I am the biggest BYU football nerd of all time. Ever since 2005, I have remembered the scores of every single BYU football game, and I have not forgotten any of them. You would not believe how many nights I've laid awake playing little games in my head using those football scores. I even decided to memorize the results between 2001 and 2004 as well so I have more to play with. In doing so, I've made some interesting, random observations. Today, I had an idea: Why not share some of those observations as well as some others I've come up with?
Most of this is stuff I've come up with using publicly available information, but I'll make sure to give credit to others whenever I need to. For the idea itself, I have to give some credit to youtuber Austin McConnell, who has created multiple videos called " of Useless Information" where he shares useless yet interesting information about a large variety of things. I also have to give some credit for the idea of sharing useless information to literally every single person who argued that BYU didn't deserve to make the college football playoff last year
Let's start with something simple. After BYU beat Utah 24-21 in 2001, BYU did not have any more 24-21 games until 2010. However, since 2010, BYU has had 7 games end with that score: 2010 against San Diego St, 2011 against Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl, 2012 against Utah, 2016 against Wyoming in the Poinsettia Bowl, 2018 against Wisconsin, and 2025 against Colorado and Utah. BYU won all of those games except the 2012 game against Utah. In total, BYU and Utah have had three games end 24-21 this century.
Now for some coin toss trivia, courtesy of Greg Wrubel. During the Kalani Era (2016-2025), every single time that BYU has won the coin toss, they have elected to defer. The last time they won the coin toss and elected to receive was 2015 against Wagner.
Between 2001 and 2005, in BYU's games against UNLV and New Mexico, the home team was 0-10. Also, between 1995 and 2000, in the Holy War, the home team was 0-6.
In 2004, all 11 of BYU's games were against teams they had played in 2003. The only team BYU played in 2003 that they didn't play in 2004 was Georgia Tech.
If you're an ultra-conservative, you'll love this one: In 2003, BYU's first four games were against Georgia Tech, USC, New Mexico, and Stanford. The first letter of each of those teams spells the word "Guns". (This helped me in memorizing this season.)
Since coming back from down 27 to beat Utah St in 2002, BYU has not come back from down more than 14 to win a game. However, they have come back from down exactly 14 six times, and three of those were this last season. In fact, they did it in every four games: the fourth game against Colorado, the eight game against Iowa St, and the twelfth game against UCF. The other three times were 2015 against East Carolina and Cincinnati and 2023 against Arkansas.
In 2002, BYU had four consecutive road games against Nevada, Georgia Tech, Utah St, and Air Force. Since then, they have never had more than two consecutive road games. However, during that time, they have had 11 seasons with three consecutive home games and 2 seasons with four consecutive home games. Those two seasons were 2011 (Utah, UCF, Utah St, San Jose St) and 2015 (UConn, East Carolina, Cincinnati, Wagner). Kudos to Tom Holmoe for making sure BYU never had to play too many road games in a row.
In every season since 2011, BYU has played exactly one FCS team. Kudos to Tom Holmoe for recognizing that this is the optimal strategy since you can only count one FCS win towards bowl eligibility.
Prior to 2024, BYU had not scored a special teams touchdown since Adam Hine's kickoff return touchdown against Virginia in 2014. However, in 2024 and 2025 alone, BYU had 7 special teams touchdowns.
Prior to 2014 BYU hadn't played a team nicknamed the Tigers since 1983 when they played Missouri in the Holiday Bowl. Between 2014 and 2017, BYU played four different teams nicknamed the Tigers: Savannah St and Memphis in 2014, Missouri in 2015, and LSU in 2017. Since then, they have gone back to not playing any Tiger teams. (Possibly because they were 1-3 in those games with their only win coming against the FCS team.)
The next few are specifically about the Holy War:
In the 2006 Holy War (Beck-to-Harline), all 24 first half points were scored in the south endzone, and 33 of the 40 second half points were scored in the north endzone. In the 2009 Holy War, all 19 first half points were in the north endzone, and all 21 second half points were in the south endzone. (This is not including overtime.) In the 2025 Holy War, all 24 of BYU's points were in the north endzone, and all 21 of Utah's points were in the south endzone. (That was unfortunate for me because I was sitting on the south end of the field.)
After BYU beat Utah in 2009, Max Hall made the infamous "I hate Utah" speech, and that's when Utah's streak started. However, after Utah won the 2019 game, Utah's quarterback, Tyler Huntley, said that BYU was "poopoo" and that they would never beat Utah again, and BYU's won three straight since. Apparently, all BYU has to do to keep this streak going is not let their quarterbacks make mean statements about Utah.
BYU has not had a defensive touchdown against Utah since 1987 when Rodney Thomas had a pick-6. (Notably, I'm not counting the blocked punt return touchdown in 1992 because that was a special teams touchdown, not a defensive touchdown.) Since then,Utah has had 12 defensive touchdowns, 9 of which happened during their recently ended nine-game win streak. During that streak, there were three games where BYU's offense scored more points than Utah's offense, and Utah only won because of their defensive touchdowns.
However, in all three games of BYU's current three-game win streak, Utah has had exactly two turnovers, and BYU has had exactly 0, and while BYU still hasn't had a defensive touchdown, they did have Keelan Marion's kickoff return touchdown in 2024.
24 of the last 30 Holy Wars have been decided by single digits. By comparison, in the last 30 games between BYU and Utah St, only six have been decided by single digits, with the most recent one being the 6-3 game in 2012.
Speaking of Utah St, in 10 of the 11 games between BYU and Utah St during the Independence Era, there was a quarterback change, and eight of those were on BYU's end. Two of BYU's and one of Utah St's were tactical changes, but the rest were because of injuries. For BYU, three of the quarterback injuries were to Taysom Hill, and the other three were second-string quarterbacks who were replaced by third-string quarterbacks. The only game that didn't feature a quarterback change on either end was 2015.
And now for perhaps the craziest, most random fact on the list: Between 2005 and 2010, BYU didn't score or give up a safety. Between 2010 and 2021, BYU scored 7 safeties, and their opponents scored 4. Here's the kicker: All 7 of BYU's safeties were in the first half, and all 4 of their opponents' safeties were in the second half. Both of these streaks were ended in 2022 when BYU scored a safety in the second half against USF and then gave up a safety to Notre Dame in the first half. Before the streaks started, the last first half safety by an opponent was by Boise St in 2004, and the last second half safety BYU had was in 2003 against Boise St when BYU had two safeties, one in each half.
I hope you enjoyed this. After all, that's what sports are for: enjoyment.
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