Yewts are scared...

[Phatgreen]

They don't want to face BYU in the Vegas Bowl and many fans say they'd rather forfeit the $ and play in a lesser bowl than face BYU. I think this makes them look like little pansies. Fact is, other bowls don't want the Yewts and Vegas may be forced to take them.

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[BlueK]

yup. Scared out of their brains. They shouldn't be but they are, and that is hilarious. When the matchup is set up there is going to be a lot of weeping and wailing and complaining coming from their side.

Let's just say, I've observed one thing over the years when it comes to bowl matchups. Every year there is a team or two out there that is not thrilled with where they end up. My memory seems to be that the teams and fans that complain about where they ended up almost always lose the game -- not always, but most of the time. Here are some notable examples, some which involve BYU:

1990: Heisman year for Detmer, BYU nationally ranked, beat Miami that year, matched up with Texas A&M either unranked or towards the bottom on the top 25. I don't remember for sure. BYU fans complained. It probably affects the players and BYU gets trounced.

1996: BYU dodges a bullet here actually. Lots of complaining at first about not getting to the Fiesta Bowl, but talk dies down pretty quickly fortunately and most fans are still very happy about the Cotton Bowl. BYU wins. Credit Lavell for keeping the team focused.

1996: Same season. The U of Washington was the only team that beat BYU that year. The WAC had a deal with the P10 involving the Holiday and Cotton Bowls that deal ran for 3 years. The Cotton had the choice between the WAC champs and P10 second team. This was the second year of that deal and the Cotton chose to take BYU instead of Washington. There was a lot of whining from UW fans at least. I don't know about players or coaches, but they were unhappy that they beat BYU and got passed over. UW goes to the Holiday Bowl and loses.

1997.
The following season I remember KState was very highly ranked this year. They had an outside shot at the national championship and were playing in the Big 12 championship game against a Texas A&M team that no one thought could beat them. A&M plays tough and forces it to go into overtime. In the OT KState kicks a field goal and then goes on defense.

When A&M gets the ball they have lots of trouble in their possession and is on the ropes after penalties push them way back to like the 40 yard line, or something like that. It is 4th and very long. It looks like they're toast.

An A&M fan who was there told me what happened next. On what should have been the game ending play, the A&M QB (who wasn't a good passer to begin with) gets flushed out of the pocket and is desperately running for his life. I think the game was in Kansas City and about 90% of the stadium is filled with KState fans. According to the A&M fan as the play continued the place was as loud as any crowd he's ever heard. Then suddenly just before getting run out of bounds by some miracle the QB heaves a desperate hail mary pass and it's caught for a touchdown! In one second the stadium goes from deafeningly loud to complete silence, followed by a small group of A&M fans sitting in a far corner erupting in cheers. Out the window goes KState's national championship hopes.

And what was worse for KState was that the bowl matchups had already been decided for the Big 12 except for this game. The Alamo Bowl which at the time was like 4th or 5th slot for the Big 12 was assuming to take A&M. The others were already full, so KState has to slide into that slot and A&M goes to one of the BCS bowls.

KState fans, team, coaches and media all screamed at how unfair it was to slide that far down the bowl lineup and then promptly went on to lose the game to a 7 win Purdue team coached by Joe Tiller who had gotten that job after leaving Wyoming the year before and losing to BYU in the WAC championship game.

[byufan4ever]

I don't buy the whole they are scared to play us. Why would they be? They have OWNED us lately in football. I would think the Ute fans would love another opportunity to destroy their rivals. I think it's more they are very disappointed with how their season went after starting so strong and had aspirations for a much better bowl than the Vegas bowl. BYU fans may not mind the Vegas bowl, but the rest of the nation does not view it as a major bowl.

[a1247]

I don't buy the whole they are scared to play us. Why would they be? They have OWNED up lately in football. I would think the Ute fans would love another opportunity to destroy their rivals. I think it's more they are very disappointed with how their season went after starting so strong and had aspirations for a much better bowl than the Vegas bowl. BYU fans may not mind the Vegas bowl, but the rest of the nation does not view it as a major bowl.

You are spot on. All my friend who are Ute fans say they would be disappointed to play in the Vegas Bowl only because they had such high expectations at one time. Some of my friends were trying to figure out if the should buy PAC12 championship tix, Rose Bowl tix, or wait and get playoff fix. Utah and there fans are far from scared and anyone who thinks they are is delusional. They want what in there mind would be a big time match up and news flash....to them that isn't BYU!

[BlueK]

I don't buy the whole they are scared to play us. Why would they be? They have OWNED up lately in football. I would think the Ute fans would love another opportunity to destroy their rivals. I think it's more they are very disappointed with how their season went after starting so strong and had aspirations for a much better bowl than the Vegas bowl. BYU fans may not mind the Vegas bowl, but the rest of the nation does not view it as a major bowl.

The fact that Utah fans think they deserve a major bowl after how they finished the season shows how out of touch with reality they are.

[BlueK]

I don't buy the whole they are scared to play us. Why would they be? They have OWNED up lately in football. I would think the Ute fans would love another opportunity to destroy their rivals. I think it's more they are very disappointed with how their season went after starting so strong and had aspirations for a much better bowl than the Vegas bowl. BYU fans may not mind the Vegas bowl, but the rest of the nation does not view it as a major bowl.

You are spot on. All my friend who are Ute fans say they would be disappointed to play in the Vegas Bowl only because they had such high expectations at one time. Some of my friends were trying to figure out if the should buy PAC12 championship tix, Rose Bowl tix, or wait and get playoff fix. Utah and there fans are far from scared and anyone who thinks they are is delusional. They want what in there mind would be a big time match up and news flash....to them that isn't BYU!

There are Utah fans out there saying that they hope they can slide past the LV Bowl to the next one down the list. Others are saying they shouldn't go to any bowl game at all. Why?

[hawkwing]

I don't buy the whole they are scared to play us. Why would they be? They have OWNED up lately in football. I would think the Ute fans would love another opportunity to destroy their rivals. I think it's more they are very disappointed with how their season went after starting so strong and had aspirations for a much better bowl than the Vegas bowl. BYU fans may not mind the Vegas bowl, but the rest of the nation does not view it as a major bowl.

The fact that Utah fans think they deserve a major bowl after how they finished the season shows how out of touch with reality they are.

Utah fans are in general a delusional group, but this year's early season easy schedule combined with a few lucky breaks made them forget about the fact that they have zero offense outside of 2 players. 2 Players which are no longer playing.

They should have lost to Colorado for crying out loud!

[Phatgreen]

I don't buy the whole they are scared to play us. Why would they be? They have OWNED up lately in football. I would think the Ute fans would love another opportunity to destroy their rivals. I think it's more they are very disappointed with how their season went after starting so strong and had aspirations for a much better bowl than the Vegas bowl. BYU fans may not mind the Vegas bowl, but the rest of the nation does not view it as a major bowl.

You are spot on. All my friend who are Ute fans say they would be disappointed to play in the Vegas Bowl only because they had such high expectations at one time. Some of my friends were trying to figure out if the should buy PAC12 championship tix, Rose Bowl tix, or wait and get playoff fix. Utah and there fans are far from scared and anyone who thinks they are is delusional. They want what in there mind would be a big time match up and news flash....to them that isn't BYU!

There are Utah fans out there saying that they hope they can slide past the LV Bowl to the next one down the list. Others are saying they shouldn't go to any bowl game at all. Why?

This is the point I was trying to make with this post. It's just total sour grapes that people say they'd rather forfeit the money, and slide to a lesser bowl with a smaller payout. I get it, they have no reason to be scared. I certainly wouldn't if I were a Ute fan. But I'm not, and I want us to play them and tear them a new one.

[TulaneVandyRiceCoug]

I think this is an issue of expectations not met for Utah. They had a great early half of the season, got up in the rankings, and discussion and expectation of a major bowl and/or playoff abounded.

Then they lose a few, and squeak past Colorado, but still retain momentum of expectation.

In order to feel superior to BYU, a better-than-Las-Vegas bowl would suffice.

Now they're in the same bowl discussion as BYU, and if they pair up together in Vegas and lose, it would be an ultimate letdown for them. I want it bad. This BYU team, right now, would beat the hell out of Utah. Utah wants to avoid even being comparable by being in the same bowl, and losing in it...even worse!

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[BlueK]

I think this is an issue of expectations not met for Utah. They had a great early half of the season, got up in the rankings, and discussion and expectation of a major bowl and/or playoff abounded.

Then they lose a few, and squeak past Colorado, but still retain momentum of expectation.

In order to feel superior to BYU, a better-than-Las-Vegas bowl would suffice.

Now they're in the same bowl discussion as BYU, and if they pair up together in Vegas and lose, it would be an ultimate letdown for them. I want it bad. This BYU team, right now, would beat the hell out of Utah. Utah wants to avoid even being comparable by being in the same bowl, and losing in it...even worse!

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

I don't know that losing to BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl would get Whittingham fired, but it would certainly get a lot of utah fans to turn up the heat on him.