Rivalry week

RIVALRY FACT

Potent offenses by both teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s made for some high-scoring rivalry games. The Scott Mitchell-led Utes put up 57 points on BYU in 1998. BYU answered with a 70-31 win in Provo the following season.

Since that game, seven straight contests were played where the winning team scored at least 30 points. That included two straight 34-31 classic Utah wins.

However, low scoring games have become the norm. Since 1997, only one Utah-BYU game (2000) featured a winning score of more than 30 points. The past two years, the offenses have been particularly dismal. BYU hasn't managed a touchdown against Utah since 2001. Utah has scored only one touchdown in that stretch. The low-scoring trend culminated in last year's 3-0 Utah win in Provo. That game ended BYU's NCAA record 361 consecutive games without getting shut out.

CLASSIC CONTEST

1987: BYU 21, Utah 18: Utah had been close in previous years, and a year later the Utes would break through with a 57-28 win in Salt Lake City. This game, however, was merely another heartbreaker.

The difference was a Leonard Chitty field goal from 34 yards out with eight minutes left in the game. BYU could not produce an offensive touchdown in the second half but held on to win the annual rivalry game for the ninth straight time, 21-18, in Cougar Stadium.

Utah struck first on a 49-yard pass from Chris Mendonca to Cliff Smith. BYU answered on a 73-yard drive capped by a Mike O'Brien 7-yard touchdown run, but a missed extra point kept Utah in the lead, 7-6.

Utah bailed itself out when a Mendonca fumble at the 5-yard line led to a goal-line stand by the Utes, who then took the ball down for a field goal and a 10-6 lead. But the Cougars regained the lead before the half when Sean Covey found David Miles for a short catch, long run and a score.

While Utah's inept defense, ranked 103rd in the country, was busy frustrating the Cougars in the second half, BYU's defense came up with a big play of its own. Rodney Thomas intercepted a Mendonca pass and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown and an 18-10 lead.

BYU, though, lost its quarterback when Covey was knocked unconscious while throwing an interception. After Covey was taken off the field in an ambulance, Utah took the ball down for the tying score (a 1-yard run by Mendonca) and two-point conversion (Scott Mitchell to Dennis Smith).

Former starter Bob Jensen saved the game for BYU when he ran 42 yards to set up the game-winning field goal.