Even though UCLA technically played its Homecoming college football game at the Rose Bowl on Friday night, Iowa fans completely took over and made it look more like Kinnick Stadium. However, their trip out to Los Angeles ended with a demoralizing loss.
Hawkeyes fans went home sad after an impressive turnout.
Rose Bowl Stadium holds a maximum capacity of 89,702. Even though the Bruins did not come anywhere close to that number for their ninth game of the 2024 college football season, the university announced a season-high attendance of 53,467.
UCLA rarely draws more than 50K, so it was actually a fairly big crowd in comparison. However, it was not a home crowd. In reality, it was an away crowd for a home game.
The amount of black in the bleachers was far greater than the amount of blue.
There’s a ton of Iowa fans at the rose bowl. They might outnumber the Bruin Fans. pic.twitter.com/i7O68b8eOg
— Sean (@seantheb0mb) November 9, 2024
Iowa fans showed up early and stayed all four quarters.
Healthy number of Iowa fans here in the Rose Bowl for the game against UCLA! pic.twitter.com/9zqCPmi7U2
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 9, 2024
They were everywhere.
😂 more Iowa fans than UCLA and it's their homecoming. Iowa fan says this is like a high school game #usc #iowahawkeyes #hawkeyes #b1gfootball pic.twitter.com/xojTQxaEYZ
— seoulolife (@seoulolife) November 9, 2024
It was a sea of Hawkeyes!
Walk into your trap take over your trap pic.twitter.com/8NvHbangpC
— Barstool Iowa (@BarstoolUIowa) November 9, 2024
To be fair to the Bruins, the trek from campus in Westwood to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena is not easy. Tailgating at the Rose Bowl is difficult. UCLA started the season at 1-5.
There are multiple reasons for the poor attendance.
On the flip side of that equation, Iowa fans are known to travel. A long weekend trip to sunny Los Angeles is an easy sell.
Still, it was rather jarring to see such a massive discrepancy of fans at a Homecoming game located more than 1,750 miles from Iowa City.
Unfortunately for the visitors, who did their best to will their team to victory, they traveled all of that distance to watch their fifth-string quarterback fall three points short. The Hawkeyes dropped to 6-4.
Fortunately, those who did make the trip get to enjoy three full days of vacation on the California coast. It could be worse!