SALT LAKE CITY — When Utah plays Northern Illinois Saturday, it will be one of just a handful of Ute home games that have started before noon, and the earliest start since 1996.
That 1996 game was Utah’s last decisive loss to BYU as the Utes were beaten 37-17 in a game that started at 10:30 a.m. and was televised on ESPN. Before that, the earliest game was a 1983 contest against Wyoming that also began at 10:30 a.m.
Perhaps this week, the Utes will take a page out of the 1983 playbook when the Utes played Wyoming in a game that started early and was televised nationally on CBS-TV.
Utah came into that game as a running team behind backs Eddie Lewis and Hilria Johnson, but shocked the Cowboys with an aerial assault that had rarely been seen in Ute football history.
The Utes threw a long incomplete pass on their first play and after that quarterback Mark Stevens completed his next nine passes, including two for touchdowns. Utah led 21-0 before the clock struck 11 and before many late risers had even settled into their seats.
By halftime, the score was 48-7 and by that point the only excitement was to see how many records the Utes could break. Among the records set that day were most points in a half, most passing yards in a half, most total offense (661 yards) and most pass receptions — 13 by Danny Huey.
“This was just one of those funny games where everything worked for us,” said Chuck Stobart, who was in his second of three years as the Ute head coach. “We anticipated an overloaded defense and we didn’t want them up there with nine men on the line. So we had to go deep on them.”
Except for those two 10:30 a.m. games, the only two other known Ute home games in the last 40 years that were played before noon were an 11:30 a.m. game against Air Force in 1993 and a 1998 game against BYU that also started at 11:30 a.m.
In 2002, the Utes had a 10 a.m. game at Wyoming and a 10 a.m. game the following year at Air Force.