Late in a recent BYU-Arizona soccer game, with the score tied 1-1, a strong contingent of BYU fans in Tucson started making a little noise. As the broadcasters called attention to them, I said out loud in my home office, “Don’t do it. Don’t say it.”
And then they said it.
“BYU fans sure travel well!”
The phrase pops up on almost every broadcast of a BYU game — football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, soccer — even cross country. For sure, wherever the Cougars go, they attract a crowd, but for the most part, the crowd was there long before BYU arrived and remained long after it left — because they live there, or at least close by.
Having a global fanbase, with an inherent boost from BYU’s affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gives the Cougars a taste of home cooking wherever they go.
Contrary to what is said, the fanbase is not a bunch of jet-setters. Although there are some, many of the Cougar fans at Big 12 road games are people who reside in Texas, Kansas, Florida, Arizona, Colorado and everywhere else, and they flock to any BYU sporting event in their area.
In recent weeks on the “Y’s Guys” livestream show, BYU fans have checked in on Blaine Fowler and me from Iceland, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, France, Singapore, Kuwait, Italy, Argentina, Chile, Panama, Canada and from all over the United States.
Turns out, with strong enough Wi-Fi, you can connect with Cougar fans anywhere. Some even check in to the show from 30,000 feet on a cross-country flight. BYU fans are everywhere, and someday the game announcers are going to understand that.
Just don’t hold your breath.
As a throng of Texas Cougar fans file into Amon G. Carter Stadium this Saturday to cheer on the Cougar football team when it faces TCU in the Lone Star State, don’t be shocked when an ESPN announcer marvels, “How about these BYU fans … they sure travel well.”
Part of the problem is self-inflicted. For a program that has won 26 of its last 30 games (often on the road), like at Colorado State before the bye week, the only fans celebrating in the stadium late in the fourth quarter are the BYU fans, and they are great at making noise.
As a member of the Big 12 Conference, the Cougars are part of the discussions about playing games internationally. I can hear it already when BYU takes the field in London or Mexico City, where the church presence alone will fill the stadium: “Oh, those traveling BYU fans!”
BYU does travel well, but most are coming from up the road as opposed to across the country.
A second misconception that is thrown around too often is how much older Cougar athletes are compared to their opponents, especially when it comes to football. While it’s true that 64 players on the roster this season have served church missions and kicker Matthias Dunn and his wife have two children, it is also true that BYU doesn’t even make the top 25 oldest teams in college football (tied for No. 43, per rotowire.com).
In fact, in the Big 12 alone, the Cougars are the middle child, ranked No. 9 among the 16 teams when it comes to average age. Oklahoma State has the oldest roster (20.74 years old), followed by UCF, Colorado, Kansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Arizona and Iowa State. BYU’s average age (20.42) is a fraction above Kansas State, Utah and Arizona State.
When have you ever heard an announcer say, “Texas Tech is really running the ball well today because its offensive linemen are grown men with families”? Instead, what we constantly hear from opposing coaches is, “Well, this is a tough matchup for us because BYU’s players all went on missions and are so much older and mature.”
Part of that is true. Some of the guys are older and naturally more mature, but after further review, the Cougars are nowhere near the misconception that took root decades ago. Perpetuating the stigma will surely continue, but the numbers, or birthdays, just don’t add up.
This is a new day for BYU football. Even as head coach Kalani Sitake holds the program true to its core values and encourages missions, his No. 10 Cougars (3-0) are running younger, stronger and deeper than ever before.
They are out to take down a misconception that has dogged them for years — that BYU doesn’t belong among college football’s elite — and the only way to do that is to get to the College Football Playoff on a regular basis and win, something the Cougars have yet to do.
Those lofty goals make this week’s game at TCU the biggest of the season, where BYU will need to play older and wiser than it really is. Fortunately for the Cougars, the team will have thousands of fans cheering it on … because “BYU travels so well.”
Cliches are tough to change, but not impossible.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.