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BYU vs Utah: A Historic Battle of Culture, Football, and State Pride
- BYU has won the last two meetings, but Utah has led the all-time series in the Holy War.
- The Cougars and Utes are conference rivals again, as both now play in the Big 12.
- Things got heated in the most recent game between BYU and Utah.
A sign that a rivalry is red hot comes when the two teams have different series records. In the BYU vs. Utah football rivalry, Utah has the series record of 62-36-4 in favor of the Utes. BYU’s accounting in the BYU vs. Utah game history subtracts three Utah wins and three BYU losses.
Each team has had a nine-game winning streak. The last time that happened was from 2010 to 2019 when Utah won each of those nine games in one of the college football rivalries you need to know.
BYU is coming off an 11-win season, while Utah struggled to a 5-7 mark during the 2024 season. Both teams are priced at +15000 in the odds of winning the national title. Get ready for the latest installment of the Holy War when Utah plays at BYU on Oct. 18.
Keep reading to learn more about the BYU vs Utah rivalry.
The Holy War Has A Spirited History
A Look At The Rivalry
The Holy War refers to the BYU and Utah rivalry in all sports. In the 1990s, it became a part of the football rivalry.
The Holy War moniker comes from the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns BYU. Utah’s student population has a large percentage of students who belong to the LDS Church, even though it is a public institution.
Some might consider the football matchups between Boston College and Notre Dame the “Holy War.” Don’t try telling that to people who live in Utah.
There is a dispute about when the series started.
BYU records the 1922 meeting as its first with Utah. However, Utah records count the three wins and three losses from the 1890s.
Back Together Again
BYU and Utah spent many years as conference rivals. It started in the Western Athletic Conference. BYU won a record 19 WAC football championships, and Utah won two WAC championships.
While BYU played in two of the three WAC Championship Games, those games did not feature a showdown with Utah.
Both teams became Mountain West members beginning with the 1999 season. From 1999 to 2008, BYU and Utah combined to win 10 Mountain West football titles. The rivals shared the Mountain West title with Colorado State during the 1999 season.
BYU won outright titles in 2001, 2006, and 2007, and Utah did the same in 2003, 2004, and 2008.
BYU spent the years after its time in the Mountain West Conference. That changed when the Cougars became a member of the Big 12 beginning in the 2023 season. Utah joined the Big 12 a year later as the Pac-12 imploded. Now the Utah vs BYU series is back.
Edwards Turns Things Around
Utah leads the series by a comfortable margin. The win-loss numbers would be much more lopsided if BYU hadn’t hired Lavell Edwards as its head coach.
With Edwards leading the way and featuring future NFL quarterbacks Jim McMahon and Steve Young, BYU went 19-2 against Utah from 1972 to 1992.
Another shift in the series came with Utah hiring Urban Meyer as the head coach. He wouldn’t let his players refer to the Cougars as BYU or Brigham Young.
Instead, BYU was referred to as the “Team Down South.”
Meyer wasn’t at Utah long, but it was long enough. His two seasons and two wins against the “Team Down South” were part of a run of 14 wins in 17 games.
Let’s Go Bowling
Utah and BYU did not play scheduled games during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. That was not the case in 2015, as the Las Vegas Bowl featured a matchup between the BYU Cougars and the Utah Utes.
Utah won the game 35-28. The regular-season meetings resumed nine months later.
There was another pause in the series. The teams did not play in 2020 due to the global pandemic. After BYU’s 26-17 win in 2021, the teams did not meet again until 2024, when the Cougars won 22-21 in a Big 12 game.
Holy War Gets Heated
Nothing was holy about how things went down in the most recent meeting. A defensive holding penalty aided BYU as Utah appeared to clinch the victory with a sack on fourth down.
The penalty extended the drive, which was capped by a field goal to give the Cougars the one-point lead. That would be the final score in the 22-21 BYU victory.
Utah athletic director Mark Harlan not only went onto the field to confront one of the officials but also ripped the officials in a press conference.
The Big 12 fined and reprimanded Harlan for his actions. Utah fans expressed their displeasure as well. One fan threw a water bottle that hit BYU cheer coach Jocelyn Allan in the head. The fan was arrested for his actions.
