Remembering that I know more about scrapbooking than football, consider the following analysis:
The University of Utah can win on Saturday in the big game against Brigham Young University for three key reasons:
1) Home field advantage: this game will be played in Rice-Eccles stadium, giving Utah big support from an arena that has more loyal season ticket holders than ever before.
2) Game Means Nothing to BYU: BYU has locked up the conference championship and is locked into the corresponding bowl--the game means nothing to BYU.
3) The Game Matters to Utah: The game matters to Utah because it may influence their bowl invitation and, perhaps more importantly, the Utes value this single game more than the rest of the season, meaning that a season that might otherwise be considered mediocre, will be regarded as solid by simply winning one game--the BYU game.
Oh, touche, touche. Utah only "sort-of" has home-field advantage being that close to BYU and many of the BYU fans.
This game means everything to BYU because it's a rivalry, and it's Utah. Plus, BYU has some 30-plus seniors on the team who do not want to end the regular season with a loss. Senior pride.
The game matters to BYU because momentum matters. I'm excited to hear you sing the cougar fight song. :-)
Posted by: Russell Page | November 22, 2006 7:10 PM | Permalink to Comment