Brigham Young Cougars running back JJ Di Luigi (10) is stopped by the Ute defense in college football action in Salt Lake City, Utah, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News archives
The possible end of the BYU-Utah football rivalry is making headlines around the country.
The independent Cougars and Pac-12 member Utes are set to play in Salt Lake City in September, but there are no other games scheduled beyond that.
Writes Yahoo! Sports' Graham Watson: "This is not an issue of whether Utah can beat BYU or vice versa, it's about the mental energy expended leading up to that game. For an entire week, heck, even the few weeks leading up to the contest, that's all anyone will talk about across the state. It's a big deal, can consume both teams and manifest into the biggest game of the season even if it's only the third week of the year. So Utah gets all jacked up for the Holy War on Sept. 15 and could hit an emotional wall for its Pac-12 season opener against Arizona State the following week."
Meanwhile, former BYU running back Harvey Unga has been reinstated from the reserve/left squad list and is rejoining the Chicago Bears.
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Jeff Call has been a sportswriter for the Deseret News since 1997. He is the BYU beat writer and has been covering Cougar sports since 1993, when he served as sports editor at the Daily Universe. Call has written several more ..
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Ducky,
It just gets better and better with you. Utah as a PAC 12 school "needs" the game more than BYU? What possible convoluted logic gets you to that conclusion? It's easier for any school to book games early in the More..
@Whoop
It’s been quite a while since the BYU game meant the world to Utah fans, BYU fans just can’t admit that. BCS runs, BCS conference, all overshadow the rivalry game now for Utah, and it’s not even close. The BYU game has More..
@TJ
Let’s deal in facts, not opinions.
One year worth of data on the books, and Utah controlled their own destiny on the final day of the regular season to win the Pac-12 South. Completely contradicting your More..