First off, I’m a little surprised by some of the Ohio State fans I saw. I know a few bad apples exist everywhere, I’ve had problems with UTE fans, but I heard and watched about 5-6 groups of OSU fans being just rude and belligerent. I heard they had great fans and so I was surprised by the groups I saw acting like fools.
After the game at a merchandise booth I saw an OSU fan grabbing their advertising banner and jerking it around and then letting it go almost hitting me and another Ute fan in the face. The group around the guy was chuckling about it.
But enough about the OSU fan experience…
I heard a lot of people criticize how UTAH shouldn’t have went for it on 4th down. (Same fans were probably cheering when the choice was made.) I heard how we didn’t change our defensive scheme, how their defense picked our O line apart, and various other complaints.
Maybe all that’s true, maybe if UTAH did this different, or changed that we could have gone into overtime, or maybe won.
But instead of being negative and critical here’s what I’m taking away from this game. We won the PAC-12 championship! We went to the Rose Bowl! And lastly and maybe the biggest, we were able to run with “the Ohio State”. Not even run with but almost beating them.
People have discounted our beloved team so many times, doubting their abilities. Well we played a “big time school program” and we ran with them. I think the Rose Bowl should be an indicator to all the “big programs”… watch out because we’re big too and if you discount us as lucky you better think again.
Thanks to the UTES for a great season, th as no’s for a PAC-12 championship, thanks for taking us to the Rose Bowl, and thanks for telling college football, “We’re here!”, and thanks for a great game and great memories!
Most of them seemed alright to me. They have a massive fan base, and an incredible history, so I wouldn’t even begrudge them for being a little arrogant, but I personally didn’t experience any of that or run into any fans that were acting belligerent. I’m not calling you a liar, I just think you may have had some unlucky encounters.
Also, at events like that there are gonna be a lot of people that are three sheets to the wind before the game even starts, so you’re gonna see some shenanigans. A couple of lady Utah fans in their 50’s/60’s were falling all over the place in the stands before kickoff. They nearly took down half a dozen people with them at one point. It happens. If anything, I was more embarrassed by the kid wearing elastic pants with his hoodie tucked in. What kind of parents allow their child to go out in public like that?
Ohio State does have one of the worst fans in all of college football though, Buck-I-Guy, but even OSU fans hate him.
I think you kind of reinforced my point. They have all this history and so much prestige so it’s ok for them to be obstinate and arrogant. Basically, they can be dicks because they have some history and some sense of prestige and entitlement.
Well at most their players have what 4-5 years of history? Same as our guys, so they are about equals.
And that’s exactly my point, we showed we can run with the quote unquote big schools. My experiences were all post game. Surely our team played at a level to have earned respect.
You heard wrong. Take the worst fanbase (Alabama sidewalk Redneck/WalMart fans) and make it the 90% of their Fanbase. FSU, Alabama, Ohio, Iowa are pretty awful.
Spencer Hall nailed it:
Now, I have a few thoughts about Ute fans. Y’all gotta learn to clap on the 2 & the 4. Some of you had your first beer and learned your first cuss words this weekend and it showed in my section. One dude said Pussy for everything. Getting smashed on Coors? Really? Your elderly men whipped the hell out of you because that was some of the loudest and hardest clapping I heard.
90% of you were fan freaking tastic. From Disney to the Rose Bowl y’all were some of the nicest fans and really showed out for your school in a great way. Unlike the Buckeyes your worst fans are in the 10% and they were in my section. Seriously, some of them needed to drink bourbon and start prepping in September for the Bowl.
Hate to agree, but Utah fans saying other fanbases can’t hold their liquor is laughable. We have a fair number of ex-Mormon fans who started drinking later in life, and that tends to show at games.
I said I might be willing to cut them a little slack if they acted a little arrogant, but I personally didn’t come across the belligerent ■■■■■■■■ that you encountered, so not sure that it reinforces your point. I’m sure there were some, and we all have different perspectives. I live in Tempe, and have had plenty of bad experiences with ASU fans, and everytime I mention it somebody comments about how great ASU fans are.
I had no bad experiences with OSU fans. Granted, I encountered very few. There were a couple right in front of us in section 6. They were all class. And fun to talk to throughout the game.
In your experience, is it mostly the non-alumni that tend to be the most problematic? I’ve found that to be the case more often than not. I think it’s because they don’t necessarily have the same kind of connection to the institution itself, but I could be wrong.
I think that is very true.
A lot of people “live” to be part of something else. Something bigger than their own precious lives. Nothing wrong with that, unless one looks at Covey and thinks “He should run the field every kick…” He should never drop a pass."
I played hockey as a kid and was amazed how many people watch hockey for the fights. Very few of those that relish, the brutality of these fights understand or appreciate that the game is actually won by putting a puck in the net. The rest is theater.
Most of those screaming for blood are completely incapable of actually squaring up with another human being. But they live to watch blood sport.
I love football, hockey and fighting, but there are rules for a reason. Otherwise, just restart the collusium with the gladiators, animals and mayhem.
There are all kinds of drunks. Most but not all are obnoxious. An Ohio State fan beside me had been drinking when he arrived with his friend, the straight man—they arrived a few minutes after kickoff, piling over us—and drank continuously during the game. He had one of those smilingly sinister faces, but he was an effective clown, provided a lot of comic relief, and was warm and friendly. Patted me on the shoulder a lot, put his arm around me, and practically gave me a smooch. (I’m really hoping that Omicron is as mild and the Moderna booster works as well as advertised.) Still, he didn’t annoy me, even in the Fourth Quarter, when he, with a great deal of ham, started predicting how many plays it would take Ohio State to score on this next possession (his numbers were low enough to display on one hand). He was one of those guys who makes me think, why can’t I ever be that carefree, and a charming drunk like that, for just of a few hours? Just don’t have it in me. I even cared for his physical welfare, fearing a little bit he may fall over the railing (as I once saw a man do at Riverfront, the fans around him pulling him back over as he hung by one arm). Wouldn’t have taken much of a nudge for me to send him plunging to his death, and I never felt the slightest urge. There was a fine bar a few feet away with a strong selection of spirits, but I didn’t drink a drop, as I was entertaining guests and wanted to be in possession of all my faculties needed to safely get our guests from the stadium seats to the plane seats in time that same night. I was anxious about that and the game, and I think the Ohio State fan felt he needed to loosen me up a little. He was charming enough that my friend, a fellow Ute fan, bought him a drink. So I was grateful that the drunk Ohio State fan helped me show my friends a good time.
Kind of ironic that Ute fans complain about obnoxious drunk fans.
Well, when you have non-alumni Alabama fans shooting each other over football games, and poisoning historic trees then the graduates must really be a mess.
I didn’t say the non-Graduates weren’t bad either. Lol. For the record I didn’t attend Bama. I went to a Private College with zero sports. My family helped start the University so it’s kind of expected we followed in fandom. I am telling my daughter to become a fan of what ever University she chooses if they have sports. Sadly, Cal Tech or Cal Berkeley are leading her choices l. I have 5 years to sway her.
I want to clarify here, I wasn’t saying anything about drinking alcohol or being drunk. I don’t know how much or if the OSU fans had been drinking, except the guy jerking the flag around who I’m pretty sure was drunk.
I’m talking about OSU fans who were rude, obnoxious, and almost looked down on our team and fans. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with drunk UTE fans and I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about their fans acting like they were better than us, like we didn’t belong. I’m not complaining or drinking or drunk fans, I’m talking about their fans disrespecting our fans. Their fans treating us like we shouldn’t be there in the first place.
Oh, got it. The closest thing I experienced was the built in excuses from the fans behind me. The moment Utah went up by two TDs they started talking about how they were down two receivers, and how this game just doesn’t mean as much to them. I wasn’t even aware at the time that we had a friggin running back starting at corner or I would have shot back, but they started sounding super zoobish pretty quick.
We didn’t run into a single obnoxious OSU fan. We had one guy about four rows in front of us who was very enthusiastic, but not obnoxious. Ironically, the most annoying fans near us were a group of about 5 drunk Ute fans seated in our row who squeezed past us to go out for more beer and food, probably 15 times during the game. I always wonder about people like that. Why go to all the trouble and expense of getting to a game like this when you’re more interested in food and beer than you are in watching the game?
I did see one Facebook post from a Buckeye fan who claimed that as the “dominant big 10 football power” Ohio State properly worked its “will” against a lesser football power. He also claimed that OSU had 24 players who opted out of the game. I guess that was his explanation for why the mighty Buckeyes won so narrowly. I have not seen that number 24 anywhere else. I could not resist pointing out that we had a converted running back playing defensive back in this game for the first time. I also heartily congratulated the guy on OSU’s performance, Bedford’s brilliance, and I applauded their OC’s intelligence in repeatedly picking on that running back in our defensive backfield. He didn’t respond.
I still think Bernard is a warrior for even trying to help out that way.
