By the time the third quarter was winding down, Jim Fassel was already the loneliest person imaginable. He stood wanly by himself on the sidelines, visor pulled down over his eyes, jaw set, watching the proceedings in shock. Nobody came by to say anything unless it was, you know, official business.
Afterward, he walked stiffly into the locker room, where he went through what is becoming a standard ritual, telling his Ute players about struggling through adversity, eliminating mistakes and not blaming one another. So far the speech hasn't taken too well. "We were totally out of it," said Fassel. "We couldn't make anything happen right."After 30 years of losing in Salt Lake City, Colorado State made up ground in a hurry, mashing Utah 50-10 Saturday afternoon. The win put a perfect cap on a perfectly dismal Ute homecoming, in which: 1. nobody (well, 21,389) came to the game; 2. it snowed on those who did; 3. a merely decent running back by the name of Tony Alford was transformed into Herschel Walker Revisited; 4. Utah suffered the second-worst home loss in its history; 5. students threw snowballs at the homecoming queen; 6. someone shrewdly suggested they change this year's homecoming theme from "U-phoria" to "U-thanasia."
When Colorado State had finally stopped scoring points - cut short only by the final gun - the Utes had put up another memorabe fight: five interceptions, four lost fumbles and a record-smashing day by Alford.
"We played terribly," said Fassel.
"They (CSU) did exactly what we prepared ourselves to stop . . . We were totally out of it. We couldn't make anything happen right."
While the game was one Ute Coach Jim Fassel termed "a complete breakdown," it was undeniably great for Alford, a junior tailback who gained nearly as many yards in the first quarter as he got in his entire career prior to this season. Before halftime he had broken the CSU record for rushing yards in a game en route to a WAC record of 310 yards. CSU's offensive line made much of Alford's luck, opening wide gaps in the Utah defense. "We knew from the films we'd be able to run it down their throats," observed Ram offensive guard John Laurita.
And so they did. Four plays into the game it was 7-0. CSU started scoring after just two minutes on Alford's 54-yard run down the sidelines. He entertained himself on runs of five to 12 yards until early in the second quarter, when he went for a 42-yard touchdown run through the middle of the Utah defense. In the same period he also went 63 yards to the end zone on a delayed draw. By that time the Utes were throwing up their hands and cursing their birth dates and CSU was leading 27-10.
What the Ute defense didn't bungle, the offense botched. Quarterback Scott Mitchell had what was likely the worst day of his career. While he managed to pass for 258 yards, it wasn't a day he wanted captured on video. Besides the four interceptions, Mitchell also lost the ball on a fumble in the third quarter that set up yet another CSU score. Running back Clifton Smith carried 11 yards to the CSU 31 in the first quarter but lost the ball on a fumble. In the third quarter he made a sensational one-handed catch for a 34-yard gain, only to fumble into the end zone on the next play. The ball rolled out of bounds and was awarded to CSU at the one-yard line, from where the Rams moved the ball for another touchdown.
All totaled, the Rams scored 20 points off Utah turnovers.
As the Rams continued to run up points, Utah's fans did what they could to stay warm. Students entertained themselves at halftime by chucking snowballs at the homecoming queen as she rode by on her float. But like the Utes, the completion rate wasn't impressive.
Most of the attention in the late going was devoted to CSU Coach Earle Bruce's late-game behavior, which included ordering up a couple of pass plays with the Rams leading 44-10 and only five minutes left.
Utah's Mitchell had little to say about the defeat, except to explain that though he was sacked four times and on the run many others, he shared much of the blame. "What can I say?" he stammered. "I didn't expect . . . I mean, I never . . . I couldn't believe it . . . I mean they intercepted the ball . . . It was just kinda real weird . . . I couldn't describe it . . . It was just real frustrating."
Mitchell's only bright moment of the day came in the first period when he got off a 22-yard scoring pass to Mike Anglesey that cut the CSU lead to 20-10.
As CSU's program continues to rise - the Rams have won back-to-back road games for the first time in nine seasons and are at .500 for the first time since 1986 - the Utes remain in a long streak of up-and-down performances. CSU, 4-4-1 overall and 3-2 in the WAC, moves on to play at Wyoming while the Utes, 3-6 and 1-4, have a week off before meeting New Mexico.
They'll need at least that long to forget their homecoming day.