It's too bad "plenty" of Cal fans didn't enjoy the win in the stadium. The published ticket distribution of 38,572 was WAY more than actually showed up. I was stunned at how small the turnout was; there wasn't "plenty" of anything. It's been an issue in a number of places this year, but I was still really surprised.
It's too bad "plenty" of Cal fans didn't enjoy the win in the stadium. The published ticket distribution of 38,572 was WAY more than actually showed up. I was stunned at how small the turnout was; there wasn't "plenty" of anything. It's been an issue in a number of places this year, but I was still really surprised.
That's too bad, because that was an interesting game all the way, and Cal deserves great credit for a well-conceived game plan, both defensively and offensively (the offensive one was obviously a possibility OSU DC Tim Tibesar never considered). It was also a demonstration of the value of having the most experienced QB in the conference.
Chase Garbers repeatedly made good decisions, and found something when live bullets were flying numerous times.
While I'm also frustrated by the lack of fans in the stadium, I think I can understand why. Students are now two years removed from following a college football team. This was very obvious during the Nevada game where none of them seem to know what to do. Usually the freshman go along and all the sophomores and above "indoctrinate" them along with Rally Comm. Well the mic men were their usual subpar selfs at least at the start and with a lot more students being clueless there was no indoctrination.
In short, I don't think Cal football really hooked a lot of people. And the play, quite frankly, sucked when they did show up. Nevada had decent turnout. There were a lot of students including into the overflow section R. WSU wasn't awful. But can you blame them for being turned away from that?
As for the alumni and other fans, well it's been a long time since I've seen them all show up. Maybe the covid situation still contributes (there are probably some who are still hesitant esp. since Cal doesn't check vaccine proof except for club seats), but the attendance was lethargic going back to the Dykes era sans a few games.
Anyway if we win @AZ then I hope the turn out for USC will be good.
Not only two years of disconnect from the football program . . .but if you ever browse the berkeley subreddit, you'll see a TON of Cal students are really struggling being disconnected from everything. All fun stuff I remember - hanging out with people from my floor and going to the game together or finding people to go down to the DC and drinking POG and the world's most acidic lemonade.
All of this stuff was missed by sophomores and muted for freshmen. It's been a tough two years for people just learning how to be adults.
Interesting; I thought the Cal students were the most engaged of the fans. The disconnect hasn't been the issue in the Northwest; OSU has had the biggest student turnout EVER. Without them, Reser would be at quarter capacity. Its the adults who have been staying away in droves. WSU was really strong in the student section too.
Re Covid, I used to take my three girls to pretty much every game, but haven’t gone since pandemic bc they are all under 12. Probably a non trivial number in this boat, as I think Bay Area parents are more risk averse about this than others are. I’d say during trick or treating in my neighborhood, 80% or do of adults were masked even though it is obviously all outside
The overwhelming contingent of students at the Nevada game was unlike anything I've witnessed at Memorial in quite some time. You'd like to see at least a core of students have a little more resilience (their undergraduate educations only last so long, and for better or worse this Cal program is what they've got), but faceplanting in that game and then TCU really crushed hopes of any follow through on that momentum. Cal has traditionally done well in the early season non-conference games, which can help lift attendance a bit through mid season. But to perform so miserably so early in the schedule given our generally poor recent track record, it's hard to recover from. Should get a decent crowd at SC, but I'm gonna guess the stadium will still only be maybe 2/3 filled.
It's too bad "plenty" of Cal fans didn't enjoy the win in the stadium. The published ticket distribution of 38,572 was WAY more than actually showed up. I was stunned at how small the turnout was; there wasn't "plenty" of anything. It's been an issue in a number of places this year, but I was still really surprised.
That's too bad, because that was an interesting game all the way, and Cal deserves great credit for a well-conceived game plan, both defensively and offensively (the offensive one was obviously a possibility OSU DC Tim Tibesar never considered). It was also a demonstration of the value of having the most experienced QB in the conference.
Chase Garbers repeatedly made good decisions, and found something when live bullets were flying numerous times.
When using 'plenty' I was more referring to the % of Cal fans who probably felt as I described, rather than the absolute number in the stands
While I'm also frustrated by the lack of fans in the stadium, I think I can understand why. Students are now two years removed from following a college football team. This was very obvious during the Nevada game where none of them seem to know what to do. Usually the freshman go along and all the sophomores and above "indoctrinate" them along with Rally Comm. Well the mic men were their usual subpar selfs at least at the start and with a lot more students being clueless there was no indoctrination.
In short, I don't think Cal football really hooked a lot of people. And the play, quite frankly, sucked when they did show up. Nevada had decent turnout. There were a lot of students including into the overflow section R. WSU wasn't awful. But can you blame them for being turned away from that?
As for the alumni and other fans, well it's been a long time since I've seen them all show up. Maybe the covid situation still contributes (there are probably some who are still hesitant esp. since Cal doesn't check vaccine proof except for club seats), but the attendance was lethargic going back to the Dykes era sans a few games.
Anyway if we win @AZ then I hope the turn out for USC will be good.
Not only two years of disconnect from the football program . . .but if you ever browse the berkeley subreddit, you'll see a TON of Cal students are really struggling being disconnected from everything. All fun stuff I remember - hanging out with people from my floor and going to the game together or finding people to go down to the DC and drinking POG and the world's most acidic lemonade.
All of this stuff was missed by sophomores and muted for freshmen. It's been a tough two years for people just learning how to be adults.
Interesting; I thought the Cal students were the most engaged of the fans. The disconnect hasn't been the issue in the Northwest; OSU has had the biggest student turnout EVER. Without them, Reser would be at quarter capacity. Its the adults who have been staying away in droves. WSU was really strong in the student section too.
That's a really good point I hadn't thought of. I really do feel bad for any students the last couple of years.
Re Covid, I used to take my three girls to pretty much every game, but haven’t gone since pandemic bc they are all under 12. Probably a non trivial number in this boat, as I think Bay Area parents are more risk averse about this than others are. I’d say during trick or treating in my neighborhood, 80% or do of adults were masked even though it is obviously all outside
Yea absolutely it makes sense
The overwhelming contingent of students at the Nevada game was unlike anything I've witnessed at Memorial in quite some time. You'd like to see at least a core of students have a little more resilience (their undergraduate educations only last so long, and for better or worse this Cal program is what they've got), but faceplanting in that game and then TCU really crushed hopes of any follow through on that momentum. Cal has traditionally done well in the early season non-conference games, which can help lift attendance a bit through mid season. But to perform so miserably so early in the schedule given our generally poor recent track record, it's hard to recover from. Should get a decent crowd at SC, but I'm gonna guess the stadium will still only be maybe 2/3 filled.