The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
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Adams: Highly-ranked Utes bringing together entire student body

It’s been a pretty magical ride for the now-No. 3 Utes so far in 2015.

I mean, who would have thought that at this point in the season Utah would be viewed as a College Football Playoff contender, that it would host the mecca of sports television in ESPN’s College GameDay and, most importantly, have a two-game lead in the Pac-12 South? I know I didn’t.

The energy in Rice-Eccles Stadium on game days is electric, and this team has generated a buzz in Salt Lake City that has been absent since 2008. Players, fans and alumni are all coming together for what may be one of the greatest seasons this program has ever seen.

But this team is doing much more than just improving the football program. It’s bringing together an entire student body. Last weekend, I went without my bed for a night and camped out in President’s Circle to catch out the atmosphere that was College GameDay.

You want to know what I saw? I saw tents filling the entire lawn on President’s Circle. I saw students who had set up a DJ table blaring music that could probably be heard from the Life Center. I even saw some students climbing light posts and screaming at the top of their lungs.

Oh, and it was all at 3 a.m.

It was truly a crazy scene. You want to know what I else I saw? I saw students gathering together by the hundreds to chant “Let’s Go Utah.” I saw Utah players and coaches coming by the tents to thank the students and fans for camping out for the big game (Whittingham made an appearance earlier that Friday evening). I finally saw a student body coming together as one, which is hard to do.

Then, just this past Saturday night against ASU, despite a downpour of rain for much of the game, like many of the other Ute fans in attendance, the MUSS continued to go strong throughout the entire game. None of the students left, and they were probably their loudest during the worst parts of the rainstorm that was hovering over Salt Lake City.

In years past, would that have happened? Would students and fans have braved hours of rain? Some might have, but I’m willing to bet most wouldn’t.

Everyone in college has their differences. We form cliques, develop different interests and, quite simply, people just don’t get along at times.

One thing each and every student has in common is this school, this university. Each and every game day, these students come out to President’s Circle or the MUSS tailgate or wherever they need to go to cheer on their Utes. Hell, these students would even travel to, gulp, Provo, if it meant supporting Utah.

It’s not that there’s been a weak student presence in the past, because that’s not true either. It’s always been strong, but there’s just something about this year’s team that brings the most out of the student body at the U.

With chants of “Let’s Go Utah” ringing on campus hours after the final whistle blew, it’s obvious what’s going on up on the hill. No matter what happens the rest of the season, memories have been made within this student body that will never be forgotten, and we can thank the No. 3 Utes for that.

[email protected]

@GriffDoug

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