I'm surprised that there aren't a few threads on this topic. While watching that dismal game, one thing kept popping into my head: That Colorado Crowd. This was a 0-5 team out there but you sure wouldn't know it by the enthusiasm of the crowd! They had over 50k in attendance. They stormed the field after beating not Oregon, not Utah, but Cal. At Cal's family weekend game, where they were coming in at 2-1 after nearly beating Notre Dame on the road, we had just 37k in attendance. It's not just a knock on Cal. UCLA, at 5-0 and after beating Washington could only muster 42k to show up for the Utah game. Instead of storming the field they started exiting early. Pathetic.

So what's your take on the lack of passion for UC schools' football? Why do those Colorado students, alumni, and casual fans seem to care so much more?

I think maybe they were excited having just fired their head coach...

It was Family Weekend in Boulder. I was there and that more than anything was responsible for the larger than normal crowd. Lots of parents were there.

Alkiadt said:

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It was Family Weekend in Boulder. I was there and that more than anything was responsible for the larger than normal crowd. Lots of parents were there.

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Yes, BUT credit to Colorado to get them into the stadium AND have them be as fired up as they were. It was pretty incredible for an 0-5 team!!! Families could have done something else on campus or around town. I was very impressed. I don't think the Bears have a crowd like that this season.
The broadcast showed the new coach going to fraternities to drum up support for that game as well. Would Wilcox walk around campus getting people to games?

My take is that the interim coach is special.
We have some guys like Toler that could be special if we trusted in them.
But we won't.
The difference is, has been, and always will be, leadership in the ADs office.
Cal is one of the worst organizations period, sports or otherwise, for leadership at the top.
Colorado fans were responding to great leadership.
Cal fans would do the same, but don't hold your breath.

See Cal vs Arizona last season?

Alkiadt said:

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It was Family Weekend in Boulder. I was there and that more than anything was responsible for the larger than normal crowd. Lots of parents were there.

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As I stated in my post, Cal had 37k for family weekend.

heartofthebear said:

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My take is that the interim coach is special.
We have some guys like Toler that could be special if we trusted in them.
But we won't.
The difference is, has been, and always will be, leadership in the ADs office.
Cal is one of the worst organizations period, sports or otherwise, for leadership at the top.
Colorado fans were responding to great leadership.
Cal fans would do the same, but don't hold your breath.

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Mike Sanford "special"?
Tell me that at the end of the season.
He's got a terrible resume, and has not had any success. Anywhere. I'm surprised he's still in coaching.
He's just holding down the seat until they hire their new coach

LMK5 said:

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Alkiadt said:

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It was Family Weekend in Boulder. I was there and that more than anything was responsible for the larger than normal crowd. Lots of parents were there.

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As I stated in my post, Cal had 37k for family weekend.

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So Cal actually does not do a family weekend. Maybe they should... But not sure it would be the same though as CU is about 43% out of state @65k/year in a highly desirable location for travel. Berkeley doesn't really have similar hotel capacity to Boulder either. (I've been travelling to Cal games for ~17 seasons now and stay in SF or Oakland, or at friends' places near BART)

Except for a few years in the early 2010's, CU still sells in the lower 40k's for every game, and mid 40's for most games. Family weekend was responsible for 8-10k in sales, at most (though it definitely helped prop up ticket prices to around $100 level for virtually all seats).

Folsom Field is not a big stadium, and they have put their club seats either in the endzones or the 500 level under the press box. That leaves a lot of good seats between the goal lines for the masses, but also there's some scarcity in the total capacity that drives season ticket sales.

If it were ever expanded to 60k, I'm not sure there would be enough demand, and the extra availability might actually drive down season tickets sales if people could get cheap seats regardless, and then with reduced season ticket sales, the 'bad' games would see reduced attendance. Consider Oregon and Utah have 54k and 51k capacities. IMO, CMS just has too many seats which makes it feel dead. And even more so, the Rose Bowl is way too big for UCLA... But at least it was 'free' to remodel.

Offensive (excitement)/wins fills seats no ?

Alkiadt said:

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heartofthebear said:

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My take is that the interim coach is special.
We have some guys like Toler that could be special if we trusted in them.
But we won't.
The difference is, has been, and always will be, leadership in the ADs office.
Cal is one of the worst organizations period, sports or otherwise, for leadership at the top.
Colorado fans were responding to great leadership.
Cal fans would do the same, but don't hold your breath.

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Mike Sanford "special"?
Tell me that at the end of the season.
He's got a terrible resume, and has not had any success. --He just upset Cal didn't he? He did some smart coaching. Loading the box with 8 and trusting his pass D, which is the one unit that is at least average. Anywhere. I'm surprised he's still in coaching.
He's just holding down the seat until they hire their new coach--So are some really good coaches. The Las Vegas Raiders had one last season.

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I'll trust you know more about him than I do since I know next to nothing. He certainly acted special. He was trying to instill joy. compare that to Wilcox who is trying to instill loyalty and family. I admire it but joy wins over loyalty. We'll see how Sanford does on the road in Corvallis. The spread is ridiculous and everyone I know is picking Colorado for that reason. But Colorado may be much better on offense now that they have found some QB mojo. We'll see.

ColoradoBear said:

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LMK5 said:

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Alkiadt said:

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It was Family Weekend in Boulder. I was there and that more than anything was responsible for the larger than normal crowd. Lots of parents were there.

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As I stated in my post, Cal had 37k for family weekend.

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So Cal actually does not do a family weekend. Maybe they should... But not sure it would be the same though as CU is about 43% out of state @65k/year in a highly desirable location for travel. Berkeley doesn't really have similar hotel capacity to Boulder either. (I've been travelling to Cal games for ~17 seasons now and stay in SF or Oakland, or at friends' places near BART)

Except for a few years in the early 2010's, CU still sells in the lower 40k's for every game, and mid 40's for most games. Family weekend was responsible for 8-10k in sales, at most (though it definitely helped prop up ticket prices to around $100 level for virtually all seats).

Folsom Field is not a big stadium, and they have put their club seats either in the endzones or the 500 level under the press box. That leaves a lot of good seats between the goal lines for the masses, but also there's some scarcity in the total capacity that drives season ticket sales.

If it were ever expanded to 60k, I'm not sure there would be enough demand, and the extra availability might actually drive down season tickets sales if people could get cheap seats regardless, and then with reduced season ticket sales, the 'bad' games would see reduced attendance. Consider Oregon and Utah have 54k and 51k capacities. IMO, CMS just has too many seats which makes it feel dead. And even more so, the Rose Bowl is way too big for UCLA... But at least it was 'free' to remodel.

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They do have a family weekend every year which coincides with homecoming and a home football date. I went to the one in 2019. There's a tremendous crowd on and around campus, a pool of people much larger than Boulder when you throw in the local population. No legitimate reason for 0-5 Colorado to draw 50k and 2-1 Cal to draw 37k other than plain indifference. https://homecoming.berkeley.edu/

If Dorrell had still been the coach last week Cal would have won easily. This shows just how much difference emotion can make. An elite team, or at least a team with a functioning offense, would still have won, regardless of the new coach firing everyone up. If the game had been played at Cal it would have been totally different and a Cal victory. As it was Cal barely lost and certainly had the chance to win but the anemic offense could not overcome the fired up Colorado defense. Every other team in the league would have won, yes even Stanford. Colorado won't win any more games, and, unfortunately, Cal might not either.

Larno said:

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If Dorrell had still been the coach last week Cal would have won easily. This shows just how much difference emotion can make. An elite team, or at least a team with a functioning offense, would still have won, regardless of the new coach firing everyone up. If the game had been played at Cal it would have been totally different and a Cal victory. As it was Cal barely lost and certainly had the chance to win but the anemic offense could not overcome the fired up Colorado defense. Every other team in the league would have won, yes even Stanford. Colorado won't win any more games, and, unfortunately, Cal might not either.

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This is the thing that Tedford never got about football. He's an amazing X's and O's guy. He's an amazing technician. He is incredibly smart and has forgotten more about football than I will ever know.

But he never learned to embrace the emotion of the game.

He came into Cal when Cal was awful. Cal didn't need much to get going. A winning game plan and success on the field was enough. We went from, " I hope we don't lose by 50" to beating a top 2 in the country USC team.

Speaking of the 2003 USC game...does anyone remember the hype video for that game? It used to come out every year (until we finally beat them a few years back). Tedford came out flatly: "They are disrepsecting us. They are disrespecting our field, and they are disrespecting our logo. They stabbed our logo!"

Then the team, almost ignoring him, start hyping each other up. They had a good team and they knew they had a chance to beat USC. They weren't hyped because of Tedfords words. They were hyped because of the expertise and knowledge/execution that he brought them and the tools he provided them to succeed.

The thing is, Tedford never managed College athletes emotions well and he wasn't good at getting them fired up. Going for it on 4th and 1 in Columbus is more than just a strategic decision. You tell your defense, "If we don't get this, I trust you to stop them quickly and get us the ball back!" You tell your offense, "I trust you to go get that critical yard!"

There is NOTHING more demoralizing than getting a 3rd down stop only to give it up on 4th and short (we should know. we give up 9 yards on 3rd and 10 over and over and over only to let the opposition get it on 4th and 1). And at the same time, its a huge boon to the offense when they get it. Its better than a turnover getting it at 4th and 1, and its not as bad as a turnover if you don't get it.

This is what Pete Carrol did so well at USC. He went for it on 4th and whatever deep in his own territory. He fired his guys up. He had them ready to go out there and compete and had them hyped and believing they were the best and believing they could get 4th and whatever every time anywhere on the field whenever it was called for. Tedford didn't have that.

And at this point, neither does Wilcox. I really hope he hires an exciting offensive coordinator that infuses life into the players and the program. A guy who energizes the team and makes them believe they can beat anyone anywhere, and then proves to them that they are right in that belief.

Alkiadt said:

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It was Family Weekend in Boulder. I was there and that more than anything was responsible for the larger than normal crowd. Lots of parents were there.

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You think if we had Family Weekend or Homecoming or Alumni Band Day or Dad Bod Day -- we would get that crowd? That's a rhetorical question.

MrGPAC said:

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Larno said:

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If Dorrell had still been the coach last week Cal would have won easily. This shows just how much difference emotion can make. An elite team, or at least a team with a functioning offense, would still have won, regardless of the new coach firing everyone up. If the game had been played at Cal it would have been totally different and a Cal victory. As it was Cal barely lost and certainly had the chance to win but the anemic offense could not overcome the fired up Colorado defense. Every other team in the league would have won, yes even Stanford. Colorado won't win any more games, and, unfortunately, Cal might not either.

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This is the thing that Tedford never got about football. He's an amazing X's and O's guy. He's an amazing technician. He is incredibly smart and has forgotten more about football than I will ever know.

But he never learned to embrace the emotion of the game.

He came into Cal when Cal was awful. Cal didn't need much to get going. A winning game plan and success on the field was enough. We went from, " I hope we don't lose by 50" to beating a top 2 in the country USC team.

Speaking of the 2003 USC game...does anyone remember the hype video for that game? It used to come out every year (until we finally beat them a few years back). Tedford came out flatly: "They are disrepsecting us. They are disrespecting our field, and they are disrespecting our logo. They stabbed our logo!"

Then the team, almost ignoring him, start hyping each other up. They had a good team and they knew they had a chance to beat USC. They weren't hyped because of Tedfords words. They were hyped because of the expertise and knowledge/execution that he brought them and the tools he provided them to succeed.

The thing is, Tedford never managed College athletes emotions well and he wasn't good at getting them fired up. Going for it on 4th and 1 in Columbus is more than just a strategic decision. You tell your defense, "If we don't get this, I trust you to stop them quickly and get us the ball back!" You tell your offense, "I trust you to go get that critical yard!"

There is NOTHING more demoralizing than getting a 3rd down stop only to give it up on 4th and short (we should know. we give up 9 yards on 3rd and 10 over and over and over only to let the opposition get it on 4th and 1). And at the same time, its a huge boon to the offense when they get it. Its better than a turnover getting it at 4th and 1, and its not as bad as a turnover if you don't get it.

This is what Pete Carrol did so well at USC. He went for it on 4th and whatever deep in his own territory. He fired his guys up. He had them ready to go out there and compete and had them hyped and believing they were the best and believing they could get 4th and whatever every time anywhere on the field whenever it was called for. Tedford didn't have that.

And at this point, neither does Wilcox. I really hope he hires an exciting offensive coordinator that infuses life into the players and the program. A guy who energizes the team and makes them believe they can beat anyone anywhere, and then proves to them that they are right in that belief.

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Agreed. The college game especially needs emotional leaders. It is why Caroll was great. It is why I thought Mooch would be great if he fad followed Snyder or we were able to keep him longer than one year (burdened by Holmoe's defense). It is one reason Holmoe was so bad and is one of Wilcox's issues. Though Kapp showed you cannot win with emotion alone. Intelligence and competence is primary.