The stage is enormous, even if the kickoff time is absurd.
BYU and Utah are set for a 10 a.m. start Saturday, a strange window for a rivalry game that has grown far beyond its old regional footprint. The 104th meeting between the schools arrives with national attention, top-10 rankings on both sides and a lot more at stake than bragging rights.
For the first time in the history of the rivalry, both teams are carrying top-10 rankings into the matchup. Utah comes in at No. 3 in the AP poll after an impressive road showing against Cincinnati, while BYU is No. 7 after not looking sharp since beating Notre Dame three weeks ago.
In the first College Football Playoff rankings, released Tuesday, Utah sits at No. 3 and BYU is No. 9.
That makes this more than just another chapter in an in-state feud. There has never been a BYU-Utah game with so much on the line - a path to the Big 12 championship, a berth in the College Football Playoff, elite national rankings.
Still, the start time has become its own story. This is not being played on Rivalry Weekend later this month, and it won’t be in primetime either. In fact, it’s the earliest start for the series since Nov. 23, 1996, and the first time in 30 years the game has kicked off at 10 a.m.
As soon as the time was announced, fans from both schools tried to push ABC/ESPN to move it to prime time. The effort went nowhere. TV, the de facto commissioner of college football, is keeping the early slot, a blunt reminder of who calls the shots.
The logistics are rough, too. The teams will have to arrive at the stadium at 7:35 a.m.
Utah officials are telling fans to be in their seats by 9:15. BYU fans will be leaving home in the dark, then trying to find parking at a stadium with scant facilities.
Even with the awkward timing, the game’s reach is bigger than ever. It will be one of several matchups the country is watching closely, alongside No.
1 Miami against No. 4 Notre Dame, which got the Saturday night stage.
The rise of both programs has made that possible. Utah and BYU have climbed into the national picture in a way that would have been hard to imagine in earlier eras.
In the first 102 years Utah played football, the Utes were in the top 20 for one week, back in 1947. BYU needed 52 years before cracking the top 20 in 1974.
Now they are regulars among the national powers. Utah has appeared in the weekly top-25 rankings 204 times, with all but one of those coming since 1994, and 22 of them arriving since the start of the 2025 season. BYU has shown up in the weekly top-25 rankings 315 times, all since 1974, including 71 in the last five seasons.
So yes, the kickoff time is wrong. It should have been better, at the very least a Saturday afternoon start. But for three hours Saturday, BYU and Utah will still own the spotlight, and the rest of the country will get a taste of a rivalry that has become a national event.
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Utah Just Landed A Huge Chance To Impress Alex Jensens Target
A busy stretch is ahead for Matija Lukic, and Utah is right in the middle of it. The Serbian prospect is set to make a whirlwind run of official visits over eight days, with stops that also include BYU, Boston College, Duke, N.C. State, North Carolina and UConn. For the Utes, it is a meaningful opportunity to make an impression on a player whose profile has been built well beyond the usual high school circuit.
Alex Jensen has already made it clear that European recruiting and the programs overseas connections matter in this chase, and Lukic fits that mold. He is coming off a strong international resume, including a silver medal with Serbia at the FIBA U17 World Cup, while also developing with Casademont Zaragoza in Spain. Utah gets its turn to sell itself in a crowded race, and the next few days could go a long way in showing where it stands. [Read more 🡒]
Utah Is Winning But One Problem Still Wont Go Away
Utah kept its unbeaten start intact at the Huntsman Center, beating Towson 67-57 in a game that looked comfortable at times and messy at others. The Utes leaned on defense and a useful lift from the bench, and they did enough to build a lead as large as 15 points while moving to 2-0.
Still, the win came with the kind of slippage that can linger if it does not get cleaned up quickly. Utah had to work through a turnover problem that repeatedly gave Towson extra chances and made a double-digit cushion feel less secure than it should have, even in a game the Utes were clearly in control of for much of the night. [Read more 🡒]
BYUs Holy War Path May Come Down To One Brutal Matchup
The build-up to this Holy War has plenty of familiar pressure points, but the most obvious one may be the ground game. Utahs defense has been stout against the run all season, and that matters because BYU has had trouble getting its rushing attack going. If the Utes can control that part of the field, it would force the Cougars into a tougher offensive script and put more weight on the passing game and the little edges that tend to decide rivalry nights.
For Utah, the other big swing factor is Devon Dampier, whose play at quarterback could help determine whether the Utes can keep enough balance on offense to match the stakes. Special teams and turnovers also loom large in a game with College Football Playoff implications and ranking consequences hanging over it. In a matchup this tight, the team that handles the hidden yards and the pressure moments may end up shaping the entire conversation. [Read more 🡒]