While Saturday’s loss to TCU was a disappointment, the impressive showing by the student body was continuing evidence of a positive change in Stanford’s football mentality. Just as the team is rebuilding itself under the guidance of Coach Jim Harbaugh, so, too, do the members of the Red Zone need to keep rebuilding the student fan base.

The excitement that followed the upset of USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Oct. 6 has been well-documented. However, the change began a week earlier at home against Arizona State. Yes, the Cardinal lost that game, and lost it a little ingloriously — at home and without a single touchdown, 41-3, to another team with a brand-new coach. However, the student body awakened as it has not in the recent past. ASU even had a false start penalty on third down, which traditionally points to the work of an involved and loud home crowd.

The trend continued this week against TCU. The student section at the stadium was nearly full at kick off and was packed a few minutes after the game started. Stadium staff again had to give out wristbands to ensure that only students sat in the student section, and not just because it was Homecoming; past Homecomings have not seen nearly this level of participation among current students. Stanford is learning how to become a football school.

The Red Zone must now learn more about the sport itself, not just the celebration of it. Cheering strategy is an important aspect of football fandom — an appropriately raucous fan base is one of the reasons that some teams (like the University of Oregon here in the Pac-10) are so difficult to play at home. The Red Zone and the yell leaders all need to learn that while making noise on the opposing team’s third down is important, so is keeping quiet when the Cardinal is trying to convert a third down.

By learning more about the ins-and-outs of football, students will not only avoid the eye rolls of more experienced fans when they boo or cheer incorrectly, but they will also learn to enjoy the game more for its own merits. Most can appreciate the quarterback’s role, but a seasoned fan can appreciate the work of the offensive linemen or the strong safety, players who might have lived in your freshman dorm or sat next to you in PWR 2.

Regardless of whether anyone learns when to cheer or what each player does, the Red Zone needs to stay strong through the season, even after losses. Stanford cannot return to being a school of fair-weather fans. It was hard to blame the student body during last year’s season when few students showed up for the unbroken string of home losses. The University did its part to encourage student attendance at games this year by departing from last year’s “free” Red Zone membership, which charged a small fee for registration and the t-shirt, to making the Red Zone actually free. Coach Harbaugh has done a brilliant job of inspiring a change in the way Stanford students view football — let’s hope that doesn’t vanish as soon as midterms get closer.

While the Red Zone’s roar couldn’t keep TCU from running over our defense on Saturday, the presence of an enthusiastic and passionate student body might make or break the next home game.

That game is against the University of Washington on Nov. 3. The Red Zone should turn out to show the team and the nation that Stanford doesn’t have to win every game for its students to care about every game.