So, just how big is this BYU-Utah football rivalry when you place it alongside the other big-game rivalries in college football? Does it belong up there with Ohio State-Michigan, Army-Navy, Texas-Oklahoma, Auburn-Alabama, Washington-Bill Walsh? Can it be mentioned in the same sentence as The Big Game, a.k.a. The Supreme Rivalry, a.k.a. Stanford versus Cal?
For the sake of rating, it would seem that the following criteria would apply to the friendliest, or unfriendliest, of rivalries:1. Are the campuses close to each other?
2. Do alumni tend to settle down and live side by side?
3. Does the game usually mean something?
4. During game week, do people act and behave in ways they normally wouldn't?
5. Have they been doing this for a long time?
6. Is the game a perennial sellout?
7. Do people miss church/work/tee times the morning after if their team didn't do so well?
8. Will they remember this in February?
It's obviously not easy for any one rivalry to satisfy all of the above requirements. Not even, for that matter, Stanford-Cal. More often than not, the annual game between the Golden Bears and Cardinal has had almost no impact on standings, bowl games, or unbeaten seasons. Traditionally, these teams are mediocre or worse. And yet, if there's a stronger, more intense, more out-of-control rivalry in college football, on or off the field, you can probably only see it during visiting hours.
Nobody's entirely sure why "The Big Game" in California, and the country, is Cal-Stanford and not, for instance, UCLA-USC. On paper, UCLA-USC should be a much bigger rivalry. Both schools feature big-time programs that regularly send teams to the Rose Bowl. But while it's not unusual to see empty seats for UCLA-USC (although not this year), a ticket to Cal-Stanford hasn't been available in the Bay Area since before platform shoes and bell bottoms.
Cal and Stanford seem to have hit on the perfect mix for a rivalry. They are enough different - Cal's radical to Stanford's preppy, Cal's state affiliation to Stanford's private affiliation - that it's not difficult to distinguish between them, yet they are close enough in both proximity and philosophy that sitting side by side on bleachers can be rather, well, volatile.
"It's gotten to the point that they're holding alumni functions together this year to try to defuse the perception of, uh, craziness," says Beth Breyer of the Cal media relations department. "The last few years it's gotten kind of out of hand. Last year when Cal students attacked the Stanford tree - that's their mascot - during the game, that kind of put it over the edge."
The Cal mascot, a Golden Bear, will not be without anxiety today as The Big Game unfolds at Stanford.
In many respects, BYU-Utah parallels Cal-Stanford. A bay separates Cal from Stanford. A mountain separates BYU and Utah. The games are always sold out in both rivalries. One is a private school, the other is public. It isn't hard to tell the two student bodies, or alumnis, apart, and the outcome, even if it usually doesn't mean much, does tend to have a day-after sobering affect on the losers and a euphoric affect on the winners.
It could be that the biggest rivalries in college football are not necessarily the most competitive. Other criteria have more impact. Otherwise, explain why Texas Christian's annual most-important-game-of-the-year is against Southern Methodist and not against Baylor. Both campuses are roughly the same distance from TCU's campus in Ft. Worth, and the TCU-Baylor rivalry is the third longest-running rivalry in major college history, not to mention one of the closest. After 100 years, TCU holds a 47-46-7 edge.
"But it's the SMU game that's the hot, heated one," verifies Glen Stone, TCU's sports information director. "There's not much extra push for the Baylor game. Not like for SMU. We don't steal Baylor's Shetland pony, we steal SMU's. It's funny, but it's just that way."
Rivalries tend to take on a life of their own. Some thrive because a Rose Bowl is usually on the line (Michigan-Ohio State), others because of genuine border disdain (Texas-Oklahoma), others because of statehood and tradition (Alabama-Auburn), others because of different uniforms (Army-Navy) and others because the schools are just close enough and just far enough apart. On that score, BYU-Utah is at least No. 2.