Greatest Game I've Ever Been To? Greatest Game I've Ever Been To!

I can say unequivocally that I have never been more proud to be a BYU Cougar than I was this past weekend.

My Nephew Will. He was the deciding factor for my trip.

Most of you know that I got a new nephew three months ago. The fact that I hadn’t seen him yet coupled with BYU being in Dallas for the opening of the new Cowboy Stadium against OU it was a no brainer that I would be making the trip down to Texas for Labor Day.

Kate, Me, Savannah all showing our BYU spirit the night before the game.

I think this was billed as a neutral site but it was anything but neutral. There must have been a five to one ratio of Sooners fans to Cougar fans. I must say that although there was a fair share of disasters there were a lot of really cute OU girls. They wear these dresses with cowboy boots, and many looked very healthy. Good job by you Sooner girls. Nevertheless my brother in law and partner in crime Marc Stanworth and I were not deterred from our main goal of watching a BYU victory. My feelings prior to the game swung back and forth. My sister Jenn and Marc will both tell you that at times I was very optimistic, bringing up that in week one anything can happen, just ask Michigan last year or UVA this year, upsets happen. When I got to the stadium seeing that many Sooners was a bit overwhelming. The new stadium is beautiful, air conditioned, full of glass and has the biggest plasma screens you will ever see. My friend Jeff told me that it is the equivalent of watching a 50" in your living room. Apparently this stadium cost Jerry Jones a billion dollars, but he'll get it back no problem.

Undaunted by BYU football's last experience in Dallas Marc and I were pumped for the game.

Before the game Marc and I headed over to the BYU tail gate to check out was going and look into upgrading out tickets. On our way over I recognized Senator Orrin Hatch. I made sure to say hi and shake hands. Originally Marc thought one of his friends could hook him up with tickets. When that fell through we got the Standing Room Only tickets. When we got over to the tail gate party we were pretty underwhelmed, BYU fans were milling about with not much going on. My best friend Jordan was up from Austin and he found us. Not surprisingly Jordan had managed to upgrade his tickets. Jennifer had chatted the day before how Jordan and I had never in the history of attending sporting events ever sat in the seats we were ticketed for. Thoroughly unimpressed by the tailgate Marc and I headed into the stadium.

Jordan told his friend Dom, look for the skinny guy with the Steve Young throwback jersey. Without having seen me that day Jordan was dead on with this description.

The Stadium is just so impressive, glass everywhere, it's strange to be inside but feel like you are outside. I think it's the first time I've ever been in a dome like this before. A sell out crowd of over 75,000 people. Marc and I took our spots looking over the BYU end zone. The BYU band wasn't there so we were favored by the OU band. They brought out the Sooner Schnooner which is a covered wagon pulled by two horses. I hoped it would tip, but no such luck.

There's no reason to re cap the game as you all know what happened, but I do want to share a few of the things I was thinking bout during the game.

It looked like BYU was going to be on the board first with a field goal, when it got called back because of the delay of game penalty, Marc, myself and all the other BYU fans all groaned when the second kicked missed.

Brian Kariya filling in for Harvey Unga did a pretty good job and came up with a number of big plays.

WWE Announcer and huge OU fan Jim Ross was on the sidelines.

When BYU scored to tie the game, I looked at Marc and said, we are in this. We're hanging with these guys. You could sense an uneasiness in the crowd, everyone of the Sooner fans had expected a blow out. I never want to see a player get hurt but with Bradford down and BYU trailing 10-7 at half time we were feeling pretty good.

The BYU defense played so huge. Max threw a pick and it looked like we were in big trouble. OU had a number of chances at or near the goal line and they got stopped. A penalty on 4th and goal from the one forced OU to kick a field goal keeping it within one score.

In my life the moments that I got most excited about in my sports viewing go something like this in no particular order:

Angels coming back in game six of the 2002 World Series.

Steve Young to Terrell Owens game winning Touch Down against Packers 1997 Playoffs.

John Stockton Game Winner over Rockets.

Derek Fisher game winner versus Spurs 2004 Playoffs.

Undertaker vs. King Kong Bundy Wrestlemania XI when I thought Spivey was going to come out.

BYU beats Washington. Hale? Hale Yeah!

Beck to Harline.

Hall to Collie.

All of these were moments where I totally marked out. Yet, I have never been more excited than when McKay Jacobson was open in the back of the end zone. I mean I was going Bananas. Screaming, jumping up and down, hugging strangers. Oh what a feeling.

Dennis Pitta was HUGE. He made every big catch. Anytime we needed a catch he got it.

When Mitch Payne kicked the ball out of bounds on the kickoff, my heart sunk. OU got the ball on the 40 and they just needed to get into field goal range. Nervously we watched as time and time again the defense came up huge, and when OU was forced to kick the 55 yard field goal attempt and missed it, absolute pandemonium broke loose amongst BYU fans. It almost seems like a blur now but I remember high fiving everyone around me, jumping up and down, fist pumps, I even grabbed my friend Charlee who was near by and spun her around. It was just bliss.

If you ever wondered what joy looks like, this is it. One of the all time brothers in law experiences. Both Marc and I decided that Don should have been there too. Although Don didn't attend BYU, he still roots for them.

The text messages started flooding in. Fellow Cougs, Cougar haters, neutral parties were all letting me know how exciting this was. I kept telling Marc, "Bro we were at one of the greatest victories in the history of the program." Is there a better feeling in sports than when no one believes in you and you win?

By the time the game was over my voice was gone. I yelled and screamed every time that BYU needed a big defensive stand. I have never been more excited to sing the Fight Song, band or no band than I was that night.

The Victors, celebrating their huge win.

I have to say that the Sooner fans were extremely gracious. Every single one of them that talked to me, only had kind words to say about BYU's performance. They didn't make excuses about Bradford being hurt, or that BYU was lucky. I was impressed by they way they conducted themselves. I have heard that would not be the case if this had been the Texas game. As we walked back to the car, we couldn't help but smile.

#20, #9 it doesn't really matter. They were #1 to me that night.

I will forever remember this game. Standing and cheering for 4 straight hours. The absolute range of emotion from joy, to dread, to euphoria. I guess the best way I can sum it up is with one word.

WOW!