Utah Football: 3 bold predictions for The Holy War vs. BYU in Week 1

What will happen in the 100th meeting between the Utah football and the BYU Cougars? It’s time to get bold ahead of Thursday’s The Holy War matchup.

The annual tilt between Utah and BYU known as “The Holy War” is a hotly-contested, contentious rivalry game that few people outside the Great Basin know a lot about.

This rivalry is so heated, the two fan bases can’t even agree on how many times they’ve played one another. Utes fan might say this is the 100th meeting between the two teams while Cougars faithful might tell you the first six meetings don’t count because they were BYA before 1900 and not BYU.

There’s the proximity — Provo and Salt Lake City are about an hour’s drive from one another up or down Interstate 15 in Utah. There are the ties between both schools — Mormon church president Russell M. Nelson is a Utah graduate which is ironic since the Latter Day Saints (LDS) own BYU.

Brigham Young, who BYU was named after, founded the University of the Deseret which became the University of Utah when Young sold it to the state and, well, you get the picture.

This rivalry resumes Week 1 in Provo, Utah. What will happen in this intense battle?