The Holy War: Inside the BYU-Utah rivalry and its unforgettable history

By Mike Garbett November 5, 2026

Utah's picturesque Rice-Eccles Stadium will host this season's Holy War against BYU, with a 10 a.m. local kickoff despite both teams entering the rivalry matchup ranked in the Top 10. Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images

The Holy War gets a major spotlight Saturday as No. 7 BYU visits No. 3 Utah in a Top 10 showdown with major Big 12 Conference and national championship implications.

Both teams remain firmly in the Big 12 title hunt, making this showdown a pivotal opportunity for the Cougars to close the gap and the Utes, one of three unbeaten FBS teams remaining, to strengthen their hold on the conference race.

Add in more than a century of rivalry history, a series that was put on pause by conference realignment and BYU’s three-game winning streak against Utah, and there’s plenty at stake in this latest chapter of the Holy War.

Few rivalries are as deeply personal as the Holy War, an all-consuming grudge match fueled by cultural differences, geographic proximity and decades of bad blood. Photos by Chris Gardner/Getty Images

FULL STORY: BYU vs. Utah: The Holy War, a disputed history and a Top 10 showdown

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Here’s a quick primer on the rivalry, from its disputed all-time record and historic moments to the games and storylines that have helped define the Holy War.

Kickoff details: Seventh-ranked BYU (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) travels to Salt Lake City to take on third-ranked Utah (8-0, 5-0) at noon ET on Saturday, Nov. 7, at Rice-Eccles Stadium. That’s a 10 a.m. local kickoff in Utah, with the game airing nationally on ABC.
Disputed series count: Even the all-time record is a point of contention. Utah claims a 62-37-4 advantage by including six meetings from the 1890s that BYU does not recognize, while the Cougars’ official records list the series at 59-34-4. It’s fitting that a rivalry this heated can’t even agree on how many times the teams have played.
2004 Utah run: The Utes enjoyed one of the greatest seasons in program history under coach Urban Meyer and quarterback Alex Smith, capping an 11-0 regular season with a 52-21 rout of BYU. Utah capped the year with a 35-7 Fiesta Bowl victory over Pittsburgh, becoming the first team from a conference without an automatic BCS bid to earn a spot in a BCS game. That season helped put Utah on the national map and cemented the 2004 team as one of the most memorable in college football history.

2006 BYU comeback: Few moments in the rivalry have been more dramatic than the Cougars’ improbable comeback in 2006. BYU scored 19 fourth-quarter points, capped by John Beck’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Jonny Harline as time expired for a stunning 33-31 victory. The image of Harline catching the winning pass in the end zone on his knees remains one of the defining moments in Holy War history.
Reunited in the Big 12: Conference realignment put the rivalry on the back burner, with scheduling gaps in 2014, 2020, 2022 and 2023 after Utah moved to the Pac-12 in 2011 and BYU became an independent. The schools found themselves back in the same conference when BYU joined the Big 12 in 2023 and Utah followed in 2024, restoring the annual matchup. Utah dominated much of the rivalry during the gap, winning nine straight from 2010-19, but BYU has claimed the past three meetings.

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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.