The Holy War Takes Hiatus, But Survives

When news came out yesterday that the Holy War will take its first hiatus in nearly a century, there was a feeling in the commentary and blogs surrounding the news that seemed surprisingly bummed. While it will be strange to not see the Utes & Cougars face-off in their annual in-state rivalry game, the fact the game survives is a step in the right direction.

Back in May, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham made some comments that foreshadowed the possible end to the Holy War.

“Our program is bigger than the rivalry. That’s got to take a backseat to us doing what’s best for our program.”

There’s many different ways this can be taken. But the sad reality is, with the ever changing landscape in college football, rivalries do in fact take a backseat. Just look at the unfortunate hiatus of the annual game between Texas & Texas A&M. Sure, the two situations are different. The bad blood drawn over the Longhorn Network created a whole separate issue between the two schools, but had the Aggies not gone to the SEC, the rivalry would’ve continued.

It’s understandable that coach Whittingham was concerned about the Utes’ out of conference schedule. Since Utah now plays nine conference games a year in the Pac-12, that only leaves three non-conference games a year. When Whittingham commented on the future of the Holy War back in May, the new playoff system hadn’t been agreed upon. Now, with the announcement of the four-team playoff, the timing of the scheduling makes since.

“That supersedes anything to do with the rivalry. If taking a year or two off periodically is best for our program, best for our scheduling, then that’s what we’ve got to do.”

The translation on this can go two ways. We’d rather schedule cupcakes because the Pac-12 schedule is so “rigorous” and we no longer need to schedule elite teams since we’re in a big conference,  or we want to wait and see how strength of schedules are looked at by the possible playoff selection. Keep in mind that at the time of these comments, no one knew exactly what was going to happen with the BCS and a playoff.

Instead of BYU, Utah will take on Michigan in 2014 and 2015. If the Utes had scheduled a much weaker opponent or a team from the FCS, this would be a different discussion. If the game with BYU must go on hiatus every so often, at least a quality team is the substitute.

We still don’t know how exactly the new playoff system will work, but the effect of the decision has already impacted some scheduling. If strength of schedule is a huge qualification for access, that will be great for the game of college football. More marquee match-ups means happy fans and better “product” on the field means higher ratings and more money.

Being an independent, BYU has a much tougher task of scheduling every year. Once the Cougars decided to become an independent, they began a journey to build an elite program that could compete for the national championship every year. This goal could just not be achieved remaining in the Mountain West.

“If you judge by the quality teams we would play week-in and week-out and then the number of wins, I think that’s the next step — continuing to build our schedule in a manner that has more difficulty, because strength of schedule will be one of the things that will be a determinant to get into one of those.”

BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall refers to those, which is the four playoff spots. Coach Mendenhall and the Cougars certainly seem to be living by a difficult schedule. In 2013 they will face Texas, Boise State, and the Utes all in the first four weeks of the season, with Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Washington State, Houston and Hawaii to follow.

Yes, it’s a shame that the Holy War will take a hiatus, but the alternative in this day of college football would be a complete end to the game all together.