most of the lower bowl is still sold to season ticket holders. Utah has a shockingly high amount of season tickets still sold, even though many of them are rarely or never used. The old donors who long for better days still buy their tickets and make donations to the programs, and never show up. The tickets are sold though.
All schools count paid attendance at games instead of actual attendance. It is quite obvious in games like last night how bad the discrepancy can be.