Because BYU has been to 21 post-season bowls in the LaVell Edwards era and Utah's been to four in the same amount of time, the state's biggest rivalry game is sometimes thought of as the Utes' bowl substitute, or their gateway to a bowl, or a way to validate their season.

"Yeah," said Utah senior offensive tackle and co-captain Josh Cochran of Park City. "Like it is this year again."Saturday's 1 p.m. Renewal of The Rivalry in Provo is an important time for the Utes, who could gain a share of the first-ever Mountain West Conference title and probably earn a bowl bid with a win or who could finish as low as fourth if they lose and Wyoming and Colorado State win out.

"It's kind of upsetting, but that's what happens," said Cochran.

For BYU, which has won 21 of the 26 BYU-Utah games since Edwards took over, postseasons have been more fulfilling for Cougar fans since 1972.

Native Utahn and Ute senior defensive end John Frank allows that, "It seems like all the Utah fans have a better year when we win, at least for awhile."

But over the past seven or eight years, the rivalry has become competitive for the first time ever. Utah thoroughly dominated until Edwards arrived, Edwards' teams had the strong upper hand for a long time, and now it's to the point where either team can win. McBride's Utes are 4-5 against Edwards' Cougars, and five of the past seven games were decided by six or fewer points.

While some Ute watchers will call for McBride's head again if Utah loses to the Y. Saturday, McBride says there is more to Ute football than the BYU game.

"You want to win the last game," McBride said. "You want to beat them. But we don't have to beat BYU to have a successful season. If we were 8-3 and lost to them, that's a great season under anybody's circumstance.

"Just the way we are right now," he insists, "we deserve to go to a bowl game whatever happens in the last game. Whether that's going to happen if you don't win, who knows?"

Frank agrees. "In the beginning, Utah was just dominant, and then BYU had its time, and now, it's kind of gone back and forth," he says. "Now is a choice time for the rivalry, more than any other.

"We've got the talent and the desire. We're just a much better team (than 10 years ago). The Utah program has improved tremendously over the years," Frank says.

Utah officials say they have heard talk that Utah could be a desirable commodity to either the Liberty Bowl, if it ends up tied for the Mountain West title, or the Las Vegas Bowl, which by contract gets its "second choice" from the Mountain West and doesn't have to take a team that wins a tiebreaker. The Utes were considered by several bowl committees last year but never got a bid at 7-4. They would finish 7-4 again if they lose to BYU, or 8-3 if they win Saturday.

And while Utah's postseason or offseason again depends more on this game than does BYU's, maybe that's how it should be for a rivalry.

"With the championship implications, with the bowl implications, we need this game," McBride says. "You want to play for something at the end.

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"If you go down to this game, and it counts for something, which it does, yeah a lot depends on it," he says. "But so does their season. Both teams' seasons count a lot on this game.

"If they'd lost to us last year, it would have taken everything away from them that they got, taken the chance of going to the Liberty Bowl, all that stuff. If we'd have won, we'd have gone to a bowl game. It was the same thing the year before that," said McBride, whose team lost 26-24 last year when a field goal attempt hit the goalpost and bounced outside.

"To anyone, BYU or Utah," says Frank, "it means the world right now because we all put so much into our programs, and you want to be the best in the state, for one, and best in the conference.

"All the hype is fun, and it's a good time for everyone," Frank said. "It's about competition and pride and what you stand for and your alma mater and what you put so much work into. Right now, it's certainly the most important thing."

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