In the last 14 contests, each team has 7 wins

PROVO — Since 1990, BYU and Utah have met 14 times on the football field, with each team winning seven games.

In fact, nine of the past 11 contests in this bitter rivalry haven't been decided until the fourth quarter, and most of those came down to the closing minutes or seconds. The average margin of victory in this series since 1997 is 4.4 points and the widest margin of victory in those seven contests is seven points.

You probably can't find a college football rivalry much closer than that.

But could this be the year the trend of close games and thrilling finishes comes to an end? After all, fifth-ranked Utah (10-0), which hosts a mediocre BYU (5-5) squad Saturday, is a 21 1/2-point favorite.

Not to mention the Utes have been winning games by an average of 25 points this season.

The last time there was a blowout in this series was 1996, when then-No. 8 BYU, which was harboring hopes of a Fiesta Bowl bid, registered a dominating 37-17 victory at Utah.

This week, the Utes have plenty riding on the outcome: a possible Bowl Championship Series berth (a feat never accomplished by a non-BCS team), a top-five ranking and a perfect season.

The Cougars, who fell to New Mexico at home last Saturday, has a lot at stake, too. With a win, BYU would become bowl-eligible, would avoid its third straight losing season and would hand the Utes their most devastating defeat in school history.

As the cliche goes, anything can happen in a rivalry game.

"I've grown up with (the rivalry)," said Ute cornerback Bo Nagahi, who prepped at Skyline High. "It doesn't matter what's on the line or who's ranked where. It's rivalry week."

To explain why this series has been so close in recent years, both BYU coach Gary Crowton and Utah coach Urban Meyer point to its history. Both coaches acknowledge that their predecessors, LaVell Edwards and Ron McBride, had a lot to do with making the rivalry what it is today.

"This wasn't a rivalry until the 1990s," Meyer said. "Before that (BYU) won for 20 years and before that Utah won most of the time. Rivalries aren't one-sided. We admire the staff that was here before us for making this a rivalry again."