Collie encapsulates U's hatred of BYU

The Count of Monte Cristo has Fernand Mondego. “Star Wars” has Darth Vader. Utah fans have Austin Collie.

Most fans will remember when Collie caught an important 49-yard pass late in Utah’s 17-10 loss in last year’s rivalry game. Some will also remember when Collie made the now-infamous statement regarding that play to KFAN’s Patrick Kinahan in a personal interview after the game.

“I wouldn’t say it was lucky. We executed the play well. We should have had another (TD). Obviously, if you do what’s right on and off the field, I think the Lord steps in and plays a part in it. Magic happens.”

On Tuesday, Dick Harmon from the Deseret News wrote a column titled “Utah fans fuel the fire behind heated rivalry” and hypothesized on why Utah seems to hate BYU more than BYU hates Utah. He summarized a quote from BYU defensive end Jan Jorgensen which said, “Jorgensen speculates it has to do with BYU’s winning run in the Lavell Edwards era.”

First off, I have nothing against Dick Harmon. I personally believe I’m more objective about Utah athletics than Harmon is about BYU anything, but for the vast majority of Utah fans, he’s just plain wrong.

Frankly, I don’t remember Edwards’ heyday, and most of the people I go to school with are the same way. Utah fans don’t dislike BYU because the team is successful. Utah fans don’t like BYU because they view the Cougs’ fans and players as pompous. The Team Down South’s views about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true path to happiness and eternal bliss carries over to their football team, their basketball team, even their Dreyer’s ice cream (which by the way is exactly the same as our Ute Blitz). That’s not even including the thousands of Utah fans—who are also LDS—who simply don’t like the TDS.

But Harmon is right. Utah fans do bring more angst to this rivalry game. Ute fans absolutely try to antagonize Cougar fans and bring them down to “their level.” Utah fans love when guys like Collie think they are taking the moral high road, but in the end come off sounding more pretentious than a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show.

After last year, Ute fans have been hanging on every Collie sound-bite. There’s even a Facebook group called “The Austin Collie D-Bag Quote of the Week Club” that was created by U sophomore Taylor Duncan and is 828 members strong.

Someone even found Austin Collie and his wife Brooke’s open blog that is hosted on blogspot.com (which has now been made private) that included Halloween photos of Collie as some sort of lumberjack stuffed into a costume that looks a lot like John Stockton’s old shorts and would probably make his bishop blush. To Collie’s left is BYU tight end Dennis Pitta, who is decked out in U attire. It’s hard to tell whether he’s valiantly trying to look like a nerd, or if the cool clothes are covering up his personality.

I, for one, absolutely love Collie. He leads the country in receiving yards per game with 119.55 and he’s one of BYU’s best players. For whatever reason, he’s also decided to open up his big mouth—for better or worse—and nearly everything that comes out is gold. He whines as if he can’t say anything right, and frankly, when it comes to Utah and the rivalry, he can’t. He is a microcosm of Utah’s genuine disdain for BYU in general and he’s playing the part of the villain perfectly. He’s a guy who Utah fans can forever love to hate.

t.pizza@chronicle.utah.edu

8 comments

mesaman

Tue Nov 3 2009 20:41

I'm happy to read the umbrage between the "U" and the Y still exists. I guess you could call this; THE FOUNTAIN OF UTES! Smite them, vigorously, Utes.

Your name

Mon Dec 8 2008 00:32

Wait...Is this the Taylor Duncan who sang the duet "My Endless Love" in an assembly when we were in high school? You really are a D bag.

Taylor Duncan

Sun Dec 7 2008 23:39

Hey Tony, I really appreciate you giving me a shout out in your article but I started thinking about it and i realized I'd probably prefer to not get any publicity for my defamatory facebook group. Turns out my mom searched google for my name while she was bored at work and your article came up so she read it. She sat me down when I got home from my singles ward today and asked me if I even knew what a D Bag was. I lied and told her no and that I just used that term because I had been called one myself and didn't realize it was derogatory.

Taylor Duncan

Sat Dec 6 2008 21:47

I am a D Bag

JMS

Sun Nov 23 2008 16:58

to Sue Madre....ASI ES PUTO!!! Chinga tu madre, veta a cupar el pene de Austin. Estoy seguro que les gustaria a los dos.

The Guru

Fri Nov 21 2008 19:51

'Sue Madre' I know you served your mission in El Salvador or Mexico, even perhaps Spain, but here's the thing. Anyone who likes Austin Collie either owes him money or a sexual favor. My guess is you have both you pinche puto. Get a real life and spend time commenting on websites where other Cougar fans have the outside chance of performing favors unto you.
Thanks for stopping by though, pendejo.

sue madre

Fri Nov 21 2008 19:12

Nice to see that the chrony still prints this garbage. Austin is the only BYU player who will give you guys a quote, make a statement and back it up. He doesn't back down from what he said or go into some "i was misquoted" spin cycle. Ute fans hate him because he is brash, a byu player, and better than any receiver they have ever had in college. (utah wasted having steve smith on their roster. He is a monster in the NFL but had he played in BYU's offense, he would have been a first round pick.) And to say that it is not from lavell's era is not true. You may have come into the rivalry later but the emotion and anger was definitely generated from that time. do you think that it was a rivalry in the 40's when Utah beat them every year. It goes back to the beat downs where the game was over before the end of the national anthem. Austin is better and you guys will get a clinic and front row seats tomorrow.

Taylor Duncan

Fri Nov 21 2008 18:51

Haha... Hey buddy. Thanks for making my day and putting me in the Chrony. Go Utes!

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