From Deseret News archives:
Giddy Ute fans make a crimson impression
Pittsburgh fans were evident, too in groups of three and four, while the Ute fans congregated in groups of 10s and 12s. You would have thought the University of Utah had just opened a Phoenix campus. (Maybe that's the next move into the BCS just show up and take over the school.)
One Pittsburgh fan, Joe (who wouldn't give his last name) observed on New Year's Eve: "Numbers don't mean anything. We've been to bowl games and been outnumbered 4 to 1 and still walked away with the victory." OK, Joe, I remember BYU and Kansas State at the Cotton Bowl, but Pitt is no Kansas State and the Utes certainly look nothing like BYU. Nothing like confidence before the fact.
"But you and the Big East haven't seen anything like the Ute offense, nor experienced anything like the defensive pressure the Utes generate," I reminded him.
The exodus out of Phoenix was equally red on Sunday. For every Arizona plate on the road on I-17 to Flagstaff or Highway 93 heading to Las Vegas, it seemed like there were four or five Utah plates working their way home. Lots of license-plate covers indicating they were Crimson Club members or U. alumni.
Even the Phoenix newscasters were warning Arizonans: "You don't want to be at Sky Harbor Airport," they intoned. "In addition to the regular holiday travel day and weekend celebrators, there are 25 charters leaving, carrying Fiesta Bowl fans." What they didn't say was how many of those were bound for Salt Lake City and the number for Pittsburgh likely 20 to 1.
Even at the traffic backup at Hoover Dam, the sea of red didn't diminish. Utah gear was everywhere, on tourists lined up for the tour or simply on those trying to take a break and stretch their legs before getting back in the 5 mph crawl over the dam.
Even the staid Arizona Republic's Fiesta Bowl headline declared: "Ute Movement" and "Grateful Red," noting that if Ute fans accounted for 80 percent of the 73,000-plus tickets purchased for the game, that would make 58,400 Utah fans in the stands 10,000 more than the capacity of Rice-Eccles Stadium. "The only people left in Utah," one writer deadpanned, "are BYU fans."
Are Tempe and the Fiesta Bowl smiling? They're positively giddy as giddy as the Utes and their fans.
Jon Ringwood is a Deseret Morning News assistant sports editor.
E-MAIL: jringwood@desnews.com
Comments
- SLCC campus briefs 1:42 a.m.
- UVU campus briefs 1:40 a.m.
- SUU campus briefs 1:39 a.m.
- Utah State campus briefs 1:37 a.m.
- Utah Utes campus briefs 1:36 a.m.
- Y. cross country to nationals 1:34 a.m.
- Wolverine women win; Griffins lose 12:37 a.m.
- Photo: The Butler drilled it 12:37 a.m.
- Same old story for Jazz 12:35 a.m.
- Jazz game at a glance 12:32 a.m.
- Apostle's wife felt comfort in attack
- Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
- Short-handed Jazz fly past Sixers
- D-Will home for daughter
- Utes excited for 'dream' game
- Bench proves fruitful for Y.
- Crash on snowy road kills woman
- Born of water and the spirit
- GameDay in Fort Worth
- BYU happy to escape with victory
- SLC council OKs gay rights policies
358 - Editorial: Mormons and gay rights
200 - BYU happy to escape with victory
194 - Will state consider gay rights law?
148 - TCU plows past Utes, 55-28
134 - Can BYU root for (ick) Utah Utes?
130 - Letters: Strange breed in Utah
129 - Utes remain silent about BCS
120 - Pratt pleads not guilty to sex charges
106 - Celtics crush Jazz
104
So Great!!! So Proud - Love RSL - Bring Home The CUP!!!!!
mr cannon's bold assertation that the purpose of the first ammendemnt as...
Great great great game!!!! Nicky Rimando is a god! We're the most complete...
I had the game on DVR and just watched it. That was the most exciting game...
financially cannot this year, but I will watch loyally, how great to hear...
This is hardly surprising. Bennett has a remarkable arrogance which is also...
I guess that is why "they play the game" as Herman Edwards would say.. ...
What was the score of the LSU vs LA tech game? Alot closer than you'd like to...
Has Fedor not said that THIS IS OUR YEAR all year long? Go back and...
This is just a small glimpse of the future with Obamacare: corruption, waste...

You can be the first to comment on this story.