Pac-12 Home Opener for Utah – A Long Deserved Celebration

A major event will draw attention to downtown Salt Lake City this weekend. It’s one that happens every 6 months and anyone from this region of the country is familiar with – the LDS Church General Conference.

However, a major event of a different variety will also take place this weekend just up the hill from downtown. This one will likely have a much more festive and celebratory feel to it. The University of Utah will play their first home game in the Pac-12 this weekend against Washington. Saturday will be a monumental day for the program and Salt Lake City, win or lose. Living in Salt Lake, it’s been fun to see the build up to this game and this moment.

It’s amazing to think how far the Utah football program has come in just the last 15-20 years. It was not long ago that the U was playing bad football in a broken-down stadium. Then Ron McBride became head coach in 1990 and had a break out year in 1994. Utah continued to win much more consistently through the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The Olympics came to town in 2002 and brought about a face lift to the now named, Rice-Eccles Stadium.

From there, the Utes have just played tremendous football. Multiple bowl wins and 2 of them of the BCS variety, and finally the ultimate show of respect – inclusion in a BCS conference. If you’re a Ute fan, you should really be proud of what the program has accomplished. Saturday should be a great celebration of all the Ute’s success.

Check out this article by Lya Wodraska of the Salt Lake Tribune:

Utah football: Utes buzzing over first Pac-12 home game

(Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo) There’s an excited buzz around the U. of U. campus as the Utes prepare to host their first Pac-12 game Saturday.