NORTH SALT LAKE — Gordon Jensen was once a two-sport student-athlete at the University of Utah. The former Ute basketball and baseball player's oldest son, Justin, became the Sigma Chi fraternity president during his days on The Hill. Another of his boys, Jordan, also attended the U. for a while.

Like thousands of other fans, they'll be at Rice-Eccles Stadium for this Saturday's big rivalry game loudly cheering for their favorite team.

And BYU, no doubt, will be thankful for their support.

The Y. player sporting No. 35 and a former Cougarette will be especially appreciative.

Mary Jensen — Gordon's wife, the mother of BYU linebacker Cameron Jensen and a one-time Cougar drill-team member — loves having the whole family on the blue side of this divisive in-state showdown for a change. She's always rooted for BYU. Her reason, she jokes, is that "if you're going to go kill each other at least say a prayer before you go out and do it." So, yes, she's "entrenched" in this so-called Holy War.

"The U. has always been the enemy to me," she says. "Gordon's feelings toward the Y. were just the opposite. He loved the U."

That love might still exist, but none of the Jensens will be wearing red, rooting for his alma mater or clapping along to "Utah Man" this week.

"It'll be all Cougars," Gordon says.

Adds Mary with a smile: "They're going to be solidly in the blue camp."

Gordon's evolution to card-carrying Cougar Club member — for better or worse, depending on the color of your pompoms — comes from a man who nearly wasn't accepted by Mary's family because he was a Utah fan.

"It was a family joke: We'll convert him," Mary says.

The conversion process didn't happen until Cameron picked BYU over then-No. 1 Oklahoma, UCLA, Arizona and Urban Meyer's Utah after a stellar freshman season at Ricks College and an LDS mission in Russia. Becoming fully invested in BYU's football program — as they say in Provo — actually wasn't too tough. Gordon says his high level of commitment to the Cougars came quite naturally. He wasn't even "broken-hearted or really upset" as some assumed he might be.

"I feel fine because I prepared myself in advance (that) wherever he went he would be fine," he says. "Now I'm 100 percent behind him and the BYU program."

Though she hoped for the best, Mary says she was "fully prepared" for him to not go to BYU after the post-mission recruiting visits. At the time, the Cougars were last on his list. And Gordon was so impressed by Oklahoma's program, he actually wanted Cameron to play for the Sooners.