spartans' fan base — including the student section — was almost entirely cleared out.

"Our team motto is, 'The only people we have is ourselves,'" said MSU senior linebacker David Herron Jr., a team captain. "It would bother me if one of my teammates walked off the field. Students, that doesn't bother me."