Passionate rivalries renewed: What to expect when Utah, BYU take to the road Saturday

It’s a week of rivalries returned.
Utah and Utah State resume an in-state traditional rivalry that has been left in the dustbin of conference expansion priorities and BYU travels to Wyoming, a historical partner throughout the decades.
While these games are nonconference and expected to result in wins for Utah and BYU of the Big 12, they are a chance for USU and Wyoming to let off steam and set up ambushes.
Defensive-minded Utah may not have the services of star QB Cam Rising, but this will be a tremendous opportunity for freshman Isaac Wilson to get developmental time against an opponent that will bring passion and effort.
It remains to be seen if USU’s offense can sustain touchdown drives against Utah, which will likely get a touchdown from its defense.
In Laramie, BYU resumes part of a home-and-home deal that renews a series that dates back 80 years. Aside from Utah and Utah State, Wyoming is BYU’s most-often-played opponent.
Saturday on the high plains of Laramie, BYU’s veteran coaches, many of whom have played at Wyoming as players, will try to get the Cougar to understand the atmosphere and altitude they’ll deal with, despite being favored by double-digits over the 0-2 Cowboys.
Both of these games feature opponents whose fans have passionate feeling towards the other.
USU fans have long felt that Utah and BYU kept them from membership in the WAC and Mountain West. They’ve had both programs play dodgeball with scheduling in both football and basketball. This weekend will give an inch or two toward placating that animosity.
For Wyoming, aside from cultural differences with BYU, there are feelings dating back to protests in the late 1960s when 14 players were kicked off the 1969 Wyoming football team because they considered wearing black armbands against BYU to protest a past Latter-day Saint policy on race and priesthood.
Also, when BYU decided to go independent after Utah and TCU left the Mountain West, some MWC teams vowed to never play BYU again. Since then, feelings have softened, thus this game. SDSU, Hawaii, UNLV and Wyoming have scheduled BYU, but the Air Force still holds out.
Feelings aside, this is football, a game of great passion and momentum. You can be sure both USU and Wyoming have motivating factors in facing Utah and BYU and they are not without merit.
Utah’s physicality and depth will wear down USU regardless of how freshman Wilson performs as a placeholder for Rising,
BYU will face a defensive-minded Wyoming team that will try to force QB Jake Retzlaff to live up to his label as a turnover risk. For Retzlaff, it’s a legitimate challenge and one he will have to answer. Defensively, the Cougars should be able to take advantage of a struggling Wyoming offense. The capability of that grew by leaps and bounds with BYU’s defensive performance in the win at SMU.
In the Big 12, UCF’s running attack is racing toward realizing what folks believed it would be this summer. Although New Hampshire and Sam Houston haven’t exactly been formidable tests, UCF’s 419 yards per game leads the country by 30 yards. RJ Harvey is the star, but Peny Boone and Myles Montgomery have provided plenty of talented depth to worry league defenses.
Gus Malzahn’s Knights face TCU, Colorado and Florida in coming weeks.
Last week: 12-3; overall 29-4 (.878)