The Utah 2011 Football Thread

[Scorcho]

Just slap a goatee on him and put a beer in his hand...maybe add a pirate hat...

there are so many options with the goatee. I'm seeing more of the soul patch these days.

[LA Ute]

From the Husky Football Blog:

"[T]he only two schools to sell out the season so far are Oregon and Utah. Everyone else is playing to average under-capacity crowds...."

Pretty cool.

[UtahJazzFan88]

From the Husky Football Blog:



Pretty cool.

You're wrong! Obviously you didn't see those empty seats up in the southeast corner in the MUSS section where everyone piled into the bottom! I'd be interested to see how the attendance would be if the expansion to RES were done this year to 55,000.

[Portland Ute]

You're wrong! Obviously you didn't see those empty seats up in the southeast corner in the MUSS section where everyone piled into the bottom! I'd be interested to see how the attendance would be if the expansion to RES were done this year to 55,000.

We'd average 54000 or so. The last game would not have sold out. Neither would the others ,but the season ticket sales would have been much, much higher based on excitement about the hypothetical expansion and the PAC12. The season tickets this season were gone by early summer with little to no marketing. I know a lot of folks that wanted season tickets and couldn't get them.

I think that a season like this vs. a team like Oregon State you'd would not see the sellout, but you'd see every bit of the current capacity and probably a lot more.

I know that if Utah loses a couple more games, the CU game will not be sold out. And people will, inevitably, point to that 43K that are there and say, "Well, why would you want a 60 or 55K stadium so that only 43K show up?"

The problem with that logic is that with the smaller stadium, the season tickets cap out at 10K less than they could (based on a 55K stadium).

If you lose 10% of attendance on a 55K stadium, you still have over 50K in the stadium. You lose 10% from a 45K ticket base and you are down to 40,500.

Losing will bring attrition and a string of sellouts would end on occasion with a bigger stadium, no doubt. But the attendance would NOT drop from 55 or 60K to 40K. It would drop to over 50-55K, relatively speaking.

Now, this assumes that Utah doesn't end up perennially in the suck house. If that happens, you could see much larger attrition.

[falafel]

What are each of the PAC 12 teams averaging in home attendance? Where does RES rank in stadium capacity in the PAC 12?

[LA Ute]

What are each of the PAC 12 teams averaging in home attendance? Where does RES rank in stadium capacity in the PAC 12?

Link to that info is in my post.

[falafel]

Link to that info is in my post.

Thanks. What is the current thinking about demand up on the hill? You're selling out at 45k, but if you had 60k in capacity would you be able to fill it? Probably not this year, I would imagine, but what do you think attendance would be in a Sugar Bowl-type year?

[Portland Ute]

Thanks. What is the current thinking about demand up on the hill? You're selling out at 45k, but if you had 60k in capacity would you be able to fill it? Probably not this year, I would imagine, but what do you think attendance would be in a Sugar Bowl-type year?

here is my opinion. I offer it to be mocked and ridiculed...

If Utah had announced an expansion to 55K, maybe even more, to have been completed by the start of this season, Utah would average two seasons of record season ticket sales for 2011 and 2012. Both would have seen ticket sales relative to capacity that we have seen the past couple of years on the momentum of the PAC12 and the buzz of a new stadium.

This year, the attendance in this hypothetically expanded stadium would have been at capacity for Washington and ASU. It would have been down 10ish % for the Oregon State game. I would have put the OSU game at over 50K assuming a 55K stadium.

Next year, the opener, the USC and the BYU games would have been sold out. Depending on the record, the attendance at the other games may well be less than capacity.

The 45K sellout stadium is a false number. Sure, there may well be only 43K at the CU game or the UCLA game. But that, too, is a false number when looking at expansion.

If season ticket sales go from whatever they currently are to 10K more (for the sake of the discussion) you then have a new baseline from which you start deducting unsold tickets and/or no-shows.

I am of the opionion that Utah has missed an opportunity to expand it's season ticket and fan base. Hindsight is 20/20 but if you could go back, it would have been best to have a 55K+ seat stadium ready to go by the beginning of the 2008 season, 2009 at the latest.

Again, I fully realize that what I am saying assumes that Utah isn't going to go into the shit house any time soon.

[UtahJazzFan88]

I'm surprised at how well Colorado is doing in attendance considering they are probably the worst BCS conference team in college football. Pretty sure the stadium there in Boulder has like 53,000.

[Top Ute]

I'm surprised at how well Colorado is doing in attendance considering they are probably the worst BCS conference team in college football. Pretty sure the stadium there in Boulder has like 53,000.

Colorado would smoke Indiana by two scores, but I'm being admittedly nit-picky. Buffs are easily one of the 10 worst BCS conference teams.

[UtahJazzFan88]

Colorado would smoke Indiana by two scores, but I'm being admittedly nit-picky. Buffs are easily one of the 10 worst BCS conference teams.

Since I'm bored lol...

Colorado
Indiana
Minnesota
Boston College
Kansas
Ole Miss (Yikes BYU fans.) or Kentucky
Maryland
Duke
Northwestern
Washington State (?) (Look who they beat.)

[Mormon Red Death]

Here are my scenarios for how Utah ends the season.

8-4 - Holiday Bowl 60% (Need two BCS teams from conference
Alamo 5% (Need two bcs conference teams and Ariz st to lose out)
Sunbowl 34% (would require Wash to lose remaining games and two bcs pac12 teams)
Rose Bowl 1% (Would require Ariz st losing their remaining games and Utah beating Stanford/Oregon winner on the road)
7-5 - Vegas Bowl 60%
Sun Bowl 40%
6-6 - Vegas Bowl 50% or Fight Hunger Bowl 50%
5-7 - Home for the holidays

updated %s funny enough they still arent mathematically eliminated from the pac-12 champ game. It would require Ariz st to lose out as they hold tiebreaker with their win over USC

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/28838/pac-12-tiebreakers

[BoylenOver]

[youtube]a8FVaO9SkpE[/youtube]

Whatever this is, it's frightening.

[DrumNFeather]

I want to eat a little crow here and give the coaches some big time credit. At 3-4 it looked incredibly bleak and Whit & Co. appear to have rallied this team and have them playing really well, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

A few weeks ago we were hoping for 6-6 and now 8-4 is a legitimate possibility. I think the game in Pulllman will be tough, but these last two are winnable and a 5 game win streak down the stretch would be pretty damn impressive.

Well done (so far) coaches!

[Portland Ute]

Well, WSU beats ASU.

So, I guess Utah goes into the it's penultimate game still in the hunt (as improbably as it might be) to play in the PAC12 championship game.

8-4 is a possibility and that is about what I had expected for the season.

That game in Pullman has "trap game" written all over it. Utah on a winning streak. WSU is traditionally a crappy team. WSU's found itself a QB that can pass for PAC12 records.

I don't think Utah matches up fantastically vs. WSU. However, I do believe Utah should win that game.

I'm considering trying to figure out how to make that drive. I've got Friday off, so maybe I'll give it a go.