Over the past week, I have faced a number of Ute fans who haved given me lectures on "How the refs won it for BYU, or "BYU BARELY beat Utah, when BYU was having a good year, and Utah was having a bad year". I have even heard someone go as far as saying "That last play was the luckiest thing I have ever seen in my life".

Well, I have decided to post a response to all of those argument, right now.

First off, Ute fans stating that the refs won the game for BYU, and that if the refs were different, Utah would've come away with the win. I whole-heartedly agree that the refs for that game were awful, downright horrid even. But they were bad for both teams. I could go on and on about all the holding/block in the back/late hit/off sides/or practically any other penalty that was commited by Ute players, but were never called. And for all you who think that the Pass Interference call on Utah near the end of the game was bogus, it was actually quite accurate. The unwritten rule regarding Pass Interference is that if the offensive and defensive player are playing the ball, then P.I. is typically not called, but the Ute defender never even looked at the ball, he only tried to prevent Jonny Harline from catching the ball, thus resulting in a well-deserved Pass Interference call.

Second, the score of the game. BYU did come into this game as the favorites, and they were supposed to "Destroy", a struggling Utah team. But the game turned out to be a very competitive, close win for BYU, rather than the predicted blow-out. For those who use this argument, I simply say, "WELCOME TO RIVALRY GAMES". They are always unpredictable, exciting, and they never turn out to be as predicted. EXAMPLE: Cal vs. Stanford. This is a HUGE rivalry game. Cal came in at 8-3, and Stanford was 1-10. Cal was expected to ROLL over this team, but Cal had a hard-time putting a bad Stanford team away, and it was a very close, nerve-racking win for Cal. In rivalry games, they are always closer than the "Experts" think, and upsets are common (as apparent when unranked UCLA beat #2 USC, another big rivalry). Never predict rivalry games, as they are indeed, unpredictable, and BYU-Utah was no different.

Last, but certainly not least, the final play. How can anybody who has a decent history of playing, or even WATCHING football for goodness sakes, not agree that the final play was nothing but the skilled attempt of one of the nation's best QB's, to throw a pass (while he was being tackled no less) all the way across the length of the field to a WIDE open reciever. VERY few QB's could make that play happen. The only luck I saw, was how the Ute defenders totally left a receiver alone in the end-zone. To all those who call it luck, I call you "Wanna-Be's". And to all of those who call this one of the greatest plays in College Football history, I say "Yes, yes it was".

Sorry Utah, but the bragging rights are ours. Don't bother rationalizing, you are only making yourselves look like.....well, you know.