There were two embarrassments in Logan on Saturday night.

The Utah State football team was left hanging its head after a 48-0 dismantling at the hands of the U, yet Ute fans had little to gloat about. The U lost the interschool “Bleed Red” blood drive for the gazillionth year in a row despite a 5,000-students advantage over our rival school to the north.

Most students overlooked the importance of ARUP’s weeklong blood drive, passing by at a brisk pace to indicate they had more pressing priorities. And perhaps they did. Cursory interests were clearly an issue for Student Body President Jake Kirkham, who was on his cell phone at midfield when the shameful results were announced at half time.

After all, if we can beat them at football, what does it matter how well we do in some irrelevant blood drive?

It should matter, believe it or not. School pride aside, giving blood saves lives. We should applaud the efforts of the friendly ARUP personnel and the event marketers who flooded the campus with posters and information. On the other hand, it seems like the U’s administration and the Associated Students of the University of Utah could have found some way to draw more attention to the blood drive. Obviously Utah State was up to the task.

While we recognize that the U is a commuter school and it’s tougher to generate student activity on campus here, it hardly means we have less time to save lives than others do.

Campus leaders should have been rallying to prompt others to give blood, and students themselves should have considered how ridiculous it is for the U to have such a poor showing when one of the state’s largest hospitals is directly attached to our campus.

Next year, let’s hope the football team keeps rolling along for their 10th-straight win and that U students can pull themselves out of a pathetic slump.