Holy War (BYU–Utah)
The Holy War is the name given to the American college football rivalry game played annually by the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars and the University of Utah (U of U) Utes. It is part of the larger BYU–Utah sports rivalry. In this context, the term "Holy War" refers to the fact that BYU is owned and administered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the U of U is a secular, public university with a substantial LDS student population. The current president and head football coach at the U of U are also LDS Church members.
Utah Utes
| |
| Sport | American college football |
|---|---|
| First meeting | April 6, 1896 Utah, 12–4 (per Utah) October 14, 1922 Utah, 49–0 (per BYU) |
| Latest meeting | September 11, 2021 BYU, 26–17 |
| Next meeting | November 9, 2024 |
| Stadiums | LaVell Edwards Stadium (BYU) Rice–Eccles Stadium (Utah) |
| Trophy | Beehive Boot |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 101 |
| All-time series | Utah leads, 62–35–4 (per Utah) Utah leads 59–32–4 (per BYU) |
| Largest victory | BYU: 56–6 (1980) |
| Longest win streak | Utah: 9 (1929–37)
Utah: 9 (2010–2019) BYU: 9 (1979–1987) |
| Longest unbeaten streak | Utah: 21 (1898–1941) |
| Current win streak | BYU, 1 (2021–present) |
The event is part of a three-way rivalry among Division I FBS universities from the state of Utah: BYU, U of U, and Utah State. The winner of the series wins a trophy known as the Beehive Boot.
Both teams played in the same conference from 1922 to 2010, most recently in the Western Athletic Conference and Mountain West Conference (MW). During the MW years, the Holy War was often the deciding game of the conference title. Despite Utah moving to the Pac-12 Conference in 2011 and BYU becoming an independent the same year, the two universities agreed to maintain their annually scheduled game. The series was briefly interrupted in 2014 and 2015 for Utah to play a home-and-home series with Michigan — the first since 1943 to 1945, when BYU did not field a team due to World War II. Games had later been scheduled as non-conference matchups until 2028, with another interruption in 2022 and 2023 for Utah to play a home series with Florida. Starting in 2024, the rivalry will again become a conference matchup, with BYU having joined the Big 12 Conference in 2023, and Utah following suit in 2024.
The two-year hiatus was unexpectedly cut short when the 2015 Las Vegas Bowl pitted BYU against Utah, creating the "Holy War in Sin City" in the postseason.