Since the announcement of Utah going to the Pac 12 and BYU (doing about the only thing it could do after that by) going Independent, I have had somewhat mixed feelings about the annual rivalry game. If it could be played in Week One or as the last regular season game, I'd be all for it, but it doesn't make much sense in Week Three.
Clearly, the Pac 12 despises this rivalry and if it goes by the wayside, the blame realistically rests solely on them. They have made exemptions for other schools (most notably USC and Stanford) with playing non-conference "rivalry" games later in the season, but never made such an allowance for Utah-BYU, even knowing it was such a huge rivalry. The only reasoning for it I can see: trying to FORCE a Utah-CU rivalry to be born.
I support BYU having quality opponents on the schedule year in and year out, which Utah clearly is and will be in 2014 and 2015. However, being honest about Utah's situation, they are essentially just an above average team from a BCS conference. If BYU can find other middle-of-the-pack to some years slightly better (I believe 2012 is one of the "slightly better" years for Utah), I would be in favor of scheduling them OVER Utah. Simply put: Utah has a heck of a lot more motivation for a game against BYU than a team like, say, Georgia Tech. As we've seen in years past, even when BYU is clearly the better team, Utah always competes in the game, and sometimes even wins. When BYU is clearly better than a Baylor, Oregon State, Georgia Tech type of team (teams usually holding similar spots in conference standings to what I expect from the Utes, which is between 2nd-4th in their division), they win those games 9 times out of 10, and can do so handily, something that hasn't happened in over a decade against Utah.
On the flip side, if BYU "replaces" Utah with another WAC rummy then it's a very bad situation for BYU and a significant downgrade in scheduling. BYU fans got their fill of New Mexico State, Idaho, and San Jose State last year and this year, we don't need it again. Granted, future schedules are looking much brighter already.
If the game is to be played at all, as I said, I would prefer to see the game played the first week or last week of the season when the hype machine can build up. As mentioned, the Pac 12 won't allow the last week of the season. Neither Utah or BYU seem very excited to schedule the game the first week of the season either. The third week of the season, when both teams have more high-profile games the few weeks following, just doesn't have the same feel.
Clearly, this was Utah's decision, and I don't blame them. The 9-game Pac 12 schedule really binds them from a scheduling perspective. If the Pac 12 does go forward with the mandatory Big Ten opponent starting in 2017, there is no reason for Utah to continue playing BYU after that. They schedule a "win" (presumably an FCS team or someone like Utah State) and only have one more game left. If they schedule BYU in that last open game every year, they are missing out on opportunities to play about 100 teams they could otherwise schedule. I would not play BYU if I were them.
For BYU, they needed to stop putting so much effort into scheduling this dying rivalry and focus on getting a few other decent BCS conference teams to agree to play instead. As a BYU fan, I'd rather play teams like Cal, North Carolina, Texas Tech, that are just as good as Utah, generally speaking, but without the animosity and stupidity of the fan bases.
I think this "break" is just a precursor to the ultimate break-up after 2016. Things may change, but it'll take a significant change in the landscape of college football to make any change to the trajectory of this rivalry. It is a sad day, I suppose, but I will get over it quickly. In fact, I was over it about two years ago. The final step in the "grieving process" will probably be BYU's next announcement of a BCS conference opponent on the future schedule. BYU will be fine. Utah will be fine. Life goes on.
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