Top 10 local college football games of 2011

You should have included Southern Utah in that list.

Utes are in a re-tooling year......While BYU is ramping up.....

Utes may consider the Y the biggest game of the year.....but I doubt the Y considers lowly Utah their biggest game.......

I predict it will be over before half-time!

@TRUTH, care to wager on that prediction? BYU hasn't beaten Utah by more than 7 points since 1996. They've required a miracle in order to win every year since.

TRUTH,

BYU is breaking in a totally new offense with players who only managed a 7-6 record last season. Along with that, our defense is better than last year and we shut down your running game while significantly stalling your entire offense. You've bought into all the hype and I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. The Utes will take it in another close one.

We are a much better team than Utah. All 10 of the top games this year are the games BYU is playing.

@Mildred in Fillmore

That doesn't sound arrogant at all... Will you say that when Utah and USU have beaten the Cougs at home this year?

Whoa, simmer down the BCS talk already. This is turning into the "Quest for Perfection" debacle of a couple of years ago. If the Y gets one loss, bye-bye BCS. You might want to wait until at least October before thinking BCS.

Mildred says things tongue-and-cheek.

I like the selections. I might have included BYU and Utah State as an interesting local game in general, instead of Pitt-Utah, though as a Ute fan I am excited about that game.

Gonna be fun. 24 more hours....

It's not just the SEC speed, but the size of that speed.

BYU vs Utah is the #1 game only if both are undefeated going into the game. BYU vs TCU should be ranked much higher, probably #3.

If we're judging the Top Games by how many people will watch them, it'll be 1. BYU vs Texas, 2. BYU vs TCU, 3. BYU vs Ole Miss, 4. BYU vs Utah, 5. Utah vs USC, 6. BYU vs UCF, 7. BYU vs Hawaii.

@Truth
I can think of three games that are more important than the BYU game. USC, Arizona State, and Arizona. And just ignore Mildred.

You forgot about Southern Utah at Cal Poly on October 8th. This game is likely where the defense of their Great West Conference title will be won or lost.

Mormon Ute,

I respectfully disagree. BYU's offense struggled greatly early in the season because of the 2-QB system. After fixing that problem, it took the "new" offense a little while to click. This next year BYU returns basically that same offense that started to click and has been practicing for months (a new system, but similar enough to make a smooth transition). BYU's offense will be better. Utah's defense may have improved, but I believe BYU's improvement in the offers is greater than Utah's improvement in defense.

Also, BYU's defense will be much improved. Utah's offense was very questionable last year, and is questionable again this year. Like BYU, Utah has a new offensive system in place, but unlike BYU, last year's Utah team wasn't clicking on offense. They will likely struggle more than BYU will.

The fact that BYU lost by only one point after not one but several miracles in Utah's favor, at Utah, means that logically merely the change in home field will give BYU the edge even if no improvement is made on either side. Add to that that BYU is likely more improved overall, then only the rivalry factor will keep it close.

How is USU @ BYU not on this list? As far as local games go, this should be #2. USU has 10x the team they had last year, and they pwned BYU last year.

My my... All these Cougar fans were sorely mistaken. That must hurt!