Steve Smith Sr. Refers To Utah Football As ‘Gremlins’ At Night

SALT LAKE CITY – If you’re a Utah football fan, you know Rice-Eccles Stadium gets rocking at night. You’re also probably a little proud of the chaos too since outsiders seem to have a different idea of what Utah is about until they experience it.

Former Utah football star and NFL legend Steve Smith Sr. had a funny take on what happens in Salt Lake when the sun goes down at RES referring to the Utes as “Gremlins”.

Obviously, if you are a fan of a certain age, you appreciate the reference from Smith Sr. to the ’80’s cult classic that is part horror story mixed with Christmas and some dark comedy.

Utah Legend Steve Smith Sr. on the most popular sports podcast in the world, Pardon My Take, talkin about how he’s a real Utah fan and how when the sun goes down in Rice Eccles we become Gremlins 😈😈 #GoUtes #IceUpSon pic.twitter.com/oJKgXp0si5

— D.B cUTEpper (@DB_cUTEpper) September 13, 2023

Mogwai, Gremlins, and Utah Football

“Gremlins” in their original form are a folklore that came about during WWII of mischievous, mythical creatures that caused technical malfunctions to the British Royal Airforce.

The movie took that concept and based it around main character Billy who received a cute, cuddly pet (a mogwai) his father bought from a Chinese pawn shop. The mogwai- named Gizmo, had some very specific rules of care that needed to be followed:

1. No sunlight. (It kills them.)
2. No water. (It multiplies them.)
3. Don’t feed it after midnight. (They go from cute, Furby-esque-like creatures to lizard-like demons called Gremlins.)

As you can well imagine, those rules were broken pretty quickly which is where the chaos of the story ensues.

Utah Football at night. #Gremlins https://t.co/q8SDbjLDVM pic.twitter.com/nU6sq9J3Vq

— christian judd (@christianmjudd) September 13, 2023

Why The Utes Are Like Gremlins

If we are looking at this from purely a fan perspective, let’s be real. Utah fans (mostly) don’t love day-games. Day games are inconvenient with kid activities and early in the season they can be kind of hot. So yeah, sunlight is a death sentence.

Utah fans also love themselves a good tailgate which means plenty of eats and drinks that gather the masses and get them pumped up and energized for game day.

WE’RE BACK. pic.twitter.com/ZqqtoW14Fp

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) August 31, 2023

If we are looking at this from a team perspective, well, Kyle Whittingham has built his brand on chaos plays on defense which is exactly what Gremlins do- cause chaos. Offensively, the Utes are opportunistic, also a Gremlin trait. Combine that with the crazy, watered, and fed fans hanging out in the dark?

Yup. This totally checks out. Steve Smith Sr. may be on to something here.

Michelle Bodkin is the Utah Utes Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of both the Crimson Corner Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and The Saturday Show (Saturday from 10 a.m.–12 p.m.) on The KSL Sports Zone. Follow her on X, Instagram, and Threads: @BodkinKSLsports

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