AMHERST, Mass. — BYU fans made their presence known at McGuirk Alumni Stadium ahead of the Cougars’ game against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen on Saturday.
Amherst is about 1.5 hours away from Boston, and it’s not a place where the locals would expect to see a heavy influx of BYU fans and alumni.
But plenty packed into the parking lot for tailgating. One group handed out free hotdogs, cookies and T-shirts for children. Families played corn hole. Youngsters decorated sugar cookies with BYU blue frosting. Blue and white flags waved. Cosmo the Cougar snapped a photo. Imagine Dragons blared from speakers.
Dan Winder, from Franklin, Mass., graduated from BYU in 1999. He’s currently the Latter-day Saint seminary and institute coordinator for the Western Massachusetts and Southern New England areas.
Though he has students at UMass who attend institute for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he told me he is still “rooting for BYU in our heart.”
Spencer Ricks, a lawyer from Watertown, Mass., graduated from BYU. He currently works outside of Boston.
“It’s fun to see BYU,” he said. “It’s fun to come here. ... Everyone sort of comes together because BYU is here.
He said it’s great to see people “support the Cougs, see people you know.”
Sydney Otto, a BYU grad who lives in New Jersey, said she didn’t initially plan to come to the game. She doesn’t watch a lot of BYU in person. Though she said she’d prefer to see BYU play in Hawaii above all else, Provo is her second choice because it feels like home.
“Provo is the home. It’s always fun to see a home game. The stadium is always wild. Everyone’s excited. Even when they lose, people are really excited. It’s just the feeling of being together and near home,” she said.
Even today, she said, feels like home.
“I feel like everybody knows that feeling and brings it here. it makes me remember the good old days.”
But BYU fans expressed worry about the future since the two schools won’t play in 2020.
“We’re just so glad BYU comes out here, you know? I hope they always do something in New England, try to get a game in New England every year because we put on a good party for them if we get them out here,” Winder said.
“We love our Cougars out here.”