WITH NOTHING LESS than a possible conference championship and bowl invitation at stake, the Utah-BYU game resumes again this Saturday. Which means it's time for yet another Benson Poll/Educated Guess. Time to get a pulse on the students at BYU and the University of Utah, to gauge the moods on the respective campuses.
Although Deseret News' Lee Benson, originator of the BP/EG is on leave of absence, the poll continues. This is a rivalry that cries out to be polled. It's an event that involves politics, religion, tax dollars, tithing dollars and - we almost forgot - football.Predictably, it's getting hard to find a clear winner in the poll. Utah's 34-31 wins the past two years have made this one, as the pollsters like to say, too close to call. In surveying 10 students randomly at each school this week, the BP/EG learned that 9 of 10 University of Utah students think the Utes will prevail, while 8 of 10 BYU students are predicting the Cougars will win. The only significant aberration was one BYU student who flat-out didn't care either way.
"Doesn't matter," said the mechanical engineering major, who refused to say his name. "To be honest, I wouldn't have known the game was this Friday if someone hadn't given me a flier."
Which is easy to believe, considering the game is Saturday.
He continued, "I don't care and I probably won't hear who does win until someone forces it on me. I have absolutely no opinion. Don't know. Don't care."
Besides those who don't know and don't care, there were some who weren't impressed. For example, Tracy Jones, a BYU senior majoring in Youth Leadership. While he gave the nod to BYU, he said, "People think BYU-Utah is a rivalry in football. It's not."
Jones, who was raised in South Carolina, said Auburn-Alabama, Georgia-Clemson and Ohio State-Michigan are real rivalries. "BYU-Utah in football isn't a rivalry," he continued. "People don't get divorced over a football game like they do back there."
Considering he's getting married this week, that's probably good news.
The only dissenting vote among BYU students came from Tasha Whiting, a sophomore in American Studies, who picked the Utes. "I guess I just don't have a lot of confidence in our team," she said.
The BP/EG is going to go out on a limb here and guess she isn't dating any of the players.
On the Utah campus, the balloting was nearly unanimous in favor of the Utes. The only dissenting vote came from Jared Nelson, who figured the Utes "have been a little careless this year."
Rebecca Airmet, a junior English major, called on the Utes to win by seven. "I hope the U. wins simply because of school loyalty," she said. "And because of personal vendettas against BYU."
She continued, "The whole time I was growing up, every holiday season all the family did was sit around and watch the BYU games," she said. "So I guess it's familial rebellion."
Airmet wanted to know if former Ute Jamal Anderson was still on the team. Learning he's been in the NFL for two years, she said that narrows the odds. "He was a good quarterback," she said.
Which should come as news to Ute coach Ron McBride, who thought Anderson was a fullback.
Judson Bagley, a senior biology major, skewed the numbers by predicting the Utes will win by 74 points. "We have the least politically correct mascot," he said, "and fortune seems to be smiling on Republicans, who are also politically incorrect."
Huh?
Mark Wickham, a senior English major, also picked the Utes, claiming it would be "poetic" for them to win 34-31 for the third straight year. It stands to reason that anyone using the word "poetic" to describe football would have to be an English major.
Tasha Carson, a sophomore with an undeclared major, called for a two-point Utah win. "In chemistry we have an experiment that burns elements," she said. "And the red consumes the blue."
Meanwhile, Rixt Luikenar, a medical student from Holland, didn't seem completely sure what kind of football the BP/EG was talking about. Still, she took the Utes by five. "I just support them," she said.
And with that, another BP/EG was in the books. Everyone but one person at each school chose their team to win - not counting the one abstention. Which, when it comes to predicting a winner, may be the only sensible choice.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Benson Poll/Educated Guess
Utah BYU Don't know/care Average margin
BYU women 1 4 0 BYU by 6.8
BYU men 0 4 1 BYU by 10.5
Utah women 5 0 0 Utah by 6.8
Utah men 4 1 0 Utah by 17.4