Utes Roll - It's What We Do

We've been up in Salt Lake City for the past few days and joined 47,000 of our closest friends at Rice-Eccles Stadium on a cold late afternoon yesterday to watch Utah completely dismantle that school down south. The score was 48-24 but it could have been worse. Our d-backs dropped at least 3 passes and ended up the night with only 5 interceptions instead of 8. As expected, Utah played physical football on both sides of the ball and thoroughly beat up their opponent.


The game began with both teams meeting at midfield to do some trash talking and posturing, then came a flyover by Hill AFB fighter jets - always a cool start to any football game. Seeing the jets in formation always makes me proud to be an American, especially since I just wrote Uncle Sam a big check the day before. A huge American flag was then unfurled by members of both schools spirit squads. The Ute gals did a better job than their counterparts making the flag all nice and straight. Even our band and cheer squads are superior.

The atmosphere at Rice-Eccles was electric. The stadium was a sea of red with tiny pockets of blue. We had some of the other teams fans sitting a few rows behind us. They made attempts at a few verbal jabs early on but nothing any good. They got real quiet in the 4th quarter and ended up leaving early as we ushered them out with waves and taunts of "See you next year." I actually wanted to fight some of them but Janae didn't want me to spoil the night for the kids.

Signs abounded. The best one was this "So Collie, who's more righteous now?" There were also dozens of flags with giant "U's" that fans held up on long telescoping poles some also sported pirate flags (skull and crossbones) beneath the "U" to signify our overly rebellious nature. The place was goin' off from the opening kickoff and didn't relent until well after the game. Most of the crowd stood for the entire game - we were probably 50/50.

A combination of cotton candy (the only vendor we saw), the cold, a sore back and a mysterious bug had me down in bed right after the game. Physically I was shot: ears were ringing from my Ute brothers in the row behind us who yelled the entire game. These guys were good too - in fact, they reminded me of me in my younger days - and I was really good. It's a combination of sarcasm, realism, humor and anger delivered LOUDLY. My voice was hoarse from yelling - and my throat is still throbbing a day later. I left it all in the stadium. I also froze my ass off. Granted, I'm never the best planner and live life flying by the seat of my pants. We were dressed in sweatshirts when we should have had polar expedition gear. I made a dash into a nearby Ute concession stand and bought gloves, a blanket and 4 ski hats. It wasn't enough. But I gutted it out.

The public address announcer made a feeble plea for fans to not run onto the field after the game. For liability purposes, they probably have to make that announcement. The fans stormed the field with 20 seconds left. The MUSS, who were active all night, were flying over the wall like ants - VERY fun to watch. The TCU game a few weeks ago had a reported 7 incidents of fans breaking bones rushing the field - who knows how many fans went to the ER after last nights game? And they don't serve beer there so you know the fans are fired up just on a spiritual high.

Former coach Urban Meyer was asked last week what he remembered most about the rivalry. His reply: "The hatred." Driving to the game we were all pretty stoked since there was red everywhere. A few of the other teams fans were always nearby, and frankly, they looked like scared little kittens. Alec told me they were afraid to use the restroom for fear of their lives. Good. We hate their self-righteous, arrogant, holier-then-thou attitude (Keith, tell me how you really feel). I'm just glad the Utes hammered them into oblivion and likely, the cold and windy Las Vegas Bowl while the Utes go on to BCS glory for the 2nd time in 5 years....and a game in a warmer climate- probably New Orleans or Phoenix....maybe Miami.

Walking out, amid the chaos, and in the cold I was happy. I was proud of my old school for taking care of business.

Utes roll. God must love the Utes more.