The face of Utah football
by JazzyUte on Jun 6, 2008 12:28 PM MDT
in Football
4 comments
ESPN has been asking its readers to write about the face of their favorite college program and of course, you can discuss Utah football as well. Unfortunately, their list has been overtaken by BYU trolls who have no life, so they sit at the computer all day bashing and attacking anything Utah. Pretty pathetic, but also fairly humorous if you think about it.
Anyway, who is the face of Utah football? I think this is a tough question to ask and really, the case can be made for a ton of people. Mostly, though, because the program's coach is not well enough known and hasn't been here long enough in his current capacity to be the face of the football program. Obviously Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno are the faces of the Florida State and Penn State programs, but I don't think you can make the case Kyle Whittingham is the current face -- at least nationally -- of Utah's football program.
So who is it? Well, let's look at the list:
Kyle Whittingham - Let's throw him up here just for kicks, even though, as stated, I do not believe he is the face of the program. Whittingham is the head coach, so obviously he's the biggest piece for Utah football, however, how big? I don't think, at this time, he's made a big enough impact to be picked.
Rice & Eccles families - Rice-Eccles Stadium, home of the Utes, is named after these two families, so they have some presence here. But how many people actually know who these family members are or who the stadium is named after? Probably not many.
Alex Smith - Smith easily is Utah's most famous football player. He was picked #1 in the NFL draft -- the first time that ever happened for a Ute -- and led Utah through two unbelievable seasons. Of course, it was all capped off with a dominant victory against Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. Hard to top that.
Steve Smith - He's found a lot of success in the NFL and actually isn't shy about showing his love for the Utes, often wearing a Utah cap on national television. Steve Smith so far has had a better pro career than Alex, but his time at Utah can't compare.
Jamal Anderson - Always a friend to Utah football, Anderson had a successful pro career cut short by an ACL injury, yet he's still a popular figure within the NFL and among Utah fans, sporting Utah gear at any chance he gets.
Scott Mitchell - From 1994 to 1998 led the Detroit Lions' offense, setting single season franchise records which included 32 touchdown passes and 4,338 passing yards.
I'm sure there are others, but this is my list. Vote or let me know if I missed one.
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Face of Utah Football
This is kind of hard to say, but I honestly think the face of Utah football right now is Urban Meyer. I would think that most people across the nation would know us best for what he did to our program.
I thought about putting him.
But I just think it’s hard accepting the argument that a two year head coach, 4 years removed, is the face of our program.
It’s now up to Whittingham to become the face of this program…or we’ll be living in Meyer’s shadow for a very long time.
Tough question...
You can take it two ways: Who’s the face now – to me it’s BJ. But the harder question, and the one I thought you were asking was more of an all-time person.
For me, there’s something still very Ute about McBride. To me, he’s still more Ute than Urban ever was. I almost have a reverence for Coach Mac. He was the every man. You can imagine him kick’n back watching football as much as coaching it. He helped fans like me learn to be proud of Ute football.
Born in ‘75, I grew up as a kid in the Ute’s dismal 80’s era. I had never known anything other than the Utes sucking and being BYU’s bitch. I’ll give myself a pass for being young and having no other experience with Ute football, but I really believed Ute football would never equal or surpass BYU.
MAFU changed that with one victory at a time. His cheering after “the block” at Minnesota, his “magic dust,” his singing Utah Man with the fans/students. He’s the father figure of Ute football for me. I guess that makes him the face of Ute FB in my mind.
I think you have to take it from two perspectives.
For Utah fans, it’s probably Kyle Whittingham, since he’s the head coach and most likely will be here for a while. Prior to him taking the job, it was Urban Meyer and before that, Ron McBride. But nationally, for non-Utah fans, who is the face of this program? I know when I think of Penn State football, Joe Paterno is the first thing that comes to mind, while when I think of Boise State, it’s their blue turf. A&M, for me, has the 12th Man, while Texas has the gay cheerleaders in cowboy garb.
So let’s say you’re an avid college football fan, but not a Utah football fan, who or what do you think of when you hear Utah? Stobdawg might be right, it very well could be Urban Meyer. Maybe it’s still Ron McBride or Alex Smith.
Hard to say, I guess.
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