College Football: 25 most underappreciated team rivalries of all time

2. BYU Cougars vs. Utah Utes

You won’t find a nickname for a college football rivalry better than the Holy War. That’s the moniker given to the battle between the BYU Cougars and the Utah Utes, as the two in-state rivalries take the field against one another.

It’s not difficult to decipher how that name was earned for this rivalry, but that alone makes it a rivalry that deserves more attention than it often seems to get.

Though this has since changed, the Holy War was a game that had high stakes in terms of conference championships. Until the conclusion of the 2010 NCAA season, the Cougars and the Utes were members of the same conference, the WAC. As two of the best teams in the WAC, Utah and BYU’s annual meeting was often to decide who would emerge as the champion of that league.

If there’s one detraction from the BYU-Utah rivalry, it’s that the Utes have dominated historically. Utah has a 62-34-4 record overall against their in-state rivalries. Furthermore, they have won the matchup every time it’s been played since 2010 (nine meetings between the two teams), including the infamous “Holy War in Sin City” Las Vegas Bowl meeting back in 2015 when the teams weren’t slated to meet in the regular season.

Despite the historical one-sided nature of the rivalry, though, the animosity between these two fanbases and the general fun that always transpires for outside onlookers is palpable when it comes to the Holy War. And again, you aren’t going to find a better moniker than that in the sport.