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BYU Football: Are we undervaluing the Utah game?

By Adam Gibby

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - NOVEMBER 24: Matt Bushman #89 of the Brigham Young Cougars catches a pass over Cody Barton #30 of the Utah Utes in the second half of a game at Rice-Eccles Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - NOVEMBER 24: Matt Bushman #89 of the Brigham Young Cougars catches a pass over Cody Barton #30 of the Utah Utes in the second half of a game at Rice-Eccles Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images) /
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SALT LAKE CITY, UT – NOVEMBER 24: Solomon Enis #21 of the Utah Utes cannot catch this end zone pass while being defended by Keenan Ellis #30 of the Brigham Young Cougars in the second half of a game at Rice-Eccles Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – NOVEMBER 24: Solomon Enis #21 of the Utah Utes cannot catch this end zone pass while being defended by Keenan Ellis #30 of the Brigham Young Cougars in the second half of a game at Rice-Eccles Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images) /

As much as fans of BYU Football have been talking about the Utah game in 52 days, are we undervaluing how big of a game it actually is?

In 2009 BYU Football took down No. 3 Oklahoma in one of the biggest and best games in BYU history. To this day, that game is looked back as one of the highlights of BYU Football alongside the Miracle Bowl, the 1984 National Championship and the Beck to Harline moments.

This season, BYU is looking at playing Utah in the first game of the season. While the hype of the rivalry is there and the excitement and hope of ending the streak is higher than ever before, are we undervaluing this game?

Yesterday, Phil Steele, a very respected college football analyst, released his Top 25 teams and released Utah as the 8th best team in the nation. Granted, Phil Steele is not the AP poll or the final preseason ranking, but his influence is in the same boat as Joe Lunardi and Adam Schefter.

I do not believe that Utah is going to be ranked No. 8 in the preseason rankings, but that influence from Steele could propel them to being perhaps a top 12 team. If the team was anyone but Utah how big would the hype be around this game?

We are talking about a team that was one win away from playing in the Rose Bowl last season. A team that BYU was beating on their home field by 20 points with less than 17 minutes left in the game last season. A team that in likelihood will be playing for the Pac 12 Championship again because they have the weakest schedule in the conference in the weakest division. This is a really good team that BYU is playing and we are completely ignoring that.

We just say, it is Utah.

If this was Florida or Michigan the hype would be crazy. How did BYU get so lucky to get a primetime game on ESPN against a top team like them in the first week at HOME!? The bottom line is, this game is the biggest home opener for BYU since they played No. 4 Washington in 1997 and the biggest win since 1996 when they beat No. 13 Texas A&M.

As fans we need need to stop just seeing this as just a game against Utah or a rivalry. This is a potential Top 15 ranked team coming to LES on opening week during primetime on ESPN when there is no other major sport event going on at the same time. This isn’t just the Holy War, this is a huge opportunity and we aren’t appreciating that enough.

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