I mean, a 5pm kick on a Friday night with 6 day5 notice isn't a good recipe for selling out a game. I don't understand playing on home fields.
Stanford and USC have the most difficult time with that sort of arrangement, since they are are "National" schools and their alumni are strewn around the country. If that thing was on Oregon State's home field or Washington's, for example, I bet they would have sold it out.
But, that did look really bad.