The most densely packed section inside the Rose Bowl on Saturday was filled with fans wearing the colors of the visiting team.
Swathed in red and white, they crammed into one corner of the century-old stadium for what amounted to a nightlong celebration.
Fans cheering for the home team were more subdued and scattered throughout a stadium that seemed about one-third full, outnumbered by empty seats, visiting fans and those massive blue-and-gold tarps covering most of each end zone. Deliberately or not, Fox cameras inside the stadium showed those watching from home only wide shots filled with graphics that obscured the paltry crowd.
By late in the third quarter, the only suspense remaining in UCLA’s 43-10 blowout loss to Utah was waiting for the announced attendance. Reporters in the pr