Utah-BYU game recognized as one of college football's greatest rivalries

From battles with in-state foes to conference counterparts, the Utah football program is entrenched in some of college football's most heated rivalry games.

The Utes' series with Utah State, known as the "Battle of the Brothers," is one of their longest-standing rivalries that dates back to the late 1800s. Utah's also had memorable tussles with Colorado over the past century in a contest referred to as the "Rumble in the Rockies," which has only intensified since both schools have moved from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 together.

Very few head-to-head matchups, though, compare in terms of overall history and name cache to that of the annual BYU-Utah affair.

The Athletic recently examined the nature of the best rivalry games in college football, and the yearly showdown between the Utes and Cougars — fittingly known as the "Holy War" — was recognized for both its intensity on the gridiron, as well as its clever nickname.

The Athletic's Scott Dochterman ranked the BYU-Utah game as the No. 28-best rivalry game in the country, sandwiching the Holy War between two former Pac-12 showdowns in Stanford-Cal (No. 29) and Oregon-Oregon State (No. 27).

The Utes and Cougars have been going at each other for at least the past 100 years, though there's some disagreement as to when the first matchup actually occurred. While Utah's official website goes all the way back to 1895 — BYU was known as Brigham Young Academy at the time — the Cougars' don't recognize any meeting with the Utes prior to 1922, shortly after the program was brought back following a two-decade hiatus.

Regardless, Utah comfortably leads the all-time series against BYU 52-30-4, according to the Utes' official athletics page. The Cougars have won the last two contests, though, including last season's improbable 22-21 comeback at Rice-Eccles Stadium that prompted harsh criticism over the officiating crew from Utah athletic director Mark Harlan.

Even fewer college football rivalries boast a better nickname than the Holy War, according to a separate ranking post from The Athletic's Chris Vannini. The Holy War moniker checked in at No. 4 on Vannini's list of the best rivalry nicknames in college football, behind only Montana-Montana State (Brawl of the Wild), Oklahoma-Oklahoma State (Bedlam) and UAB-Memphis (The Battle for the Bones).

"While some other rivalries use this name, most people associate it with BYU and Utah, and the history, hatred and drama back it up," Vannini wrote. "There are lots of rivalry 'wars,' but 'Holy' takes things up another level."

Though it's unclear where the term "Holy War" derived from, its association with the Utah-BYU rivarly isn't as big of a mystery. BYU is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is based in Utah. The University of Utah is by nature a public research institution, though Latter-day Saints do make up approximately 36% of the student body, according to a 2019 survey conducted by the Daily Utah Chronicle.

Sharing a religious identity — despite only one of the schools being directly affiliated with the church — creates a unique tension between BYU and Utah's respective fanbases.

"Rumble in the Rockies" was the No. 18-best nickname among college football rivalries, while "Battle of the Brothers" just missed the cut as a honorable mention.