Until recently, there weren't a lot of University of Utah fans in St. George, says T.D. Croshaw. His father Greg, who now coaches at No. 1-ranked Dixie College, got his master's degree and was an assistant coach at BYU. Ty Detmer used to help out at Greg Croshaw's summer camps.
A young T.D. naturally grew up a BYU fan among the red rocks of southern Utah."It didn't take my family long to switch," said T.D., who walked on at Utah with the promise of a scholarship and who will be the Utes' starting quarterback Saturday at Cougar Stadium when the Red meets the Blue.
"It's a great opportunity," said the Ute junior, who has taken over whenever Darnell Arceneaux was hurt or unproductive this season. Croshaw leads the Mountain West Conference in pass efficiency rating (156.8), as a coach's son ought to do. He has played in nine games. This will be his fourth career start. He has completed 60 percent of his passes for 948 yards, and he has thrown 12 TDs to five interceptions.
Much of the state may bleed Cougar Blue, but coach Ron McBride's Utes are actually more homegrown.
Thirty-nine men on Utah's roster this season are from Utah, including several injured players, like Chris Christensen and Brandon Dart, who won't get to suit up for this game.
There are 10 Utahns on the U.'s defensive two-deep, including seven starters (Andy Bowers, Howard Christianson, Kimball Christianson, Andre Dyson, John Frank, Jay Hill and Jason Potter). Also, backups Patrick Dyson, Sheldon Deckart and Colby Knight.
Five offensive starters and two top backups are Utahns (Boo Bendinger, Croshaw, Doug Kaufusi, Fisi Moleni, Scott Price, Sam White and Kevin Wilson). And kickoff man Golden Whetman is from Kearns.
Hill, the Ute senior cornerback who leads the MWC in interceptions with six and who has scored three touchdowns on two interceptions returns and a blocked field goal return, says he "was the biggest BYU fan in the world" when he was growing up. Growing up in Lehi with two BYU-graduate parents, he spent a lot of Saturday's in Cougar Stadium.
"I dreamed about playing for BYU. I had a BYU jersey -- the ones they have for little kids -- and a BYU national-championship T-shirt I used to wear around," said Hill, who went to Ricks College secretly hoping the Y. would eventually want him. He and fellow Lehi/Ricks product Richard Peterson, now a Ute special-teamer, "used to go to the BYU games together. His family was bluer than mine," says Hill.
BYU did recruit Hill, but he got the feeling that because he was at Ricks, the Cougars expected him to end up in Provo and didn't work too hard to get him. Utah's Ricks-area recruiter, defensive-line coach Gary Andersen, courted Hill relentlessly and got him with that approach.
"I'm not a BYU fan any more," Hill declared. "Every time they lose, I think it's great. My dad will still root for them in games that don't affect us (Utah) much. But there's no love for them here."
Bendinger, the senior receiver who prepped at East High and also skied for nearby Rowmark Academy, grew up a Ute fan, having known McBride and receivers coach Fred Graves and most U. players since about 1988. He went to U. games and "wore anything with red on it. I always cheered for the Utes. Just being around the coaches and knowing a lot of the players, that was my team," he says.
But Bendinger-- Croshaw's favorite target and the team's second-leading receiver averaging 37.8 yards a game, with five receiving TDs -- strongly considered playing for BYU because he thought it was a good program with a good tradition and "great academics." His choices were either blue or red. "I wanted to stay home," he says. "The honor code made me think twice (about BYU)," so Bendinger remained in the Ute camp.
Bendinger may have played his last game last week. He broke a bone in his left hand when he put it on the turf to steady himself and twisted. Initial reports were that he could play wearing a soft cast, but on Monday he thought that would not be possible.
At least Bendinger has experienced playing in Cougar Stadium. Croshaw and Hill are anxiously awaiting their chance.
"It will be kind of eerie," Croshaw guesses. He was a redshirt when Utah won 20-14 there in 1997. "That place gets loud," he said, aware that fans in blue will dominate the landscape. "That's kind of an eerie feeling when you're not the home team." And when a one-time walk-on, who admits he has no history of having played in really big games -- Dixie/Ricks or Dixie/Snow are his biggest -- is suddenly Utah's starting quarterback. "I'm looking forward to it," Croshaw says. "I kind of like having people cheer against you."
That sea-of-blue atmosphere is something out of Hill's school-boy fantasies. "That's the whole key that made me want to play for BYU as a kid," he says. For his career's "dream ending there would be nothing greater than to beat BYU on their home field."