SALT LAKE CITY-Saturday, BYU and Utah reconvene for the “Holy War,” as the teams meet for the 98th time in a series dating back to 1922.
The Utes have dominated this series of late as they have won eight of the last nine overall and have an all-time series lead of 60-34-4.
BYU’s athletic department considers this a 57-31-4 series lead for Utah as they do not acknowledge the years of athletic competition when the institution was known as “Brigham Young Academy.”
The Cougars last defeated the Utes in 2009 and in Salt Lake City in 2006.
The Utes lead the all-time series at Salt Lake City 39-17-3.
Utah, fresh off of clinching a Pac-12 South title by virtue of Oregon’s 31-29 win over Arizona State Saturday, leads the nation in red zone defense as they only allow touchdowns on 59.4 percent of times the opponent gets inside their 20-yard line.
The Utes are also fifth nationally in rushing defense (95.5 yards per game) and tied for sixth in the country in tackles for loss (8.1 such stops per game).
This will be Utah’s Senior Day and 14 will be honored, including All-American candidates in punter Mitch Wishnowsky and kicker Matt Gay. In honor of the rivalry game, the Utah athletic department has declared this game a red-out and encourages all of the Utes faithful to wear red attire.
This senior class at Utah has gone 34-16 (.666) and 3-0 in bowl games.
The Cougars come into this game at 6-5 and with the 45-10 win over New Mexico State last Saturday on their Senior Day, are now bowl eligible.
In what has been a mercurial season for the Cougars, a win over their bitter rivals would leave a positive taste in the mouths of the BYU faithful. However, across the board in Las Vegas, the sports-books have made Utah a 13.5-point favorite as of Monday afternoon.
