They had 4 opt outs. They had about 20 players miss the game for various reasons, but that wasn’t 20 players who played all year. Many were season ending injuries etc. Same thing we were dealing with.
I kind of chucked at OSU’s coach focusing on their winning while short handed when we’re starting offensive players on defense.
Yeah, when one of the backups is Marvin Harrison, Jr, kind of hard to see their plight about being short-handed.
Couldn’t be more proud of this year’s team, what they stood for, what they achieved.
Yup. Really this was the #3 vs #32. #31 is Kentucky btw and I point out what Whitt and Stoops are doing in their respective jobs is a testament to what they are able to do to get the most out of their roster.
Imagine having a Top 3 Roster and not winning a title but once in 40 years (Georgia) or only 2 in 50 years (Ohio).
It’s an annual tradition during Engineering Week at University of Alberta for the Mech Eng students to assemble a car around a tree somewhere on campus. Some years they get one hoisted up on the roof of one of the buildings.
As for the game we had no problems with any OSU fans. Barely even saw any let alone interacted with them. We did have one cool guy come and join in doing a shotski but that’s about it.
Exactly what I expected out of those two…
When we arrived in the stadium parking lot, the grass section. The guy parked next to us helped direct me back in. He was an Ohio State fan, complete with a beautiful red high end pickup. We have a terrific conversation about pick up trucks. And the pending game. We both wished each other luck to our teams, and hoped no player got hurt. Utah narrowly lost to the mighty Buckeyes. But that team will not soon forget how physical Utah is.
A second encounter we got talking about Buckeyes. Horse chestnuts, poisonous. I told him that as a kid I used to put a hole through them and attach a string. Before I could say more he said, the English call that “conkers”. I replied exactly my mum was English and she told me about the game. Then added, I got my knuckles bashed a few too many times playing that game.
I did not see any obnoxious fans (save for @Buhbye 
) but I also did not hear any Ohio State fans congratulating us on a hard fought epic game. Leaving the stadium I made sure to tell a few fans “nice win.” Overall great experience.
Every OSU fan we talked to directly was pretty cool. Good, quality discussion and they had a lot of respect for Utah’s program. The only, and I mean only, jerk we remotely encountered was wandering across the golf course with his 2 or 3 year old on his shoulders shouting barely intelligible stuff that included a bunch of shots at Michigan. I hope he gets professional help for the kid’s sake.
Oh, my wife and I concerned about Omicron wore double masks from 6am at the parade through the game to 7:30pm when we dropped Ute_in_Texas off at his motel.
We got a Covid test as did Ute_in_Texas. Both negative.
Masks work.
I’m wondering how @UtahFanSir, @Buhbye, and the rest of you managed to avoid me. Not to mention @Guba, @SanDiegoUteFan, and countless others. At least @NewbombTurk stayed away from the game to avoid me, so I know what happened there. @EUte saw my son at LAX, which does count for something.
We did sit by @UTEopia and caught up with him. We’ve known each other since we were about 10 years old and he hasn’t changed a bit.
I really enjoyed tailgating on the golf course. We wound up on the west side of the course which was fine but it seemed like many people I know were on the other side of the course. I might try going to that side another time. I would definitely skip the “fan fest” next time around and spend more time tailgating. One thing that was dumb was everything around the stadium was cashless which is great, except for programs which required cash. There were no ATMs to be found either. Luckily my friend Dan Steenblik gave me a program. I’ll try to remember to bring cash next time.
One thing that was cool about the Rose Bowl and away games in general is the opportunity to meet other Utah fans. At home I’ve sat by the same people since 2008. At the Rose Bowl we sat behind some really fun younger guys and had great conversations the whole game. They tailgate not far from us at RES and we have made plans to visit each other’s tailgate this fall. I really enjoyed that aspect of the game as well.
I was able to meet up with @UtahFanSir because we were able to get a few texts and calls back and forth before the game when I still had a little bit of cell service. He directed me to their seats where he was sitting with @Buhbye and @Ute_In_Texas. I had actually met UIT back around 2007 during the Pirate Ship days. It was nice to see him again and to meet his son. I should have just sent him a Google maps pin though as that might have been easier haha.
We were all avoidable! 
That was a frustrating problem I should’ve foreseen but did not. It was never a problem for UCLA games, but there weren’t 80,000 fans at those.
So I obviously failed in my effort to find you by carrying around that big hand-lettered sign that said “ROCKER, I’M HERE!!” in bold red letters. Either that or you snubbed me.
^hint^
Those of us sitting above about row 30 in section 8L (99%+ Utah fans) had two Ohio State fans standing in the walkway facing up toward our seats attempting to get under our skin pretty much the entire game, mostly ignoring the action on the field and holding up Ohio State banners, denigrating the U of U, etc., trying to get Utah fans ire. Fortunately we were about 10 rows above them. These were not teenagers but I’d say 40 year old “men”. I told my wife, they must actually have some sort of mental health issue to engage in such behavior at their age. A few people nearby engaged them from time to time, which is probably what they wanted, a couple Utah fans near them appeared to be close to coming to blows. After Rising left the game injured I noticed they left the area, probably because they could sense his injury had changed the mood among those nearby in our section from begrudging tolerance to, WE HAVE NOW HAD IT WITH YOUR CRAP AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE.
I believe you. Pretty much. 
I suspect demon rum at work.
Okay, I’ll play. I hosted a tailgate for some family members and had some ancillary friends and family of theirs stop by. I was frankly pretty tied up until game time.
Big Kahuna’s brother also contacted me and joined in with a friend of his. We had a great time.
Our seats were on the OSU side. Everyone around us were very cordial and friendly. It turned out that the couple in front of us are from our neighborhood.
Next time I’ll do a better of reaching out to you.