Provo • Throughout the week, Kyle Whittingham had made the same prediction over and over again.
“This game is its own entity,” the Utah coach had said. “It almost doesn’t matter what’s happened prior to this game. If you look back through the years, it’s always a battle. It’s always a hard-fought, close game, right down to the wire.”
Sure enough, late Saturday night, with midnight approaching, Whittingham patrolled the sideline at LaVell Edwards Stadium, probably not entirely pleased to watch his prediction play out. The Utah coach, however, had neglected to mention what must also now feel like an inevitability to people on both sides of this heated rivalry: the Utes emerge victorious.
On the scoreboard, Utah’s 19-13 win over BYU on Saturday night was another close contest between two programs separated by just 45 miles of freeway. Seventeen of the last 22 meetings between the teams have now been decided by seven points or fewer. So often, the game has been decided by smaller margins than that. There were Brandon Burton’s fingertips in 2010, two missed field goals in 2012 and a goal-line stand last fall.
But those small margins have added up to seven straight victories for Utah over BYU, giving the Utes another year of bragging rights and leaving the Cougar faithful to wonder how to get things back on track.
“Really frustrated with the whole thing,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “We just really wanted this game. Now we have to wait another year.”
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake complimentary of QB Tyler Huntley and how he paced Utah's offense. pic.twitter.com/JKiMfqs6DR
— Chris Kamrani (@chriskamrani) September 10, 2017
With time ticking off the clock in the fourth quarter, BYU athletics director Tom Holmoe watched nervously, running both hands through his hair as Cougar quarterback Tanner Mangum nearly threw his fourth interception of the game, only to regroup and lead a touchdown drive to make the score 19-13 with 2:38 to play in the 104th edition of the rivalry contest.
A kickoff and three plays later, Mangum was rallying his teammates, taking last-minute instructions from offensive coordinator Ty Detmer, and staring down 91 yards of green grass toward the end zone that would give BYU a victory and end a streak of six consecutive losses to rival Utah.
“Until the very end, we had the plan to win this game,” tight end Matt Bushman said. “… [Mangum] was keeping us motivated.”
On first down, sophomore wide receiver Aleva Hifo dropped the ball, then walked off the field and slammed his helmet on the ground. Mangum found Bushman for a 6-yard catch on second down. But after a third-down incompletion, hands that had been folded in silent prayer started to cover faces. After BYU’s fourth-down try fell incomplete too, running back Ula Tolutau ripped off his chin strap in frustration.
“I feel like our team … we’re good,” the freshman said later. “We just haven’t shown our full potential. We just haven’t.”
The potential problem for BYU in this rivalry game is that the Utes didn’t either.
“The score was closer than the statistics,” Whittingham said.
And if it is true that the talent gap between BYU and Utah is widening, what will another year bring?
Despite BYU’s early season struggles, Saturday’s game still seemed to provide a prime opportunity to end their rivalry misfortunes. The Utes were traveling to Provo, where 60,000-plus fans — many of whom lined up hours before kickoff — roared with each play. Meanwhile, Utah hadn’t looked overly impressive in its season opener against North Dakota. And sophomore quarterback Tyler Huntley would be making just his second career start.
But Huntley, who had all but promised victory earlier in the week, delivered the goods on the field. He threw for 300 yards and ran for 89 more. Even after botching a red-zone play, turning right to hand the ball off when running back Zack Moss went left, Huntley managed to turn the broken play into a touchdown run.
In the end zone, Huntley glared up at the sea of blue-clad fans. Near that same spot, an hour or so later, Utah’s supporters chanted.
“Num-ber se-ven! Num-ber se-ven!”
.@Utah_Football fans and cheerleaders chanting "seven" for the 7th win in a row over @BYUfootball #7iscoming #Utes #UtahvsBYU pic.twitter.com/4emH5Sn5OX
— Brennan Smith (@BrennanJSmith) September 10, 2017
“We won,” Huntley said afterward, “and we’re only gonna get better from here.”
The game itself was, frankly, quite ugly, filled with penalties and plenty of miscues on both sides. But even first-timers to the rivalry game could not ignore its intensity.
“We don’t like them,” Utah wide receiver Darren Carrington said. “They don’t like us.”
Carrington, the graduate transfer from Oregon, was a difference-maker for Utah, racking up 129 receiving yards on the night. Orem native Matt Gay, who converted four field goals, made the most of his first rivalry game experience.
“I grew up here, so this is a game that’s close to home,” he said. “I mean, I live 10 minutes down the street. I grew up with all my friends cheering for BYU, so I wanted to come out and prove a point.”
Among the points proven on Saturday, Utah senior Boobie Hobbs said, is that the Utes have separated themselves from the Cougars when it comes to talent.
“In my opinion, yeah,” said the defensive back, who picked off Mangum in the first quarter.
Hobbs, the senior, walked off the field beaming late Saturday.
“Nothing feels better than coming to your rival’s home and getting a win,” he said.
On the opposite end of the stadium, BYU linebacker Matt Hadley’s face was smeared with eye black as he addressed reporters. Hadley lost to Utah as a freshman in 2012 before going on a church mission. Since his return, he has suffered defeat to the Utes in each of his last three seasons.
“It’s hard not to look at that and think that was a lot of my time here, most of my time here,” he said of the streak.
.@BYUfootball LB Matt Hadley discusses if the defense gets frustrated with the offense when the latter struggles to score #BYU #UtahvsBYU pic.twitter.com/BHOkzSGFoa
— Brennan Smith (@BrennanJSmith) September 10, 2017
It’s a feeling none of the players in the visiting locker room knew, as they sang their fight song and doused each other with bottled water.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Whittingham said. “But the bottom line is we got the win. We did what we needed to do and we’ve got another group of seniors that is leaving this program that has never tasted defeat in a rivalry game.”