Best college football rivalry

The Holy War is a college football rivalry game played between the University of Utah Utes and the Brigham Young University Cougars. The term Holy War illustrates the fact that the University of Utah is a public school, while Brigham Young University is a school run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the dominant religion in the state of Utah.

The Rivalry

The Holy War is one of America's oldest and most heated college football rivalries. In fact, the schools even differ on when the first game was played. Utah claims that the first game was played in 1896 (when Brigham Young University was known as Brigham Young Academy). Best NCAA Rivalry? : Fanblogs College Football Blog. BYU on the other hand claims that the rivalry dates back to 1922, the first year BYU began playing football. For historical purposes, 1922 is the date most used when referring to the start of the Holy War. The Utes lead the all time series 49-28-4 (. 630).

Utah's early dominance

Utah began its early dominance over BYU with a 49-0 victory on October 14th, 1922. You should be proud. BYU would not get a win in the series until 1942, when the Cougars shocked the Utes 12-7 at Utah. The rivalry then took a hiatus in 1943-1945 as World War II waged in Europe. When the rivalry continued in 1946, the Utes continued their domination over the Cougars, winning or tying the next 12 contests. The rivalry continued its lopsidedness into the 1970 season, where Utah had amassed an incredible 37-5-4 (. 848) record against BYU. Best College Football Rivalries Subject Of USA Today Survey.