FRISCO, TEXAS — For years a billboard has watched over the northbound traffic on I-15 near Murray, Utah.
Throughout the years, the billboard has featured the BYU and Utah head football coaches, sometimes together and sometimes not, depending on the state of the BYU-Utah rivalry.
Today, the billboard proudly features BYU head coach Kalani Sitake and new Utah head coach Morgan Scalley, signifying a new era of the state's favorite football game.
Sitake took the stage at Big 12 media days to address reporters on Tuesday afternoon. Sitake addressed multiple topics, including the culture surrounding the BYU-Utah rivalry.
The BYU-Utah rivalry has gone up a notch in intensity since the two teams joined the Big 12 Conference. BYU has topped the Utes in the last three meetings, including a dramatic showdown in Provo last October, where the Cougars won 24-21.
Prior to the game, a threat of violence against Utah fans was circulated across social media which eventually led to an arrest. The post and subsequent arrest was an alarming development in the heated rivalry.
When asked about how the culture of the rivalry could change moving forward, Sitake emphasized that the many positive aspects of the rivalry are often muted by the negatives.
“For some reason a lot of the negative stuff gets all the attention, but there are some really cool, positive moments and families that are on both sides,” Sitake said. “I mean, I have family members that graduated from Utah and family members that graduated from BYU.”
Scalley also believes that the rivalry is not defined by the negatives but by the positives.
“You're always going to have the extremes. That's the unfortunate part is you're going to have those extremes where people are doing stuff that you're not proud about,” he said.
“I just think the way Kalani and I model our relationship with one another and the respect we have for each other and our programs should lead the way.”
Both coaches emphasized that mutual respect is at the core of the rivalry. The rivalry runs deep in the state’s culture and BYU-Utah “split families” are a common occurrence across the state.
“That’s what actually makes it so intense and fun is that it affects households,” Sitake said.
This, combined with the state school-versus-private religious school attitude, lends to the rivalry’s nickname, “The Holy War” and has become a marquee rivalry across the state and national college football stage.
Sitake's and Scalley’s deep respect for each other comes from their decade of working side-by-side as coaches on the Utah staff. During his tenure as the Utah defensive coordinator, Sitake worked closely with Scalley, who was the safeties coach at the time.
“We’ve always respected and loved our rivals,” Sitake said. “I think they feel the same way about us.”
The rivalry is now in its third year since both teams joined the Big 12. Prior to the conference realignment era that brought the two teams back into the same conference, the rivalry game was on-and-off as BYU moved into its independence era and Utah joined the Pac-12.
This year’s game will take place on Nov. 7 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.