The BCS, Jell-O, and Message Board Bans: An Interview With a BYU Fan

BYU mascot Cosmo the Cougar rolls hard at a parade.

My friend Matt grew up in the Seattle area and has been an intensely devoted BYU Cougar fan as long as I've known him. Recently, though, his critical eye has provoked the ire of his fellow Cougs. So I figured, who better than he to offer insights on tomorrow's BYU/UW matchup and the schools' respective football cultures?

Despite being in the middle of a business road trip, he agreed to answer a few questions on his Blackberry:

Tell us a little about your history as a fan of BYU football

It started when I was born. I was raised in a Mormon family and my parents met at BYU. Every Saturday in the fall meant Cougar football. Before we had home satellite TV, we would go to the local church building and view the games using the church satellite. We would sit in a meeting room and order pizza and drink root beer while we watched the games. I would be dressed in full Cougar gear, all the way down to BYU socks.

Is it true that you are serving a lifetime ban from the BYU fan site, cougarboard.com? If so, why did they ban you?

I am serving a 100 year ban from cougarboard.com. I was originally banned on a technicality about personal attacks. I think it was more that the board moderators did not like me because I was calling some of the other Cougar fans delusional. I got a two week ban for the first incident. My 100-year ban came when I tried to log in under a different name.

You grew up among UW fans. How do UW and BYU fans differ?

BYU fans differ from UW fans and really any other fans in that they take football extremely personally. Since it is a religious school, the games run much deeper.
Being Mormon, you get disrespected a lot. The football team winning games is almost a way of getting some respect. The other part of the intensity is that Mormons don't have many outlets to party, due to strict rules on drinking, etc. In a way, football is the outlet. This makes the losses tougher and the wins better than for an average football program.

Provided they had equal numbers, who would win in a fight?

BYU fans. They are much more intense. I may give a slight edge to the Huskies if some of the ex-Husky felons are allowed to participate.

What annoys you most about Husky fans?

Right now, Husky fans don't annoy me. When the puppies finish around the bottom of the PAC-10 each year, I feel more sorry for them than anything else. Some Husky traditions do annoy me—such as the siren and the car helmet going around the track after each score. Bob Rondeau's voice has always been irritating as well.

BYU fans are reputed to be a clean-living bunch. Do they have a secret vice?

BYU fans only have one vice: Jell-O. No state has higher per capita Jell-O sales than Utah.

In 1984, BYU finished #1 in the county and UW #2. Will that ever happen again? Who would've won if they'd played?

BYU and UW will never finish 1 and 2 again as they did in 1984. The BCS will never allow a mid major to finish 1st. I was only 6 years old at the time so I don't remember much. My heart says BYU would have won, but my mind says UW.

What are your thoughts on Saturday's game?

I see BYU winning a surprisingly close game. Vegas has BYU winning by 10. Seems high. BYU rarely beats PAC 10 teams on the road. I see BYU winning 27 21. The fact is, is that BYU has padded there record in recent years by beating up on weak Mountain West teams. BYU went 11-2 last year. If they were in the PAC 10, they wouldve been 7-6. Despite the talent gap between the two conferences and the game being at UW, BYU will pull it out.

Topics: College Football and Huskies

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