We all long for the day when the Utes and Cougars meet with undefeated records, national rankings, bowl games, and a conference championship on the line. I thought that might happen in 1994, but the Utes blew it at New Mexico (sound familiar?) and Air Force, while BYU lost a squeaker to eventual conference champ Colorado State, before taking in the second of two 34-31 losses to the Utes.

Both the Utes and Cougars finished in the top 20 (so did Colorado State), which was nice, but I don't think there will truly be a "game for the ages" until the planets align, the tea leaves turn, the karma flows freely, and the Holy War comes to an apocalyptic climax and one of the teams scores on the final play of the game, or it ends in a tie after several overtimes. That would be the only true "Football Heaven" in this long saga.

One of the teams always blows it, and it's usually the Utes, who have a long history of looking past so-called "weaker" conference opponents, while pinning all their hopes on Holy War bragging rights. It's the same stupid mentality of many Ute fans who "root for Utah and any team that plays BYU". That's just plain ignorance. If you want make your pending (albeit unlikely, in some years) victory over your hated Cougars to be worth something, why wouldn't you want to beat an previously undefeated BYU team? If you really relish a weekly BYU embarassment, and you beat them, then all you've done is beat a crappy BYU team. It means more when you beat a GOOD BYU team.

It also makes for a better Holy War if your players concentrate on the task at hand and beat the New Mexicos, Air Forces, and other wannabees in the meantime.

BYU fans may not admit it, but it was kinda boring during the middle part of the Lavell era when it seemed like every year, they got the priviledge of facing a 2-8 Ute squad that they sumarily dispatched by some ungodly score. Now that the Utes have been more dominant recently, Cougars have to admit that beating them is a lot funner.