Little known facts for a rivalry game

• Between 1922 and 1964, BYU beat Utah a grand total of two times, 12-7 in 1942 and 14-7 in 1958.

• Between 1972 and 1992, Utah beat BYU a grand total of two times, 23-22 in 1978 and 57-28 in 1988.

• In 1942, when BYU beat Utah for the first time (according to the Cougars' record book), the Cougars' head coach was 31-year-old Floyd Millet, who was filling for a year while coach Eddie Kimball was in the service. The Cougars finished just 2-5 that year and shut down the football program for three years until World War II ended.

• The most successful coach in the rivalry was Utah's Ike Armstrong, who went 18-1-3, although Jack Curtice and Urban Meyer were both unbeaten at 7-0-1 and 2-0, respectively, along with BYU's Millet (1-0). BYU's most successful coach, of course, was LaVell Edwards, who was 22-7 against Utah.

• BYU's largest margin of victory was the 56-6 win in 1980 behind Jim McMahon. Utah's largest margin was a 49-0 victory in 1922.

• Utah's highest score in the series came in 1988 when Scott Mitchell led the Utes to a 57-28 victory. Just a year later, BYU put its highest scoring total on the Utes with a 70-31 victory behind future Heisman winner Ty Detmer.

• Since 1988, the series stands 10-10. Since 1998, it is 5-5.

• Aside from Utah's big victory in its unbeaten 2004 season, the other 10 Utah-BYU games since 1997 have been decided by a touchdown or less.

I have no idea who will win this year's game. But it should be another epic BYU-Utah battle Saturday, perhaps the best ever.

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E-mail: sor@desnews.com