{"id":322,"date":"2025-04-07T02:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T02:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/?p=322"},"modified":"2025-04-22T02:17:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T02:17:23","slug":"feature-story-submission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/2025\/04\/07\/feature-story-submission\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature Story Submission"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The moment the game kicks off, everything else in Utah stops. It doesn\u2019t matter where you\u2019re from, what city you live in, or if you even went to either school, if you live in Utah, you\u2019re either Utah or BYU. There\u2019s no in-between. This isn\u2019t just a game. It\u2019s a state-wide obsession. It\u2019s the Holy War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Utah vs. BYU football rivalry is one of the most intense in the country, and for people who grew up here, it\u2019s personal. The rivalry dates all the way back to 1896 and has carried on for more than a hundred years. But it\u2019s not just the age of the rivalry that makes it so intense it\u2019s the culture behind it. BYU represents a school owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Utah, on the other hand, is the state\u2019s flagship public university. When these two meet, it\u2019s not just about touchdowns. It\u2019s tradition, pride, identity, and sometimes, it even feels like life or death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a diehard Utah fan, this game means everything to me. It\u2019s more than just wanting my team to win. It\u2019s a feeling that hits different. Growing up, the Holy War was always the most important game of the season. I remember sitting in classrooms with kids arguing over who was better. There was constant trash talk, before, during, and after the game. It wasn\u2019t just about the score. It was about bragging rights for the entire year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll never forget going to the 2019 game at LaVell Edwards Stadium with a bunch of my best friends. We were wearing Utah gear, loud and proud. The second we walked in, we got looks. Throughout the game, people were yelling at us from all directions, and I even had popcorn and doughnuts thrown at me. I\u2019m not exaggerating. BYU fans were literally throwing food. And even though it was wild and kind of hostile, it honestly made the rivalry feel even more real. That\u2019s how serious this game is. It\u2019s that deep. Felt great talking trash the moment we won the game though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another moment I\u2019ll always remember is the game when BYU\u2019s Taysom Hill, now QB for the Saints, threw a pick-six to start the game. It first play, and Rice-Eccles Stadium absolutely exploded. I mean, I\u2019ve never heard a stadium that loud in my life. You couldn\u2019t even hear yourself think. That one moment set the tone and made it feel like Utah was in complete control, and the whole crowd fed off it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this rivalry has had its share of back-and-forth moments, too. Like in 2021, when BYU finally snapped a nine-game losing streak against Utah. That win meant everything to Cougar fans. The field at LaVell Edwards Stadium filled with students, players, and fans who had waited over a decade to finally beat Utah again. It was emotional. You could see it in the way people celebrated, this wasn\u2019t just any regular-season win. This was history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And speaking of history, there\u2019s so much of it. From Utah\u2019s undefeated season in 2004 that ended with a Fiesta Bowl invite, to crazy endings and iconic soundbites. One of the most unforgettable was in 2008, when BYU quarterback Max Hall said in a press conference, \u201cI hate Utah.\u201d He didn\u2019t stop there. He called Utah fans \u201cclassless\u201d and said he \u201ccouldn\u2019t stand them.\u201d That quote became fuel for Utah fans for years. Then, years later, Utah quarterback Cam Rising got his chance to fire back. When asked how he felt about BYU, he simply said, \u201cI hate BYU.\u201d No hesitation. Just raw rivalry. And we can\u2019t forget Tyler Huntley\u2019s iconic postgame quote after beating BYU: \u201cThey so poo poo.\u201d It was short, funny, and instantly legendary. These moments don\u2019t happen in regular games. They happen in the Holy War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when the rivalry took a short break after Utah moved to the Pac-12, the energy didn\u2019t go anywhere. If anything, it got stronger. Now, with BYU in the Big 12 and Utah joining in 2024, the Holy War is officially back on the schedule, and it\u2019s going to matter more than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Players feel it too. A lot of them grew up in Utah, surrounded by this rivalry their entire lives. When they put on the jersey, they aren\u2019t just playing for themselves or even their team, they\u2019re playing for their families, their schools, their cities. It\u2019s emotional. The stakes feel higher. Whether it\u2019s a freshman getting their first taste of the rivalry or a senior trying to go out on top, the intensity is unmatched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing about the Holy War is that it\u2019s not just one Saturday in the fall. It\u2019s all year long. It lives in the conversations, the arguments, the memes, and the memories. It splits households and brings out the loudest, most passionate version of every fan. And the best part? It\u2019s not going away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world where college football rivalries sometimes fade or get watered down, the Holy War stays real. It stays raw. Because here in Utah, football isn\u2019t just a sport, it\u2019s really is a part of who we are. And when it\u2019s Utah vs. BYU, you can bet the whole state will be watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The moment the game kicks off, everything else in Utah stops. It doesn\u2019t matter where you\u2019re from, what city you live in, or if you even went to either school, if you live in Utah, you\u2019re either Utah or BYU…. Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30522,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30522"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":340,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions\/340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/ryanthomasjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}