Diary of a Utah Fan

For weeks I've thought the season would all come down to the matchup with the cougars. The only true advantage I knew the Utes had in the game this year was the fact that Tara and I wouldn't be at the game. That's right, us not being there is actually an advantage. Tara and I have been at every Utah/byu game at Rice Eccles for the past twelve years and I think we've only seen two Ute victories. We've witnessed the Kaneshiro boink, the Lavell Edwards miracle, and the John Beck 35 second pass. It just hasn't been that fun to walk out of a quiet stadium to an off season full of "what ifs".

So, this year we stayed home and I can't tell what a good decision that was. Going into the game I was worried about the coug's offense. byu's offense is really good and I didn't want to see the game turn into a shootout. Imagine a score of 48-24 and you'd think it was a cougar rout. It was a rout, of the cougars. Utah's offense looked brilliant and Max Hall can give back any t-shirts claiming references to the Heisman trophy. In fact, that would be just another thing that Hall gave back in yesterday's game. Try 6 turnovers, including 5 interceptions. Everything Hall did in the 4th quarter gave Utah an advantage. It was truly a satisfying performance for the "All American candidate."


As much as I've maligned Brian Johnson throughout the year, he really came through this time. He complete 30-36 passes and had four touchdowns. Not bad for a guy who came into the game billed as the "second best QB" playing in the contest. Our offense may leave something to be desired, but they certainly took advantage of every byu mistake. Come on, 48 points against a top twenty opponent. That doesn't happen every day for the Utes.

Utah finished the year 12-0, 6th in the BCS, 1st in the Mountain West, and headed back to one of the big games for the second time in four years. There's only two questions left after yesterday's game: Where will the Utes play and can I afford to get there?