Attendance was announced as 52,264. It's at the very end of the story, above the list of officials. That figure is tickets "sold," not butts in seats, and includes the tumbleweeds in the student section thanks to "negotiated" student-fee extraction. It also includes unused season tickets by those buyers who pass on FCS scrimmages as part of the price of attending actual games.
Few college athletic departments provide turnstile counts, even though every ticket is scanned upon entry, for obvious reasons. Papering the house is a very common business practice these days.
The sea of red will make sure that's not necessary next Saturday.
A doctorate from Columbia seems like a pretty darn good education, irregardless of what some might assume.