Independence Bowl

I think the Rose Bowl will be a dog fight with Utes winning

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I hope that’s true. If the Pac-12 wins a few of its other bowl games, that would kinda mean you overstated how bad the Pac-12 is.

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To be fair, the conference can be bad Utah is great. I think losing two players in such a tragic way hurt the team. I am glad to see them thrive down the stretch and win a title.

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FWIW, losing last season to an asterisk had a major impact on the overall bottom line. In many ways, this season is a reset season for the PAC 12. Utah played itself into a Championship team, after stumbling out of the blocks. Hopefully they take the next step by bringing home the hardware from Pasadena.

It’s a one-game season now. Time to go win that game.

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It’s true Wazzu finished 2nd in the North but Byu got them a few days after they lost their HC and half of their staff… they were in total turmoil. How do the zoobs always luck out on timing? They’ve got to be the luckiest SOB’s on the planet.

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Auburn has the same luck. We call it “Auburn Jesus.”

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UAB Ancalgons

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UAB deserved a better opponent.

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BYU brought the wrong cleats.

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Speaking of Auburn Jesus.

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Are you referencing TOlkien’s “The Silmarillion”? Because that would be "Ancalagon [the Black]. :wink:

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I see what you did there. :rofl:

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In fairness, this loss didn’t really do much of anything for me. From one perspective, I don’t have much against Kalani. Goofy? Yeah. Bought into their culture? Sure looks that way, but still seems a decent sort. The players - especially the seniors - worked hard (I imagine) for one last game that honestly was no-win. If they won, who cares? It is only UAB. If they lost… well, we don’t need to speculate about that outcome now.

Frankly I have reached a point with them where I cared as much about the outcome of their game as I did about the outcome of the Utah State game. It is an in-state team, but win or lose, I don’t get too up or too down about it. Mild curiosity best describes my attitude. I can’t keep holding on to the past. Yeah, Lavell built a culture down there that creates unrealistic expectation of winning and made them seem relevant for a while, and that attitude has been pervasive since then. They have had good teams, but have always lacked the type of season that makes them great, and I think that is one reason why their fans are so obnoxious. To consistenly lack the ability to get over the hump makes them gnash their teeth and lash out to compensate for their own inadequacies. My biggest hope is that with their move to the Big XII they will take that negative chi out on other fanbases and stop pestering us. I know that is unrealistic, but an old man can dream.

Speaking of their fans, the one thing that does bring me the greatest satisfaction about their loss is the fact that regardless of the outcome of our game, radio silence should be result from them. Had they won, a win by Utah would have meant they should have been in the playoffs because they beat us on a random day back in September. We lose? We were always overrated and had no business being on the big stage like they should have been. With their loss to a Conference USA opponent, however, they can make no more claims about how they should have had a bigger game, and should the experts (the same ones who predicted a dominant BYU win) be right and we lose to tOSU, only the few dumb ones will try to poke fun at Utah before getting blasted with “We lost to #7. What was UAB ranked again?”

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Substitute byu in where it says UAB and that’s what it means for us when we play byu…

I think your attitude is typical and was inevitable after we joined the PAC-12 and they went independent. Saturday I was busy with Christmas errands and commitments and didn’t even know they were playing until I heard someone comment that they were behind 14-0 at one point. I agree with you that the obnoxiousness of the vocal, visible part of their fanbase should fade after they’re in the diluted Big12. They’ll have to focus their attention and their hunger for greatness on those teams.

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Maybe.

I don’t care much about BYU, other than kicking them when they’re down. Losing to UAB allowed us to do that.

And which school is going to the Rose Bowl? Oh wait, that would be us.

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You could tell UAB didn’t really want to be there, but they STILL pulled off the win. Impressive!

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Substitute “pizza” where it says “machine gun”.

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The obnoxiousness of the vocal, visible part of their fanbase will never fade. It’s who they are as a culture.

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