All across the country, college football fans are craving on-field action.
Roster rumors are swirling, football practice is in full swing and position battles are raging. In Provo, the anticipation is palpable. On Wednesday night, BYU’s 22nd annual Cougar Kickoff added more fuel to the fanatic fire.
Over 3,500 fans crowded the lawn at Helaman Field on BYU’s campus. The sea of royal blue was treated to food carts, inflatable slides, a small mini golf course and a chance to interact with student-athletes.
Various teams had tents spread out among the attractions where fans could get their memorabilia signed by their favorite players.
Two of those players were Bear Bachmeier and his older brother Tiger, who stayed past 9 p.m. to make sure they signed every poster and jersey that they could.
Gage Peterson, a fan from Lehi, Utah, was dressed head-to-toe in BYU gear, including a game-worn jersey his grandfather gifted to him. On his head he wore a hat embroidered with a panoramic view inside LaVell Edwards Stadium. With a smile on his face, Peterson described what Cougar Kickoff and the last two weeks before the football season feel like.
“The magic in the air, you can tell it just shifts.” he said. “Everyone’s just excited for the games.”
All around, kids ran from inflatable to inflatable, some tripping over their oversized No. 47 football jerseys. Players and Cosmo the Cougar milled around, taking pictures with fans and trading high-fives.
In the throng, JR Thompson sported a classic royal blue hat, shirt, socks and shoes. Thompson came to BYU in 1978 as a freshman and has watched the Cougars ever since. He has seen BYU football at its peak in 1984 when it won a national championship, his favorite season of all time.
Thompson doesn’t have a particular game circled on his calendar at home. He has all of them circled. Along with his circled Saturdays are big expectations for the upcoming season.
“It’s going to be an exciting time and I hope we run the gauntlet this year, like we did last year," he said. "And I hope this year we beat Texas Tech. That would be my heyday.”
BYU doesn’t take on Texas Tech in the regular season, so for Thompson’s dream to come true, the Cougars will have to make another run to the conference championship — a tall task.
That task rests on the shoulders of sophomore quarterback Bachmeier, who was by far the most talked-about player among the fans interviewed.
Conner Latowski, a BYU student from Canada, is especially excited to see Bachmeier back in action. So much so that he is already trying to buy a ticket to the Notre Dame game, a matchup he deemed as “the new rivalry.”
The Oct. 18 matchup against Notre Dame was far and away the most talked about game by fans at Cougar Kickoff. The Cougars and the Fighting Irish last played in Provo in 2004, a game that BYU won.
The lone exception was Darren Bedke and his two sons, who have a different game circled on their calendar.
“Beating the Utes,” they said in almost perfect unison.
“I’ve got a special place in my heart for the Holy War,” Bedke said.