I would say the lack of enthusiasm was partially how the season was going, injuries to QB and partially the coaching staff losing the team last year. Tom running around is a clear indication things were broken for the year. 1-6 at the time.

It is easy for fans to sit back and talk about what a great opportunity it is to play D1 football, have a scholarship, play for teammates, play for coaches, etc. The reality is that a situation can be so poor that none of those things matter. The team had mentally checked out. I believe there were a lot of problems internally we may never know about as well that were driving down the morale, etc.