SMU Surprised To See All The Wives Of BYU Players At Bowl Game: 'That's Different'

BYU football's traveling party bowl games is unlike any other given the fact that many of the players are married with kids. The Cougars brought their families with them to the New Mexico Bowl and it caught SMU off guard.

According to KSL Sports, BYU needed not one but two planes to carry the football team, staff, and their spouses.

A total of 25 wives made the trip to the bowl game and they're having fun seeing SMU's reaction to them being around the team.

“It’s fun, and it’s always funny the other team’s reactions seeing the players bring wives to these events. It’s a good time,” Alaina Pestana, wife to BYU defensive end Tyler Batty, said.

SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai shared that none of his teammates are married and joked that it is a bit odd seeing a team he's about to compete against already with wives and kids.

“Yes,” Mordecai said with a smile when asked if it was different to see BYU players with wives. “And they had kids too. We have a few guys on the team that have kids, maybe like three or four. But yeah, that’s different.”

Different is a good adjective to describe BYU.

The private university is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and 98 percent of the students enrolled are Mormon. The majority of young Mormon men go on lengthy mission trips after graduating high school which means most members of the BYU football team are much older than their counterparts.

Typically they return from their mission trips ready to find a wife as they start their college journey in Provo.

With all of that in mind, it's a safe bet there will be more BYU fans in attendance for the New Mexico Bowl than SMU supporters.