This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Glendale, Ariz. • Before the Cougars even took the field on Saturday night at University of Phoenix Stadium, BYU fans showed Big 12 officials just how expansive the school's fan base really is.
Approximately 30,000 BYU fans, mostly decked in white T-shirts with BYU logos, attended the game, outnumbering Arizona fans by a 2-1 margin although Tucson is less than two hours away from Glendale. Provo is more than 600 miles away from the stadium, but a quick sample outside the home venue of the NFL's Phoenix Cardinals showed BYU fans made the trek from all over the country.
There were BYU fans from Virginia, Texas, Washington and Ohio at the pregame indoor tailgate party, in addition to many locals and thousands from Utah.
"We have the best fans," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said earlier in the week. "We have fans all over the world. When we went and did our firesides throughout the country, at the sites we are playing at, it was evident."
BYU officials said 24,000 tickets had been sold through their website as of Friday, and they believed thousands more bought tickets through other sites.
Sitake said more of the same is expected when BYU travels to Washington, D.C., East Lansing, Mich., and Cincinnati later this season.
"We are going to have fans at every game, everywhere we play, and Arizona happens to be a place where we have a lot of fans," he said. "We are looking forward to them making a lot of noise. We have to give them a reason to rise and shout, and I think it is going to be fun."
Senior Harvey Langi said seeing tons of BYU fans in the stands at road games never gets old.
"Fans make us feel cool," Langi said. "They make us feel like the all-stars that we aren't. The fans keep us going. … We play not only for our family, our university, our team, but we play for our fans."
Another senior, Kai Nacua, said he will miss the huge support when he moves on from BYU.
"It just feels like a home game, to be honest," he said Monday. "And a lot of the guys have already been talking about it. We are ready to feel the energy from the crowd, so it will be good."
GameDay Guffaws
In the first segment of ESPN's College GameDay program Saturday morning, host Rece Davis mentioned that the show has been around for 30 years, or "almost as long as Taysom Hill." The oft-injured Hill turned 26 on Aug. 23, having spent two years on an LDS Church mission in Australia and the last five seasons at BYU.
ESPN's Davis also called former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall going to Virginia the "oddest hire" of the offseason, and Kirk Herbstreit mentioned that Mendenhall is "a West Coast guy."
Later, analyst Desmond Howard backpedaled a bit from his comments last week that BYU uses its missionary program to work the system, bringing up the fact that Hill is older because he served a two-year mission.
For the record, the average age of a BYU football player this year is 21.4.
Briefly
Defensive back Chris Badger and running back Jamaal Williams carried out the team flags for BYU, while Max Hall, John Beck and Aaron Francisco carried out the alumni flags. In a new tradition this year, alumni Kaipo McGuire carried at the American flag. … As expected, Arizona started junior Anu Solomon at quarterback over sophomore Brandon Dawkins, after coach Rich Rodriguez said he wouldn't name a starter until just before kickoff. … Fallen Arizona offensive lineman Zach Hemmila, who died in his sleep in August at the age of 22, was honored before the game and made an honorary captain by the Wildcats.
Twitter: @drewjay