I finally attended my first college football and BYU game on Saturday.

You may be wondering, how I, a big football fan, went through college without going to a game. Well, it’s quite easy if you graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho.

The university ended its intercollegiate athletics programs in 2001, ending for me and thousands of other students the chance to have that on-campus football experience. So this season, my college roommate and I decided we’d go to our first college football game together and randomly picked Saturday’s BYU-Kansas game.

Here are the three things that stood out to me.

BYU likes fireworks

BYU has a thing for fireworks. This was actually my first observation.

It seemed that BYU was looking for any opportunity to incorporate pyros into the game. Fireworks lit up the dark sky, and they shot out of the BYU flags being carried on the field.

It was a little unnerving at first since the first and last time I’d been at LaVell Edwards Stadium was this summer for the Stadium of Fire. My sister and I were seated in next to one of the sections where the rogue fireworks hit.

But I eventually enjoyed that BYU was putting on a show, especially since the football team wasn’t.

The game itself was boring

I expected more excitement from a 9-0 team in its home stadium, especially since BYU was coming off a last-second win over its rival, but the play was lackluster for the most part.

Seated in the north end zone, we were ready for the Cougars to score another touchdown before the end of the first half. Instead, we were treated with an interception.

When the Cougars found themselves in the red zone in front of us again, they settled for a field goal.

Based on the volume of the cheers, it seemed that the most exciting part of the game came when there were just a few minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. By that point, we’d left our seats to use the bathroom before catching our bus to the Frontrunner station.

When I look back on Saturday night, I remember more of my conversations with my friend and our “Would you rather” questions than what actually happened in the game. Maybe it would be a different story if either of us grew up a BYU fan or were alums, but alas, we weren’t.

So find yourself a friend who comes up with creative “Would you rather” questions like, “Would you rather swim in guacamole or queso?” to keep you entertained during a boring and disappointing football game.

BYU fans are one of a kind

But the Cougars’ disappointing performance against Kansas won’t keep me away from LaVell Edwards Stadium in the future, and that’s thanks to the game-day atmosphere and the behavior of BYU fans.

The cheers from the fans in a sell-out crowd and the buy-in for the third down roar and first down signal all contributed to the fun game day atmosphere that made both my friend and I wish we’d attended a university where we could have went to games like this one — though we are ultimately happy with our decision to attend BYU-I — and enjoyed such camaraderie.

While there were several “dang its” when a play didn’t go the Cougars way, none of the BYU fans around us were bad-mouthing either team. Maybe they were all still hopeful for a last-minute comeback, but it was refreshing to be in a relatively optimistic crowd.

For me, it was the first time in a long time where a nearby obnoxious fan wasn’t ruining the game and experience. I’m not calling BYU fans perfect, but based on the fans seated around me, it’s no surprise that these were the fans who rallied around the fundraiser for the other Kansas school’s quarterback earlier this season.

While BYU likely isn’t proud of its performance on the field Saturday night, the university should be proud of its fans. As much as the lights, fire and stunts from Cosmo contribute to the game day atmosphere, it’s the fans that make or break the experience.