Outcome of this year’s BYU-Utah game will have a ripple effect
Utah quarterback Devon Dampier (4) gets a pass off just ahead of BYU defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa (57) as they play at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
For a BYU-Utah game that doesn’t need any more hype, Hans Olsen is happy to add to it.
“This game has reached epic levels. Can you think of a more insane scenario? Same conference, crazy records, national rankings, the whole coaching combo — Morgan and Kalani,” Olsen told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “It just seems like this is a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode!”
Olsen, who played at BYU between 1996-00, will spend Saturday morning in the broadcast booth calling the game with Greg Wrubell on BYU Radio.
“Utah (8-0) beating BYU (7-1) would destroy BYU’s goals and hopes because they already have the one loss,” he said. “BYU beating Utah would be another top five victory for BYU, which would almost certainly qualify them for the CFP.”
In addition to postseason potential, the rivalry holds ramifications on the future, too.
“Most kids now, if they are at the level of being recruited by Utah, then they are at the level being recruited by BYU, and vice versa,” Olsen said. “I think (the game) plays a role in state dominance. When Utah was running off consecutive wins and now that BYU has put three together, I think that it shows the sign of power and growth. There are so many layers that make this thing so critically important.”
Picking BYU
It’s no shock that the former defensive tackle thinks BYU will win on Saturday, but Olsen’s reasoning has everything to do with human behavior.
“I think the way the last two weeks have played out plays in BYU’s favor. Everybody could have told BYU after the Notre Dame win, ‘Don’t have the UCF letdown! Don’t have the UCF letdown!’ It’s just something wild that happens in a locker room.
“Utah just thumped Cincinnati. Embarrassed them. BYU has been in the trenches. They have been soul searching after a loss to UCF and a close win against Arizona State. … They have all kinds of negative plays to go back and look at. They are not looking at the positives. They are looking at the negatives.
“Utah players are in the locker room, and they are watching the highlights and they are like, ‘Man, are we good boys! Are we good!’ And you can’t stop that. You can’t stop it. So, who’s battle tested? Who’s got the scars to remind you, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t walk into the barbwire next time?’ BYU, they have the scars, and I think it’s going to play out on Saturday, give me BYU 28-24.”
LaVell’s last blast
Walking into Rice-Eccles Stadium will forever flood Olsen with the memory of BYU’s 34-27 come-from-behind victory during his senior year in 2000 and in LaVell Edwards’ final game as the Cougars’ head coach.
Quarterback Brandon Doman spearheaded a last-minute, seven-play, 80-yard drive and capped the march with a 4-yard touchdown run with 23 seconds remaining to give Edwards his 257th victory.
The win also moved the Cougars to a 6-6 record and prevented the Hall of Fame coach from retiring on the heels of a losing season — and that still means everything to his prized recruit from Weiser, Idaho.
“When I reflect back on my 20 years of football — seven years professional, five years at BYU, four years in high school, and I started playing when I was 8 — the greatest moment and memory was that send-off for LaVell,” Olsen said. “The fact that we got to lift LaVell up and take him off that way, that thing couldn’t have played out any better.”
Olsen’s top 5 moments in BYU-Utah rivalry
5. BYU 37, Utah 17, 1996: “It was my introduction to the rivalry and the last time BYU beat Utah by double digits (also the last time the game was played in the morning). Watching BYU’s defensive lineman Henry Bloomfield go back and forth with Utah running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala was a memory maker. It was like He Man vs. King Kong. (Henry) was the toughest dude I’ve ever been around and watching (him) get the better of (Chris), I’ll never forget it.”
4. BYU 22, Utah 21, 2024: “Me in the broadcast booth, it was the drive to get to a 44-yard field goal and No. 44 knocking it through. It’s the Will Ferrin field goal game for me. The thing I remember the most is watching the camera up close on Will’s face and he has this gigantic smile. To watch him walk up and knock that thing through, I can’t think of a greater moment in rivalry history.”
3. BYU 33, Utah 31, 2006: “Beck to Harline. It’s one of the first games that I covered (as a journalist) after my playing career (John Beck’s 11-yard touchdown toss to a wide-open Jonny Harline on the final play of the game in Salt Lake). It’s hard to say it’s not one of the most magical endings in rivalry history.”
2. BYU 26, Utah 24, 1998: “During my first year as a starter at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Utah drives down and gets into field goal position and we all know the end of that story (Utah kicker Ryan Kaneshiro’s 32-yard kick that hit the upright). I don’t know to that point how many times I had even seen a ball hit an upright, and that thing just doinked and the whole crowd could hear it. I don’t know why it was so quiet and so prominent, but just a doink, and that ball went out and it was unbelievable. I still can’t believe that ball fell out of the uprights.”
1. BYU 34, Utah 27, 1999: “It’s LaVell’s last miracle. It had all the amazing parts to it. For me, the No. 1 (moment) will always be LaVell’s final miracle.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.
Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.