"BYU is one of those storied programs that you knew would never stay down," explained Long. "They have too many resources, too much tradition and history. They had a couple of bad years, but then Bronco is an excellent coach and he has all those other things. The tradition and history is as much a part of it as the financial.

" If you go to BYU, you are expected to win the conference championship, and the kids who go there understand that.

At our place, you have to teach them, hey, guess what, you can play with those guys. Now we know we can play, guess what, it's not good enough to finish fourth or fifth.

"We haven't got over that hump yet. At our place, we've been to more bowl games in the last seven years than in the history up to that time. But our guys are still saying, 'We're doing pretty good.' And I say, 'No we're not' (no conference title) and that's a pretty hard mindset to change."

The Utes? The last two losses to the Cougars provides Kyle Whittingham and his staff enough fuel to stoke up what they have shown they do best: Play the "Us Against the World Card."

He can make a case his teams in 2006 and 2007 should have gone 2-0 against the Cougars, but strange plays let wins get away.

It's a realistic painting he can etch and frame.

"There is no difference," he can argue to troops. Whittingham proved last year, through some hellish injuries, that he could rally a team from the dead after UNLV. Can the ammo from two heartbreaking injuries be the platform for clipping the Cougars in Rice Eccles Stadium in 2008?

Maybe.

Let this two-team race begin.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com