I couldn’t completely comprehend what had brought me to hell on a Thursday night.
I was embedded in a sea of navy blue and creamy white. I heard piss-poor jokes about the U and how Jake Locker should have been indicted for his act of merriment8212;I heard it all.
Keep in mind, I was at a student apartment complex merely blocks away from the BYU creamery.
Before the BYU-TCU football game, the feeling and scene was a “no big deal” approach to this game.
Folks were tossing the pigskin around and students were flirting with one another to complete the setting.
But to reference the recent cinema blockbuster “The Dark Knight,” the night is darkest just before the dawn. Unfortunately for the Cougars, dawn would never peek through.
It was a game that started off with a head-slam onto a table.
To quote “The Dark Knight” again, “Never start with the head, the victim gets all fuzzy.”
As soon as quarterback Max Hall dropped back and sent a bullet straight to TCU linebacker Daryl Washington8212;which he somehow dropped8212;BYU fans suddenly looked fuzzy and petrified.
Their Batman/Bruce Wayne/Max Hall had finally met his match. Sheathed in purple, TCU had become the Joker.
The maniacal authoritative defense was ready to go toe-to-toe with the Cougars and strike fear and anarchy into the hearts of the BYU faithful.
I saw frowns that would not be turned upside down. I saw Hall terrorized by the forcefulness of TCU’s top-ranked defense.
The true-blue faithful were in a state of shock, dismay and hesitancy.
After the unthinkable happened, when TCU took a 14-0 lead, the lights around the complex began to go out, as they did on BYU’s “Quest for Perfection.”
TCU had introduced a little anarchy in Happy Valley, U.S.A.
Hope was spun away like goldfish down the toilet each of the six times Hall was annihilated by the TCU defense and sent to the turf.
Did the Cougars get too smug and conceited? According to the so-called realist BYU fans, yes, that certainly was the case. My roommate, a life-long BYU fan, told me of his apprehension going into this game. Those I talked to in Utah County said that in the past couple weeks, BYU looked as if they were in “coast-mode.”
My good friend came home from work after the game had ended with a mammoth smirk tattooed on his face.
“How ’bout them Cougars,” he said.
We all looked around as if he was trying to lighten the somber mood8212;he wasn’t.
“Dude, they lost,” my friend whispered.
His face was inexplicable. His cheeks reddened and his voice suddenly became hoarse. This is what it must feel like to have your No. 9 team in the nation go bottoms-up.
Thursday was a day when I saw dozens upon dozens of students donning T-shirts with the football team’s motto, “Quest for Perfection.”
Friday the garment had become obsolete.
It was a night to remember for Cougar fans and myself. I spotted BYU a four-point victory before kickoff, assuming the offense would be able to shake off the brutal Horned Frog defense. I, like the entire city, county and state, was befuddled.
At the end of the night, BYU fans had nothing but affirmative words regarding TCU and nothing but pessimistic, downbeat words toward their team.
The talk of the athletic, quick and inspired TCU defense was the talk of the town. The reality of a Bowl Championship Series season thrashed and another trip to Sin City, now BYU’s best-case scenario, must be a hell of a load to carry.
“Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos,” the Joker said. “Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair.”
In a season already chock-full of upsets, this one was as chaotic and fair as they come8212;just ask your run-of-the-mill Cougar fan.
Chris Kamrani