This game means more for BYU
Utah doesn’t have the talent this year to run through the Pac 12 and get into the College Football Playoff or New Year Six Bowl as an at-large. Aside from that, this game will have no effect on whether they make a NY6 or not. They will either win the Pac 12 Championship game, or they won’t.
The reality is, I just don’t see how Utah is going to take down Arizona State, USC, UCLA, Oregon and probably Oregon again in the Pac 12 Championship game. This Utah teams seems to be one year away from being really good again, but it won’t be this year.
Bottom line, Utah wants to win this game, but they don’t need to in order to be just fine.
BYU has everything to play for. If the Cougars can beat Utah, they are looking at being a Top 25 team with a really good shot of being a Top 15 team if they can then go on to beat Arizona State. Suddenly, BYU is very much in the discussion for a NY6.
For BYU Football, this game is everything. A chance to be relevant again and more importantly to finally end the streak. Players, coaches and the media may not say it publicaly, but BYU wants to win this game more than any other game all year.