BYU 17, UCLA 16 - The Rematch!

My Dad and I travelled down to Las Vegas without the rest of the family this time. We were really excited to get down there. No, we did not ride our motorcycles down. :)

We stopped in Mesquite and went to a little tailgate party. The BYU bookstore was there giving flags to each car, so we picked one up. We also bought a few more for our bikes next year.

We stopped by our hotel and checked in real quick. We stayed at the Las Vegas Club hotel on Fremont St. It was a nice hotel and we got a $4 buffet with it. So, we went to the buffet right after that.

Right before the game we stopped by Circus Circus for the 2nd annual face painting. The picture explains it all.

My Dad and I had seats on the 9th row this time, so we could see a little bit more, but we still had to guess the yardage at times. We were right next to the band. In fact, we were so close that the picture you see was taken by a band member. I was getting very frustrated at the band. The instructor would blow the whistle during the plays and there were times that we thought the ref was calling the play dead. Then there were times that the band was playing while we were trying to hike it. That helped our O-Line hear the snap. One play it even caused a false start. Enough ranting about the band.

We took an early lead, but toward the end the game was so close, again! A dumb playcall at the end of the first half gave UCLA the ball off of a fumble and an opportunity to get back in the game. They took that opportunity and were successful. At the end of the game, UCLA had the ball and they were only down 16-17. They made a huge play to give them field goal position with little time left in the game. They lined up for the field goal and the crowd was loud. At this point, I'm not going to lie, I was thinking about how I was going to make it out of that stadium. I clasped my hands together as if I was praying and just hoped and wished. The ball was snapped... the kicker ran... and the ball was BLOCKED!! From our view you could see the tip and the ball start to fade. I started running toward the field and realized we had Binocculars. I ran back to help my Dad pick them up and we ran down to the field. Our aisle went straight down onto the field, so it was really easy. That was the end! We enjoyed the celebration on the field and kept saying "I can't believe it!". Matt Allen (BYU WR) gave a speech and asked "How many of you doubted, for a second, that we would block that?" My Dad and I just looked around and sort of whistled to ourselves as everyone else cheered. I know that everyone doubted it. If anything, that's a for sure win, especially when your kicker was on all game.

We spent the night in the hotel and headed back home after the game. Again, what a game!!