BYU, Utah football: 'Cheap seats' going for $1,600 for big game

StubHub's Joellen Ferrer, the San Francisco-based corporate communications manager, agrees with that assessment. She has noticed that the ticket sales for this little rivalry game aren't so little. In fact, they've skyrocketed over the past few weeks on that Web site. The BYU-Utah matchup just entered StubHub's Top 25 rivalry rankings for gross ticket sales at No. 21. The 14th-ranked Army-Navy game is the only other Top 25 contest that pits non-BCS foes. The Oklahoma-Texas clash sits atop the sales chart.

As for the BYU-Utah game, it wasn't included in StubHub's rankings last year when average tickets sold for $105 for the fourth-and-18 game at LaVell Edwards Stadium. That accounts for a 70 percent gross increase with half a week to go. It is currently dollar-volume-wise the sixth-highest-selling college football game of the week on StubHub.

"This game was certainly not within the realm of rankings last year," Ferrer said. "It's great to see a change in guard here."

Before U. of U. students go online — and then are forced to make a really big "Mom. Send $, lots of $$$" sign — they should check with the box office. Tickets for the general public are long gone, but as of Tuesday a few were available for students.

Keough is among the crowd who won't even consider giving up a chance to see this potential classic, which features No. 8 Utah vs. No. 16 BYU.

There's no way he'll try to scalp his tickets, he said.

"I'm going to enjoy the game."

BYU-UTAH RIVALRY WEEK

No. 16 BYU at No. 8 Utah
Saturday, 4 p.m.

Rice-Eccles Stadium
TV: The mtn.;
Radio: 700 AM, 1160 AM, 102.7 FM

E-mail: jody@desnews.com