Who is Utah Football’s rival and why?

[Tony (admin)]

I love bashing byu as much as anyone, probably more. But in my mind they’re no longer our rival. To me USC is our rival now. They are the ones, like byu was in the WAC and Mt West days, that stand in the way of us winning our conference every season. We already have a solid grudge match against them and the games are usually close. 

So what are your thoughts?  Who do you consider our football rival and why? 

[Utes99]

I agree from a sense that I view USC as our biggest test each year, and it’s the game to which I most look forward.  Last year’s loss was one of the most brutal of my fandom (national TV, had a real chance at the end…etc.).  

My only question:  Does USC view us as their rival?

[Tony (admin)]

I don’t think USC considers us their main rival. I do think they consider us a valid threat and a pain in the ass. You’d have to go perhaps Notre Dame for the history and all.  In conference UCLA, though UCLA hasn’t been much of a threat lately.

[Utes99]

All true.  Notre Dame is their biggest rival, traditionally, and for good reason.  All the same, I do look forward to that game more than any other each year.  

[Anonymous]

No. USC rivals, in order:  Notre Dame, UCLA, Stanford, whichever team is next in their way. 

[Dwight89]

Are they really our rival if they don’t view us as their rival, though? 

BYU is still our biggest rival. Has the rivalry changed? Sure. In my experience the fan board diehards tend to be the only ones with your viewpoint. Everyone else loves the Holy War and looks forward to it every year.

Bring on the downvotes for spitting the truth.

[Tony (admin)]

Do I love beating byu? Of course. But beating them does not have any bearing on our conference standing or anything much anymore. The importance level of the game is minimal comparatively to any in-conference game. Sure there’s the history and all, but there’s NOTHING on the line when we play them, except the possibility of losing and watching the zoobs beat their chests until the next time we play them. 

[UtMtBiker]

That’s enough for me. I still see them as our biggest Rival.  Conference standing has nothing to do with a rivalry for me.  If that were the case I’d go with Colorado. Remember they have kept us out of the P12 title game more that USC has.  

[CincyUte]

rival
[rahy-vuh l]
noun

• a person who is competing for the same object or goal as another, or who tries to equal or outdo another; competitor.
• a person or thing that is in a position to dispute another’s preeminence or superiority:a stadium without a rival.

Does this really describe BYU’s relationship to Utah anymore?

[UtMtBiker]

Yes. A win streak doesn’t end a true rivalry. My hatred for BYU runs deep and I know a lot of Utah fans who feel the same way.  It goes beyond Websters definition of “rival”.  

Who consults a dictionary to determine which football team is their rival.  Common.  

[CincyUte]

Many losing arguments begin with: “who consults a dictionary . . .?”

[EagleMountainUte]

You will find the game to be very irrelevant this season trust me. 

[ironman1315]

USC is the biggest roadblock. But BYU is the rival. That’ll change, but it’ll take time. Rivalries require decades worth of meaningful games to become a rivalry.

[Tony (admin)]

Agree. I think we are closing the gap with USC. Not sure we can ever get there though, because well, they’re USC and we’re not. 

[Distantute]

BYU barely registers with me.  They are no different than Utah state in my eyes, but maybe that’s because I haven’t lived in Utah for 20 years now.  Out of sight out of mind I guess.  Maybe if they were better 

[Dwight89]

Exactly. I could see an argument for USC becoming a big rivalry down the road. And I could also see an argument that the BYU/Utah rivalry is starting to fade. 

 

But, for now, BYU is Utah’s biggest rival. 

[RiseasUtes]

BYU-p, rivalries take a long time to build and there has to be emotion involved in it.  USC we have had some good games with, but I would hardly call them a rivalry up to this point.  BYU hates us and we hate them, we may form some rivalries over time in the PAC, but they aren’t there yet.

[EagleMountainUte]

Agree in my eyes it is USC. Yet they don’t view us that way. It is by this logic TDS views us as their rival. 

I think many fans view tds as a rival. Besides a few recruits and a meaningless OOC game they don’t compete with Utah for anything anymore.  Reality is majority of fans are excited about the USC and Washington games this year. If Utah wins the south before the Tds game it will further the downward trend of fans realizing the meaningless of playing TDS. We will realize the risk of putting that game to end the year risking injury after they play for a P12 title a week later. At least that is my hope. 

Still some fans will view it is as our rivalry because they like to bag on Mormons. 

[KoolWhitt]

It is important for conference championship purposes that we beat our biggest divisional threat each year, and yes, that is usually USC.  Southern CA is also a gold mine for recruiting, which adds an additional incentive to beat USC as much as possible.

That said, I think your rival is the team you can’t stand losing to.  The team who’s fan base you absolutely can’t stand to see celebrating at your expense.  The team you can’t root for no matter what.  And that, for us, is still BYU.

Also, as a native of LA, I can assure you that USC’s rival is UCLA.  They see us and a few other teams as an annual battle and important game, but they hate the Bruins.

[AlohaUte]

I’m actively embracing Colorado as our rival. I know that it is not there yet, but it has the most long-term potential and there are enough similarities between the schools and states that there are petty things for us to bash about.

BYU is right now our main rival and will be for a while, but last year’s win was the first time I thought, “meh, maybe we don’t need to play BYU forever.” (though for the record, I do fully support them being on our schedule every year for the foreseeable future…until the gap is just too wide).

No way USC is our rival. Rivalry’s aren’t rivalries when its one sided. If you polled the whole pac-12 south, they would all say USC is in their top-2 rivals. I’d argue that Arizona is becoming a solid rival as we struggle with them for some reason (especially in Tucson) and in basketball we are slowly becoming a tier-2 team in the conference and thus close to competing with them in BBall.

[Tony (admin)]

AlohaUte you bring up an interesting perspective. Does the “rival” change based on sport?  In the MWC and WAC days byu was our rival in just about every sport.  But now I’d consider Arizona our basketball rival and USC our football rival.  

[Staples]

I would definitely say non-geographical rivalries can change by sport, even within a conference. We’ll always be rivals with BYU in every sport because of proximity, but look at the WAC/MWC days – a very heated rivalry with New Mexico in basketball that wasn’t nearly as intense in football (despite their penchant for dealing us a WTF loss every few years.) Personally I’ve already developed more of a dislike for several of the schools in basketball (Arizona, Oregon, and yes Colorado) than any of the football programs.

[Johnny80]

Agreed. It’s The University of Spoiled Children. They are always the south opponent that I have circled on the calendar. Plus beating them looks really good for recruiting and national exposure. 

[BulgieUte]

“To me USC is our rival now. They are the ones, like byu was in the Wac and Mt West days, that stand in the way of us winning our conference every season.” Did you even think about that statement before typing it? Sure USC is standing in our way but you make it sound as if they are the only one as was often the case with byu and the mountain west. 

A little advice for everyone, stop bringing byu into any conversation involving the PAC12. Even situations like this one that attempt to relate to byu will have no comparison to PAC12 dynamics. It’s a whole different world that byu just doesn’t belong in. I’m not saying that out of hate for byu, it’s just reality. We’ve had 7 years to figure out the “PAC12 world” it’s time for everybody to catch up.

Colorado is the closest thing to a rival that we have but IMO it’s not a true rivalry. The potential is there but it just isn’t quite a rivalry yet.

 

[Tony (admin)]

No I didn’t think about that statement before I typed it. It typed itself.  For most of our tenure in the Pac12, a USC loss has been either directly or indirectly related to our chances of winning the south. Yes they are not the only team in the south, but if we don’t beat them it’s much more difficult to win the south unless they have a bad year.

[EagleMountainUte]

In 2012 it was Colorado and Coleman Peterson. 2016 Utah screwed the pooch against Oregon I want to say. Last year Utah lost quite a bit six times to be exact. 

[ironman1315]

To counter, if we had beaten SC in 2012 we would have been in. And we almost did, if memory serves.

[EagleMountainUte]

Lined up incorrectly on the tying FG. If memory serves correctly. Blocked. 

[EagleMountainUte]

BUT like I said Coleman Peterson sinks a couple of chips shots in NEZ Utah was in the title game wins the south. 

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

That wad 2011, not 2012

[BulgieUte]

Utah’s best season was 6-3 in the PAC12 and a win against USC would have put us in but so would not losing to either UA or UCLA, so once out of 7 years did the south come down to USC vs Utah.  Also we have beat USC twice and it meant nothing in regards to Utah winning the PAC12 south. I understand the importance of beating USC but you over state it, especially in comparison to beating byu in the Mtn West days. Besides that in no way shape or form does USC see us as a rival. To say as much is just as dillusional as byu fans saying byu is still on Utah’s level.

2011_4-5

2012_3-6

2013_2-7

2014_5-4 (beat USC)

2015_6-3

2016_5-4(beat USC)

2017_3-6

 

[jrj84105]

USC isn’t our rival, because it’s not equally reciprocated.

Colorado is our rival, but it’s a wholesome affair.

But you know which fanbase is really salty towards Utah: Arizona State. Read any r/CFB post saying something good about Utah and there will be a handful of salty ASU fans commenting. Plus their fans are easily the worst Mormon bashers in the PAC, so I think our ALUF population will find them easy to dislike.

[tarheelute]

Agreed – Similar teams in many respects, both relying on defense, theirs smallish and fast, the Utes big and getting faster. It looked like the Utes had turned the corner, until the debacle at home last year.

2011 L 35-14
2012 L 37-7
2013 L 20-19
2014 L 19-16 OT
2015 W 34-18
2016 W 49-26 (Great game in their stadium)
2017 L 30-10 (Worst game last year, and at home)

This years game will be brutal and singularly impactful on each’s other’s season. Our best and future rival? – I believe so.

[FormerUteSax]

Those damn dirty buffaloes…

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

I call them the Doobie Zoobies

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