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Sarah Dallof reporting It was standing room only inside LaVell Edwards Stadium today as an estimated 66,000 fans were there to watch the game and cheer on their respective teams. Whether you bleed blue or red, this is the game fans look forward to every year.
While Ute fans were hoping they'd win the bragging rights for the next year, it wasn't meant to be.
To figure out who left this stadium standing behind a winning team, and a losing team, all you had to do was look and listen. Listen for the yells of victory from Cougar fans, and look for the disappointment on the faces of Ute fans.
It was hard to hear what they had to say. "It's tough coming here and loosing," Ute fan Adam Strong said amid pro-BYU cheers. Cougar fans kept drowning him out.
"Max Hall, fourth and 18 to Austin Collie; it really set the tone of the game," young BYU fan Derrick Harris explained.
Derrick is part of a unique fan club. His grandpa, David Shields, is a Ute-turned-Cougar-supporter. Shields says he doesn't feel one bit guilty about that. "This is fun. We just have a ball. We've been doing this for three years, and we just have more fun than you can shake a stick at," Shields said.
Derrick's dad also bleeds BYU blue, and his little brother Kyle got to go to his first BYU game today. "It was cool," young Kyle Harris said.
"First game he's ever come to. He says he wants to come back and that makes it worth it as a dad," Kyle's father, Denzil Harris, said.
But there are two sides to every story, and while Ute fans Eyewitness News spoke with left with less fanfare, they also left graciously.
"It was a great game. It's always a good rivalry," Ute fan Alfred Boutista said.
They also left leaving promises that next year's game won't leave them blue.
"This was a tough game, a tough loss. We just have to have our defense not get so many penalties. Fourth and 18, what can you say?" Ute fan Craig Roper said. "We're going to kick some serious Cougar butt next year."
There was at least one problem that we know about. One fan allegedly head-butted a rival team's fan, which sent the man to the hospital with a possible broken nose. BYU Police are deciding tonight if they'll file assault charges.
