Preparing for Saturday’s Holy War between the U and BYU, Ute fans gathered at the Marriott Library Plaza on Monday for the annual Rivalry Week pep rally.
Head football coach Kyle Whittingham and some of the football players thanked those in attendance for their support of the team all season. Neli A’asa, a junior offensive lineman, taught rally-goers the “Utah Mili,” which is a Polynesian-inspired pre-game cheer the team does before every game.
The rally is held mainly to make money for the Rivalry Week food drive, said Jenny Young, co-chairwoman for the U’s Rivalry Week committee.
The Rivalry Roll, which was run by the LDS Institute of Religion, had students “sponsor” a tennis ball for $2.508212;which by the end of the day amounted to $667 for the food drive. In the Rivalry Roll, all sponsored balls are rolled down the HPER Highway after the rally. Kyle Summers, a student in exercise and sport science at the U, sponsored the winning ball this year, and won half off a semester’s worth of tuition.
Also taking place at the rally was the ROTC game-ball toss, a U tradition in which the football head coach throws a football to an ROTC cadet. But instead of Whittingham throwing the ball, freshman quarterback Jordan Wynn was the one lofting it to Benjamin Hansen, a junior in ROTC.
On Saturday, Hansen and the other ROTC cadets at the U will run the ball 22 miles, halfway from Salt Lake City to Provo, where BYU ROTC cadets will meet them and take the ball the rest of the way to Lavell Edwards Stadium. Before the game’s kick-off, ROTC representatives from both schools will give the game ball to the referees.
Mel Wright, a U alumnus from 1961, said he has been coming to every pep rally at the U he can since his college days.
“It’s fun to come here,” he said. “I love the students. I love the faculty. It’s just the whole atmosphere.”
Encouraging fans to make the trip down south to Provo this weekend, Sealver Siliga, a sophomore defensive lineman, said he can’t wait to “eat some Cougars” on Saturday.
Tyler CobbStevenson Sylvester, Neli A?asa, Sealver Siliga and Zane Beadles lead Ute fans in the ?Utah Mili,? the dance the team performs after pre-game stretching, during the pep rally at the Marriott Library Plaza on Monday afternoon. The pep rally also featured free food, shirt painting and the ?Rivalry Roll.?