Ashley Messina bought MUSS tickets to get more involved with school, hoping to get over her love of BYU sports.
Five minutes into the first game, she left and went to the LDS Institute of Religion where she slept and waited for a post-game party to start.
“I felt guilty cheering for the Utes,” she said.
Growing up a die-hard Cougar fan, Messina chose to attend the U instead of the Y because “I don’t like the school, I like their sports.”
Messina is not alone.
Spencer Bjorklund, a senior in communication, said he chose the U because it offered him a better education in the field he was pursuing-medicine.
Bjorklund says the U is a great institution, “but when it comes to football, I bleed blue.”
“I don’t go around wearing all Cougar apparel. I just let people know who my team is, and I won’t change to fit in or back down because I’m a minority,” he said.
Bjorklund still attends U games and said he’s disappointed in how fans have reacted to the team’s failures. The support from fans last year was awesome, he said.
“Not as much this year. You’ve got to be able to support your team through the good and the bad,” he said. “I just see a bunch of bandwagon fans now.”
His least favorite thing about Ute fans is their lack of support and how they can’t fill their stadium.
Bjorklund said he hates it when U fans say that the Y can get more people out to games because it is an LDS school in Utah.
“The Utes are located in Salt Lake City where over half the population is not LDS. Why can’t they fill their stadium every game?” he said.
Even with BYU picked to win by 11, Bjorklund doesn’t underestimate the ability of the U football team.
“It beats me why (the Utes) have choked the way they have,” he said. “You could make an argument that the Utes could still be undefeated if it wasn’t for fourth-quarter mishaps.”
Predicting a close game Saturday, Bjorklund believes BYU will pull away and win 45 to 27.
“I just don’t see the Ute offense performing well enough to make it a great game,” he said. “Even against the Y’s pathetic third-string defensive backs.”
