SALT LAKE CITY — Bronco Mendenhall was a sucker for catchphrases. “Band of Brothers,” “This is Y,” and the lamentable “Quest for Perfection” were among the former BYU coach’s slogans.
The 2017 Cougars might want to tune into another well-known phrase that has been credited to everyone from Robert F. Kennedy, to George Romney, to Ronald Reagan, to Barack Obama, to Gordon B. Hinckley, to Hillel the Elder: “If not us, who? If not now, when?”
BYU has lost its last six games to Utah.
If the Cougars intend to ever beat the Utes, this week would be a good starting point. BYU opens preseason camp on Thursday, Utah on Friday. Forty-nine days from now, the teams will play for the 98th time.
For the Utes, it’s a non-conference game they’d rather not play, given their fearsome conference schedule. But politicians weighed in when the rivalry was imperiled, and soon the game was scheduled through 2022.
So the series continues, this year at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Attendees are advised to bring a paper bag and breathe deeply. Though Utah has dominated lately, if Taysom Hill had cut right instead of left, it would have been a different ending last year. Had Riley Stephenson’s kick gone a few inches to the right in 2012, it would have been a BYU victory. If the 2015 Las Vegas Bowl had been two minutes longer …
You know the saying: If “ifs” and “buts” were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas. BYU has LSU, Wisconsin and Mississippi State on its schedule this year, but beating the Utes?
Christmas in September.
Athlon magazine ranks the Cougars 39th nationally in its preseason poll. Wouldn’t you know it? Utah is 38th. Prognosticator Phil Steele, who has his own magazine, is calling this year’s game a tossup. Optimism is high in Provo, but isn’t it always?
Mendenhall used to say BYU was playing for national championships.
But reality paints a different picture. “Now or never” against the Utes isn’t far-fetched. Though games have been close numerous times — nine of the past 11 and 16 of the last 19 have been decided by a touchdown or less — the end result remains. Utah has won seven of the last eight and 11 of 14.
Officials from both schools say results are cyclical, but recruiting and development have dramatically turned in Utah’s direction. Rivals.com ranks the Utes’ 2017 recruiting class No. 25 nationally; BYU’s is 64th.
In the last seven years, BYU has been as high as 48th (2016) and as low as 70th (2013). Utah’s high ranking was this year, with its lowest in 2014 (66th). Over that time, Utah has averaged 39th in recruiting, BYU 53rd.
In none of the last seven years has BYU rated higher in recruiting than the Utes.
Utah has been rated 41st, 33rd and 25th the last three years; BYU has gone from 66th, to 48th, to 64th.
The NFL numbers are even starker. Since 2011, BYU has had four players drafted, Utah 20.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Utes will win this year’s game. Utah has a slew of NFL-bound defensive linemen, depth at running back, and a returning starter at quarterback. But replacing eight draft picks won’t be easy. BYU returns quarterback Tanner Mangum, receiver Jonah Trinnaman, center Tejan Koroma and a respectable group of running backs.
“It’s very important (to beat Utah),” athletics director Tom Holmoe said at his semiannual “state of the Cougars” address in March. “I don’t like losing to Utah, but I like competition … There’s nothing that makes your heart beat more, and makes you feel that sense of accomplishment, than being able to go into that game and win that game.”
So the heart of the rivalry is still there. But in the head, the numbers are piling up. One thing that could help BYU is that second-year coach Kalani Sitake is a formidable recruiter. He has been successful getting verbal commitments from several players for 2018 and beyond. But there's no time to waste when it comes to beating the Utes. The best motivational quote the Cougars could use is this one on procrastination, via an unknown author: “One of these days is none of these days.”