As last Thursday’s Utah-Utah State football showdown wound down to its final moment-with the Utes ahead by a comfortable margin-fans began to gradually file out of Rice-Eccles Stadium, just like any other football game. The stands slowly began to empty out, most of them pleased with the result of the U’s season opener.
But even after the clocks hit triple zeroes, the southeast corner of the stadium remained full, packed with crimson-red T-shirts, signs and hats. That section, the student section, or “The Muss,” showed a fervor for football that hasn’t been seen in years on the U campus. Such enthusiasm is just what new coach Urban Meyer has been looking for since he was hired last December-and for his U coaching debut, it was everything he hoped for.
“Everybody wants to know what the biggest thrill was in my first game at the University of Utah, and it was the student body,” Meyer said. “We made a good effort, and we’re going to continue to make efforts, to understand that we’re part of the student body. The student body has ownership in this team. You want to win, you want to create a great atmosphere-but you cannot do that without the student body, I don’t care how good your team is.”
The highlight of Thursday’s victory celebration came when the entire football team gathered in front of The Muss and joined in with the crowd and the U marching band to sing the school fight song.
Singing “Utah Man” with the student section after every home win is one of the new traditions that Meyer has implemented in his quest to turn Utah into a big time college football program. He has been so passionate about doing so that he required all his players to memorize the song last spring.
“If you don’t know the song, you don’t play,” he said.
The Utes looked rowdy and enthusiastic as they raised their helmets almost in unison and joined in with the tune. One would be hard-pressed to find a fan in the student section not singing along.
“It was awesome. In my mind, it was the highlight of the night,” Meyer said. “And I think another big part of it was our band. I think our band is fantastic. We’ve got a great relationship with our band.”
Eric Peterson, the director of the Marchin’ Utes, was equally happy with Thursday night’s performance.
“It was fantastic,” Peterson said. “I used to be in the Big Ten, I got my degree from Illinois, and I was always around that kind of atmosphere. It was really a great experience to do that fight song with not only the football players, but also the students. It was a lot of fun.”
The re-energized passion that U students displayed last Thursday is a good sign for the rest of this season and beyond-not only because the school’s football program seems to be on the rise, but because Meyer and his coaches have made it one of their primary goals to get the students involved in their team.
“I was at Notre Dame, and I saw 9,000 students who all go to the games every week. I saw the way it’s supposed to be. I saw how the football team salutes the student body,” Meyer said. “I always dreamed that, when I get to be a head coach, that we’re going to salute the student body and keep them coming out. We perform for the student body.”
Ute running back Brandon Warfield, last week’s Co-MWC Player of the Week after a 173-yard effort, is one of many players who has expressed his own delight with the way the students have reacted.
“The student section was great,” Warfield said. “The students are all talking about us over campus and they loved the new offense. We need to keep making plays and keep them going.”
If the students continue to support the team as they have so far-and if the Utes continue to put a winning product on the field-Meyer sees no reason why the U can’t be one of the top places in the nation to play football.
“We want to be the envy of college football,” he said. “How do you do that? You get your student body there, you get players who do the right things, who get to be part of the student body, and you have a band who gets things going for you. We have all of that at Utah.”
So far, Meyer has been satisfied with what he has seen over the last nine months.
“After being here since December, I have no understanding why this can’t be one of the top 10 places [in the country],” he said. “We have a great fight song, we have a great band. I was at the LDSSA pep rally, and there were about 1,000 students, and there’s our football team singing the fight song with the students. I got tears in my eyes.”
Such fervent fan support is often what makes or breaks any major college sports program, and the Utes expect the support to make a difference in the team’s performance.
“If I was guaranteed that all the students would come to the games like they did [Thursday], I could guarantee a good team,” Meyer said. “Because that’s who we play for-the student body.”