I woke up around 11 a.m. (very common for an Average Joe Saturday morning). Took a shower, shaved, and jumped in the car with Lex and my roommate Scott and his brother Zak, also roommate, for the weekly pilgrimage down to Provo.
Before the game we stopped at The Italian Place, a local sandwich stop where I promptly ordered a pastrami sandwich. Pastrami is always the meat of choice if I choose to pay for sandwiches. I think that is reason number one why I hate Subway, no pastrami option. I have never liked spending money for sandwiches, but if I do, hopefully pastrami is an option.
We arrived at the stadium, and I met Jon (editor-in-chief of this blog) for our ritual sho
t of the field from our seats. I had actually thought my seats were more nose bleed at the opening game, but after re-reading my ticket, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I had really good seats for this season! (see picture)This was the marquee game of the season for the Cougars. A chance to play a good PAC-10 team at home and exact revenge on the team that had beaten us last year in the Rose Bowl.
It was awesome to see most the 64,000 fans wearing blue and white on a hot Saturday afternoon. I forgot to wear sun block, and ended up with a red face the following day.
BYU scored on their first possession and went up 7-0. Then in the second quarter all-heck-broke-loose.
The Cougars scored to go up 14-0. Then DE Jan Jorgensen sacked UCLA QB Kevin Craft, who fumbled and it was recovered by the Cougars. BYU scored on the very next play, a 37-yard pass to WR Austin Collie for a 21-0 lead. Then UCLA fumbled on the kickoff, and the Cougars scored again to make it 28-0. On the following possession, BYU defender Scott Johnson nailed the Bruins tailback who did a flip in the air during the tackle and coughed up the football (not literally). BYU recovered and scored to make it 35-0 with nine minutes left in the half.
BYU scored four touchdowns in five minutes. The game was over in 20 minutes. I couldn't believe it! Everybody was going nuts. The rest of the game, the fans continued to hope for a shut out. BYU blocked UCLA's field goal attempt (this is the exact way we beat them in the Las Vegas Bowl in December). And then their kicker missed a very short field goal in the 4th quarter to keep the shut out intact.
It was the most PERFECT, complete game I have ever witness the Cougars play! I have seen the Cougars score 50+ points several times. I've even seen them score 50 points and lose. But I have never seen the team completely destroy the other team with 59 points in a shutout domination!
(I'm speechless)
Ok. Now I'm no longer speechless. Some interesting points from the game:
1) Last week, I had mentioned the Utes stadium being the Red Sea because the
44,000 strong were wearing some form of red. I stand corrected. We'll call the Utes the Red Lake. The real Red Sea reference belongs to the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They have sold out every single game since 1962 and Memorial stadium doubles the Utes stadium with 80,000+ fans each game!2) I also noted that I was jealous because the Utes have a sliver of their stadium (one section in the southeast corner) dedicated to students to want to stand up and be rowdy during the entire game. Well, this week I noticed that nearly half of Cougar stadium is filled with students standing up, wearing blue, and cheering raucously the entire game. BYU has the entire South End zone, plus the north AND south east side of the stadium packed with students wearing blue and cheering the entire game. I'd say BYU has about as many of these crazies standing than Rice Eccles even holds.
3) "Guys, the bathrooms here are NUTS!" (Bill Hader in the movie Hot Rod, 2007) - Cougar stadium men's bathrooms have the game broadcast on the radio so you don't miss even a leak of action.
4) UCLA featured one of the greatest offensive geniuses in college football history on their sidelines in Norm Chow. Just ask any BYU loyal fan, Norm Chow produced incredible offenses for the Cougars during his 25-year tenure over the BYU offense. We shut him out! I don't think he has even been shut out as an offensive coordinator.
5) Cougar-tail: Wow, what a great name! Unfortunately, it means an 18-inch maple bar that BYU sells over 1,500 each Saturday at their home games. But even better I just found out that BYU also sells a Brat-tail (another a great name!) which is one of these delicious donuts stuffed with a bratwurst. It's like the McDonald's McGriddle and BYU football just had a baby and perfection was created. I'm trying one of these next home game!
Breakfast + bratwurst = a party in my mouth!
6) Speaking of perfection, BYU's motto is the "The Quest for Perfection" and we just played a perfect game with a 59-0 thumping of a worthy PAC-10 opponent. Now we have the pathetic Wyoming Cowboys coming to town this weekend. Only three hard games remain on the schedule: at Air Force, at TCU, and at Utah on November 22. That game cannot get here any faster!
Next week: Pokes? More like jokes! Wyoming Cowboys get their backs broke!
3 comments:
Ok- item three and five had me crying with laughter. Sounds like you guys are really enjoying this football season.
I'll never forget the time you dressed up like Steve McClain with that ratty wig and mustache and we had the big "Pokes? More like jokes!" sign.
"It's like the McDonald's McGriddle and BYU football just had a baby and perfection was created."
quote of the century
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