True Blue Week: the Second 24 Hour Period

I believe that the BYU - Utah rivalry has probably taken a good five years off of my life expectancy. Too many games have come down to late touchdown drives, last-second field goals or tosses into the end zone. The series has been so back and forth in the last ten years, and it seems like every game goes down to the wire. The 2006 Answered Prayer and 2007 4th-and-18 games are perfect examples of this, but let's not forget the 2000 and 2001 games, as they were both decided by late come-from-behind touchdowns by the Cougars. Games have been decided by field goals, made and missed off the upright. Each time the game comes down to last-minute heroics, I swear the nerves and anxiety are eating away at my golden years. We have been fortunate enough to have won the last two nail biters; I'd hate to have been on the other end, considering the stress and pressure I felt during our victories. Sometimes it might be easier to lose badly than to lose a heartbreaker by a point or two.

The evenness of this rivalry is one thing, however, that makes me hopeful for this year's game. The Utes are favored by the Vegas odds makers as well as by most of the media. The only reason I can fathom for this is that their defense has played better and they beat TCU. While I happen to think that TCU beat TCU that game, it was a big victory for the Utes. However, I have yet to be really impressed with their play this season. They may have a stronger defense, but they do not have a stronger offense, and the biggest indication of that comes at the quarterback position. I will take BYU's Max Hall any day of the week in any possible situation over Utah's Brian Johnson. In my mind, it's no contest as to who the better quarterback is.

As I was saying before, the fact that this game always seems to come down to the wire makes me optimistic because that would seem to negate Utah's supposed superiority. Anything can and probably will happen. I hope that the Cougars will thrive as the underdogs, that they will play with heightened emotion and increased execution against the Utes. Utah has everything to lose, and one would think that the pressure would weigh down on them in some degree. They could potentially lose their chance to be the only team to bust the BCS twice. Fear of failure will get to some of those players, no matter what any of the players or coaches might say in public. They want the BCS game and the glory, and BYU just wants to win this game. With no clear outlook on where we will go bowling, it is impossible for us to overlook the Utes. And I think that works very much in our favor going into Saturday's game.

BYU Football Memory #2:
The golden age of BYU football (1983-1991 or thereabouts) took place during my infancy and childhood, and, subsequently, I was too young to partake of much of the goodness, including the 1984 National Championship. I was, however, old enough to at least watch Detmer during his time. The first great BYU team I really connected with was the 1996 team that ended up 14-1. It wasn't until 2001 that another BYU team really rivaled the past greats, and the 2001 Holy War went down as one of the best games in the rivalry, if you're a Cougar fan that is. I watched the game with my friend, Chris Wilding, also a big Cougar fan. I watched each game that year with eager anticipation because I was a high school senior planning on attending BYU and the football games the very next season, and the 2001 season got me incredibly excited to enroll at BYU. I believe I attended two, perhaps three, home games that season and watched the Cougars destroy teams with their incredibly high-powered offense. Anyway, I was watching the Utah game with Chris Wilding, and things weren't going well for the Cougars. But in a very similar manner to the year before, BYU managed to put together a last-minute drive to win the game. (The Cougs actually scored two TDs in the final 4 minutes of the game to win). Luke Staley took an option pitch from Brandon Doman and went down the sideline thirty yards untouched into the end zone. It was a spectacular play, one that I will never forget. I remember basically exploding when he scored. It was great. Definitely one of BYU's greatest football moments. You can watch highlights of the end of the game here.