Yeah, what they do with the couple hundred leftovers is sell them as mini-season ticket packages, and there's usually two or three different options so not all options would have included the Michigan game.
Utah fans need/want a bigger stadium. Nothing dramatic...we'd be happy to just close the south end zone and add about 10k seats.
...to get more than about 3500 visiting fans into RES (Rice-Eccles Stadium).
Utah ony allocates 2500 tickets for visiting schools.
Utah season tickets are sold out at 99% (about 35,000) and the student section allocation is about 8,000. That fills the stadium.
Yes, Utah fans are very excited about this opener (which is why standing room onlys were going at $175). A worthy name program in Michigan is something to be excited about, but I can tell you we're just pumped for our team this year.
It's not the highest priced Utah football ticket I've seen. Ticket sales for Utah's game with TCU in 2010 were nuts....like couldn't find a ticket for under $300. Oregon ticket prices last year were probably the highest of the season, with lowest tickets on secondary market going around $130. Interestingly, the all-time RES attendance record was set last year during the USC game (it was a cheaper ticket though). I expect the Michigan opener to set the new RES attendance record. The most fans I've seen an opposing team bring into RES was vs. Oregon last year and between the visitor section and those who were dispersed throughout the stadium, I'd guess about 3500 at the top end.
Actually, the most visiting fans that I've EVER seen in RES were those F-ers from Boise State in 2005, they maybe brought about 6-7k, but that was just after Utah's first BCS busting year and season ticket sales still weren't selling out.
I welcome as many Michigan fans as can make it to SLC. It's a great place, our stadium is in a beautiful setting and it should be a great college football experience. I sure enjoyed my last trip out to Ann Arbor in 2008.
As has been pointed out, Rice-Eccles Stadium (RES) is not large (capacity 45,017, record attendance 47,619 - 2014 vs USC).
I wouldn't be surprised if the 2015 opener vs. Michigan sets a new attendance record.
The stadium is in a beautiful setting and there's really not a bad seat in the house. Utah has one of the highest season ticket renewal rates (99 point something %) in all of CFB and exceeds capacity in average attendance. Utah sells about 35,000 season tickets. Student section allocation is about 8,000 seats. Visitor allotments are generally set at 2500 on the high-end (for well traveling schools) and so if you're not receiving tickets through Michigan, your best bet will be to secure tickets anywhere else in the stadium where you can find them.
Visitor sections: W6 & W7 (this will be the Michigan allotment)
Utah student section: E38 thru E42
As a college football fan, I love what inclusion in the PAC12 has done for gameday atmosphere in SLC. Utah probably boasts one of the best traveling fanbases in the conference, but it's always fun to have a good representation of visiting fans in our stadium. I'd say that the most fans another PAC12 school has ever brought into RES was Oregon last year (probably even more than BYU has ever brought since the LaVell Edwards pioneer days ended). Really, that observation is based off of how many visiting fans were scattered throughout the stadium outside of the visitor section. In all, I'd be hard pressed to say that under current circumstances a very well travelled school would have fan representation in excess of 3500. I only suggest that in order to help some of you out who might not be able to get tix through Michigan, because your absolute best bet outside of stubhub or scalping is to check out the Classifieds section of ksl.com (a local news station website):
As far as pricing goes, my best guess is that for this game anything you can find for less than $150 come game time will probably be a really good deal.
Speaking of DL, Utah fans were super bummed that Bryan Mone chose Michigan and did not stay home. I'm really hoping to see great things out of him.
Both Bryan Mone and Sione Houma would know many of the Utah players very well (probably related to a lot them...poly connections) and both attended the same high school as Nate Orchard.
And I'm not trying to be rude in my comments above about Hoke, but honestly, that whole episode on Saturday which showed Hoke getting the verbal slapdown by his assistant (was it your DC?) and then just kind of cowering back into the sideline fold seemed quite telling.
First of all, your reference to Whittingham (the LB with the dislocated wrist, not our coach) being Utah's best LB is bit laughable and not even close to accurate IMO.
I mentioned on the single post I made on this site last week that one of Utah's major liabilities was the LB corp - personally at the top of that list for me is Whittingham - so you were at least right about Utah's lack of experience there. Our two best LBs were both injured in spring ball, one of whom is NOT Whittingham and the other of whom is Gionni Paul. Utah fans have been waiting for over 1 1/2 years for the debut of Gionni Paul and we've known since he had a foot injury in spring ball that the Michigan game was likely going to be his debut. We were not disappointed...AT ALL. In fact, he would have started over Whittingham last week in any case.
Secondly, neither of our corners were first time starters. While you were correct that one of them was moved over from the offense for this season (he actually still plays both ways because the coaches love his athleticism), both of our corners have starts and significant playing experience from last season. In fact, we have starters in this spot from last season on the sideline in favor of these two.
Utah has rotated 9-10 defensive lineman for years now. DLine at Utah is the stalwart of the program and nobody ever worries about what gets put on the field at this spot year after year. We still even kept our best true freshman in the rotation on Saturday (including Star Lotulelei's little brother Lowell). Aside from these two and transfer Jason Fanaika, everyone along that DL has significant game experience.
I still wouldn't say things at UM are as dire as they are at, oh let's say, Texas for example. You guys can at least run the ball (even though that didn't go too well Saturday against a defense that you seem to think isn't really that good, but has kept Utah at least competitive in a league full of high-powered offenses, while it's own offense has sputtered miserably). And since the B1G is offensive in all the wrong ways this years, I'll wait and see what happens with your team the rest of the way. Offensive problems aside, it seems pretty clear the biggest hurdles your team will have to overcome this year are mental - morale is terrible in your program right now and it really doesn't look like Hoke is garnering confidence votes from anyone.
Hopefully UM will get it together more by next year because that opener in Salt Lake City is going to be br-ute-al.
Lastly, regarding Whittingham. He's a Utah Man. He's not going anywhere unless maybe an NFL opportunity comes along, but I highly doubt it. He's a family man through and through. All of his kids and siblings' families are here and the Whittinghams are so established in this area...they are an insititution. He's been at Utah forever and has seen every part of Utah's rags to riches journey and is now at the helm of writing the future history of Utah football. Tennessee did make a play at him after the 2008 season and he turned it down. I think everyone else got the idea after that.
Utah would never have touched Brady Hoke with a 20 foot pole. Still can't believe Michigan did. If Whittingham ever does leave Utah (heaven forbid), it then becomes Gary Anderson's program.....maybe you guys would like that?
I've been lurking this site for the past few weeks....even posted on a thread last week. Let me first say, this site is probably the best overall fansite I have come across.
Now, I know you're pissed off.
And, I'll also accept that since you're a citizen of the Michigan football establishment, you're probably entitled to certain assumptions that generally go unquestioned when relating to the Michigans of the college football world. But, I'm going to go ahead and take serious issue with your post. I'll give it a little slack for being emotion-based, but here's the deal:
I know the PAC12 is viewed as an offensive-minded league and Utah probably isn't a name team on Michigan fan's radar, but Utah may very well be the best overall defense that Michigan will face the rest of this year - which could bode well for Michigan going forward since the B1G overall seems to lack much offensive firepower. Michigan State and Penn State appear to have some pretty stout defenses, as do your Wolverines, but I suspect such defensive "prowess" will only be bolstered by a lot of 13-10 barnburners (a la Penn State/Rutgers) that the offenses in your league are bound to produce this year.
And before you scoff at the comparison to say, oh I don't know, Sparty for example, keep in mind that even in our 5-7 campaign last year our defense kept us close in a game in Eugene that was 17-13 in the 3rd quarter until Oregon blew the doors off (much like they did against MSU) - and even at the end of the day, Utah didn't quite give up the 318 in the air, 173 on the ground and 46 points that Michigan State gave up to Oregon this year. Oh and let's not forget that Utah also beat the same Stanford team that Michigan State topped in last year's Rose Bowl.
I posted on this site earlier in the week that Utah is a defense-centric team and that Utah's strength coming into last Saturday's game would be their ability to stop the run - which not surprisingly didn't bode well for Michigan because Michigan can't pass the ball. Utah's program has been built around defense and anyone who knows anything about Kyle Whittingham knows that he is a defensive-minded coach. Utah pops top-notch defensive players into the NFL like kids pop candy.
BTW, that "up until" Saturday "mediocre" Utah rush you spoke of - after 3 games and a BYE week - still #1 in the nation is TFL per game and Sacks per game. Look for the number to rise again next week as Utah's defensive front eats Wazzu QB Connor Halliday for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Clearly, the worst unit on the field Saturday was Michigan's offense. You know MIchigan's O has problems - everyone else does too - it's obvious. But, I empathize. Michigan's run game is pretty strong, but ran into a good Utah run D. You have a defense that could keep your team in every game if your offense was not so inept. Welcome to the life of Utah fans since joining the PAC12 - where our offense has been our opponents' best defense.
I thought Brady Joke was a terrible hire from the get go and remember at that time, I would have been much more familiar with him because Utah was also just coming out of the Mountain West conference where he came from. So, I have a no confidence vote in his ability to turn it around which is unfortunate for a program like Michigan. At the same time, I look at what the MIchigan brass did and think "didn't anyone see this coming?" The hiring of RichRod was like if Apple hired Elon Musk to get out of the smartphone business - putting Michigan football identity, strategy and player personnel on a completely differenct trajectory outside of its competency. At the end of the day, Michigan didn't have the stomach to await such a drastic change in fundamental strategy and like in any business, it's product took severe hits and then took even more severe hits when the "management team" miserabley failed to recorrect course by making an even worse reactionary move of handing over the program to Hoke.
Good luck the rest of the way and we'll see you next year on a Thursday night in Salt Lake City. You can be sure Utah will show up big for that game. Can't wait, but will.
Let me just temper this guy for the rest of you while I undo my facepalm.
First of all, Booker, let alone our TEAM, is not running for 200 yards against Michigan's defense. In fact, based on what I've seen from Michigan this year, even approaching 100 total yards on the ground would be a coup for Utah. Utah's OL is one of 2 major, unproven liabilities on this team (the other being our LB corps). They're huge and polynesian, but so what?
With that said, Utah does look to have the most legitimate set of running backs they've had in years and Travis Wilson is definitely a running threat you must account for. He's deceptively fast at 6'7 and is not afraid to take off. I probably agree that Wilson and his receivers are a better group than Golson and his receivers, but ND's tight ends and OL by far are better than Utah's.
What I'm interested in is Utah's defensive front against the Michigan run game. It seems like you guys are pretty predicated on the run. Offensively, Utah is running around 85 plays per game and is used to playing teams who do about the same. Historically, Kyle Whittingham defenses have been pretty stout against the run - particularly pro-style ground game - and there's not much reason to believe this year's group is any different. But like I said earlier, Utah's LBs are an unproven liability and the physical nature of Utah's defensive front has left them vulnerable to some sloppy play and over pursuit and I'm just not sure we have LBs good enough to make up for it.
One other interesting caveat will be field position. This sounds funny, but Utah's punter is an ace in the hole. He's an Australian kid ( #1 in the nation right now in punting), with an ability like I've never seen in a punter before to pin the ball inside the 10-5 yard line at will with almost golfer like precision. He's punted about 10 times this year and only 2 of his punts have not pinned inside the 10 (most pin within the 5). The reason I bring this up is, because again, it looks like you guys are a pretty run-based team and Utah's strength is stopping the run and if this game becomes a defensive battle, field position will be key.
Probably not any surprise what Utah will try to do....stack the box and force Gardner to make plays with his arm on the run.
And FYI "PAC12Utes" or whatever your name is.....Utah's 3rd stringers gave up 20 to Fresno in garbage time....surely you knew that.
Recent Comments
Yeah, what they do with the couple hundred leftovers is sell them as mini-season ticket packages, and there's usually two or three different options so not all options would have included the Michigan game.
Utah fans need/want a bigger stadium. Nothing dramatic...we'd be happy to just close the south end zone and add about 10k seats.
Most of those tix on the secondary market will get consumed by local Utah fans who can't get season tickets.
...to get more than about 3500 visiting fans into RES (Rice-Eccles Stadium).
Utah ony allocates 2500 tickets for visiting schools.
Utah season tickets are sold out at 99% (about 35,000) and the student section allocation is about 8,000. That fills the stadium.
Yes, Utah fans are very excited about this opener (which is why standing room onlys were going at $175). A worthy name program in Michigan is something to be excited about, but I can tell you we're just pumped for our team this year.
It's not the highest priced Utah football ticket I've seen. Ticket sales for Utah's game with TCU in 2010 were nuts....like couldn't find a ticket for under $300. Oregon ticket prices last year were probably the highest of the season, with lowest tickets on secondary market going around $130. Interestingly, the all-time RES attendance record was set last year during the USC game (it was a cheaper ticket though). I expect the Michigan opener to set the new RES attendance record. The most fans I've seen an opposing team bring into RES was vs. Oregon last year and between the visitor section and those who were dispersed throughout the stadium, I'd guess about 3500 at the top end.
Actually, the most visiting fans that I've EVER seen in RES were those F-ers from Boise State in 2005, they maybe brought about 6-7k, but that was just after Utah's first BCS busting year and season ticket sales still weren't selling out.
I welcome as many Michigan fans as can make it to SLC. It's a great place, our stadium is in a beautiful setting and it should be a great college football experience. I sure enjoyed my last trip out to Ann Arbor in 2008.
As has been pointed out, Rice-Eccles Stadium (RES) is not large (capacity 45,017, record attendance 47,619 - 2014 vs USC).
I wouldn't be surprised if the 2015 opener vs. Michigan sets a new attendance record.
The stadium is in a beautiful setting and there's really not a bad seat in the house. Utah has one of the highest season ticket renewal rates (99 point something %) in all of CFB and exceeds capacity in average attendance. Utah sells about 35,000 season tickets. Student section allocation is about 8,000 seats. Visitor allotments are generally set at 2500 on the high-end (for well traveling schools) and so if you're not receiving tickets through Michigan, your best bet will be to secure tickets anywhere else in the stadium where you can find them.
Visitor sections: W6 & W7 (this will be the Michigan allotment)
Utah student section: E38 thru E42
As a college football fan, I love what inclusion in the PAC12 has done for gameday atmosphere in SLC. Utah probably boasts one of the best traveling fanbases in the conference, but it's always fun to have a good representation of visiting fans in our stadium. I'd say that the most fans another PAC12 school has ever brought into RES was Oregon last year (probably even more than BYU has ever brought since the LaVell Edwards pioneer days ended). Really, that observation is based off of how many visiting fans were scattered throughout the stadium outside of the visitor section. In all, I'd be hard pressed to say that under current circumstances a very well travelled school would have fan representation in excess of 3500. I only suggest that in order to help some of you out who might not be able to get tix through Michigan, because your absolute best bet outside of stubhub or scalping is to check out the Classifieds section of ksl.com (a local news station website):
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=231&cat=84&category=63
As far as pricing goes, my best guess is that for this game anything you can find for less than $150 come game time will probably be a really good deal.
Speaking of DL, Utah fans were super bummed that Bryan Mone chose Michigan and did not stay home. I'm really hoping to see great things out of him.
Both Bryan Mone and Sione Houma would know many of the Utah players very well (probably related to a lot them...poly connections) and both attended the same high school as Nate Orchard.
And I'm not trying to be rude in my comments above about Hoke, but honestly, that whole episode on Saturday which showed Hoke getting the verbal slapdown by his assistant (was it your DC?) and then just kind of cowering back into the sideline fold seemed quite telling.
First of all, your reference to Whittingham (the LB with the dislocated wrist, not our coach) being Utah's best LB is bit laughable and not even close to accurate IMO.
I mentioned on the single post I made on this site last week that one of Utah's major liabilities was the LB corp - personally at the top of that list for me is Whittingham - so you were at least right about Utah's lack of experience there. Our two best LBs were both injured in spring ball, one of whom is NOT Whittingham and the other of whom is Gionni Paul. Utah fans have been waiting for over 1 1/2 years for the debut of Gionni Paul and we've known since he had a foot injury in spring ball that the Michigan game was likely going to be his debut. We were not disappointed...AT ALL. In fact, he would have started over Whittingham last week in any case.
Secondly, neither of our corners were first time starters. While you were correct that one of them was moved over from the offense for this season (he actually still plays both ways because the coaches love his athleticism), both of our corners have starts and significant playing experience from last season. In fact, we have starters in this spot from last season on the sideline in favor of these two.
Utah has rotated 9-10 defensive lineman for years now. DLine at Utah is the stalwart of the program and nobody ever worries about what gets put on the field at this spot year after year. We still even kept our best true freshman in the rotation on Saturday (including Star Lotulelei's little brother Lowell). Aside from these two and transfer Jason Fanaika, everyone along that DL has significant game experience.
I still wouldn't say things at UM are as dire as they are at, oh let's say, Texas for example. You guys can at least run the ball (even though that didn't go too well Saturday against a defense that you seem to think isn't really that good, but has kept Utah at least competitive in a league full of high-powered offenses, while it's own offense has sputtered miserably). And since the B1G is offensive in all the wrong ways this years, I'll wait and see what happens with your team the rest of the way. Offensive problems aside, it seems pretty clear the biggest hurdles your team will have to overcome this year are mental - morale is terrible in your program right now and it really doesn't look like Hoke is garnering confidence votes from anyone.
Hopefully UM will get it together more by next year because that opener in Salt Lake City is going to be br-ute-al.
Lastly, regarding Whittingham. He's a Utah Man. He's not going anywhere unless maybe an NFL opportunity comes along, but I highly doubt it. He's a family man through and through. All of his kids and siblings' families are here and the Whittinghams are so established in this area...they are an insititution. He's been at Utah forever and has seen every part of Utah's rags to riches journey and is now at the helm of writing the future history of Utah football. Tennessee did make a play at him after the 2008 season and he turned it down. I think everyone else got the idea after that.
Utah would never have touched Brady Hoke with a 20 foot pole. Still can't believe Michigan did. If Whittingham ever does leave Utah (heaven forbid), it then becomes Gary Anderson's program.....maybe you guys would like that?
I've been lurking this site for the past few weeks....even posted on a thread last week. Let me first say, this site is probably the best overall fansite I have come across.
Now, I know you're pissed off.
And, I'll also accept that since you're a citizen of the Michigan football establishment, you're probably entitled to certain assumptions that generally go unquestioned when relating to the Michigans of the college football world. But, I'm going to go ahead and take serious issue with your post. I'll give it a little slack for being emotion-based, but here's the deal:
I know the PAC12 is viewed as an offensive-minded league and Utah probably isn't a name team on Michigan fan's radar, but Utah may very well be the best overall defense that Michigan will face the rest of this year - which could bode well for Michigan going forward since the B1G overall seems to lack much offensive firepower. Michigan State and Penn State appear to have some pretty stout defenses, as do your Wolverines, but I suspect such defensive "prowess" will only be bolstered by a lot of 13-10 barnburners (a la Penn State/Rutgers) that the offenses in your league are bound to produce this year.
And before you scoff at the comparison to say, oh I don't know, Sparty for example, keep in mind that even in our 5-7 campaign last year our defense kept us close in a game in Eugene that was 17-13 in the 3rd quarter until Oregon blew the doors off (much like they did against MSU) - and even at the end of the day, Utah didn't quite give up the 318 in the air, 173 on the ground and 46 points that Michigan State gave up to Oregon this year. Oh and let's not forget that Utah also beat the same Stanford team that Michigan State topped in last year's Rose Bowl.
I posted on this site earlier in the week that Utah is a defense-centric team and that Utah's strength coming into last Saturday's game would be their ability to stop the run - which not surprisingly didn't bode well for Michigan because Michigan can't pass the ball. Utah's program has been built around defense and anyone who knows anything about Kyle Whittingham knows that he is a defensive-minded coach. Utah pops top-notch defensive players into the NFL like kids pop candy.
BTW, that "up until" Saturday "mediocre" Utah rush you spoke of - after 3 games and a BYE week - still #1 in the nation is TFL per game and Sacks per game. Look for the number to rise again next week as Utah's defensive front eats Wazzu QB Connor Halliday for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Clearly, the worst unit on the field Saturday was Michigan's offense. You know MIchigan's O has problems - everyone else does too - it's obvious. But, I empathize. Michigan's run game is pretty strong, but ran into a good Utah run D. You have a defense that could keep your team in every game if your offense was not so inept. Welcome to the life of Utah fans since joining the PAC12 - where our offense has been our opponents' best defense.
I thought Brady Joke was a terrible hire from the get go and remember at that time, I would have been much more familiar with him because Utah was also just coming out of the Mountain West conference where he came from. So, I have a no confidence vote in his ability to turn it around which is unfortunate for a program like Michigan. At the same time, I look at what the MIchigan brass did and think "didn't anyone see this coming?" The hiring of RichRod was like if Apple hired Elon Musk to get out of the smartphone business - putting Michigan football identity, strategy and player personnel on a completely differenct trajectory outside of its competency. At the end of the day, Michigan didn't have the stomach to await such a drastic change in fundamental strategy and like in any business, it's product took severe hits and then took even more severe hits when the "management team" miserabley failed to recorrect course by making an even worse reactionary move of handing over the program to Hoke.
Good luck the rest of the way and we'll see you next year on a Thursday night in Salt Lake City. You can be sure Utah will show up big for that game. Can't wait, but will.
Let me just temper this guy for the rest of you while I undo my facepalm.
First of all, Booker, let alone our TEAM, is not running for 200 yards against Michigan's defense. In fact, based on what I've seen from Michigan this year, even approaching 100 total yards on the ground would be a coup for Utah. Utah's OL is one of 2 major, unproven liabilities on this team (the other being our LB corps). They're huge and polynesian, but so what?
With that said, Utah does look to have the most legitimate set of running backs they've had in years and Travis Wilson is definitely a running threat you must account for. He's deceptively fast at 6'7 and is not afraid to take off. I probably agree that Wilson and his receivers are a better group than Golson and his receivers, but ND's tight ends and OL by far are better than Utah's.
What I'm interested in is Utah's defensive front against the Michigan run game. It seems like you guys are pretty predicated on the run. Offensively, Utah is running around 85 plays per game and is used to playing teams who do about the same. Historically, Kyle Whittingham defenses have been pretty stout against the run - particularly pro-style ground game - and there's not much reason to believe this year's group is any different. But like I said earlier, Utah's LBs are an unproven liability and the physical nature of Utah's defensive front has left them vulnerable to some sloppy play and over pursuit and I'm just not sure we have LBs good enough to make up for it.
One other interesting caveat will be field position. This sounds funny, but Utah's punter is an ace in the hole. He's an Australian kid ( #1 in the nation right now in punting), with an ability like I've never seen in a punter before to pin the ball inside the 10-5 yard line at will with almost golfer like precision. He's punted about 10 times this year and only 2 of his punts have not pinned inside the 10 (most pin within the 5). The reason I bring this up is, because again, it looks like you guys are a pretty run-based team and Utah's strength is stopping the run and if this game becomes a defensive battle, field position will be key.
Probably not any surprise what Utah will try to do....stack the box and force Gardner to make plays with his arm on the run.
And FYI "PAC12Utes" or whatever your name is.....Utah's 3rd stringers gave up 20 to Fresno in garbage time....surely you knew that.