Thursday Night Football, which is normally reserved for the NFL, played host to such games as Clemson v. Georgia Tech, Cincinnati v. UCLA, and Texas A&M v. Texas State. However, the weirdest description I heard through all of these games was a game known as “The Holy War” between in-state rivals BYU and Utah.
My Continued Love of In-State Rivalries
As I have mentioned in other articles I have written, I LOVE in-state rivalries. For as long I have been watching college football, I have watched these games. Other “meaningful” games may be on, but to me rivalry games mean more. It is a chance for local glory and bragging rights. Utah Utes versus BYU is no different.
The Utes carried the day on the back of No. 2 Zach Moss. The dude is a tank at only 5′ 10″ and 215 lbs. He had 29 carries for 187 yards, averaging 6.4 yards per attempt. Not bad. This is an early indication of how much responsibility they place on Moss.
On the other side of the ball, BYU didn’t shown up. Scoring just 12 points in the home opener, it was a slow start. They scored only 1 TD by Ty’son Williams rushing it in, while the QB Zach Wilson remained unprotected and gave up 2 INTs. I hope BYU can turn it around, but they are going to have a lot of work to do.
Descriptions
The weeks, days, hours, and minutes leading up to college football is always tense. The anticipation is building, the crowds are filling the stadiums, and the smack-talking begins. ESPN’s Game Day crew has always done a great job at examining and explaining the anticipation of a particular game that week. It being rivalry week, they did not have to try too hard. However, I am kind of amazed that they use the term Holy War as their slogan for this game. I get the ‘haha let’s make fun of the Mormons’ approach, but it doesn’t really make any sense. As far as I know the Utah Utes have no religious affiliation. I’m not saying I find it offensive, although some might; I’m saying the description just doesn’t make much sense.
