Perhaps the clearest sign of abnormality in the Beehive State is the return of the most fearful weekend on the state’s sporting calendar: the ‘Holy War’. Families are once again divided by divided loyalties. Bumper stickers have been given a little extra shine. With greater consistency, red and blue sweatshirts line the aisles of supermarkets and shopping centers like a bag of patriotic M&Ms.

However, the annual matchup between the BYU Cougars and Utah Utes looks nothing like the matchup that was expected months ago when it was added to the schedule after a three-year hiatus.

There’s a national title contender involved, as everyone expected, but it’s not the team that put anyone on the roster. Even stranger, the quarterback starring Saturday is not the one who until recently appeared in local television ads, but rather a Jewish signal caller who made other types of converts at the school sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Days . Saints.

Strange is just one way to sum it up.

“The seasons have gone in completely different directions than initially expected. I think this shows that those rankings and preseason thoughts don’t mean much,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham joked this week. “You have to go out and play the games and things happen over the course of the season that change the paths of teams. That’s what happened this year.”

It was something of a thing Crazy Friday situation, the two programs’ football fates separated by less than 50 miles, and this year in completely opposite directions.

The Utes were the preseason favorite to win their new league, the Big 12, and it was widely believed – both internally and externally – that they had a good chance of making the College Football Playoff in the first year of an expanded field of participants. Like other contenders, preparations to host a first-round match at Rice-Eccles Stadium were discussed by the government, and local sports talk radio did not stop itself from dreaming about the possibility of one of the toughest venues in the country would host a blueblood for the playoff in cold winter weather.

What could have gone wrong in Utah since then, however, has.

Veteran quarterback Cam Rising made just three starts after redshirting all of last season due to a knee injury suffered in the Rose Bowl. He initially missed several games due to a hand injury, but was then lost for the season after suffering a leg injury during a road game at Arizona State on October 11. The offense was anemic after the season opener against Southern Utah, where it ranked 105th. FBS in scoring and second-to-last in the Big 12 in third downs converted. After six years of running plays, coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned on October 20 after falling 13-7 to the TCU Horned Frogs, and the program is now in the midst of a four-game losing streak (the longest since 2017 ).

Perfectly balancing the nightmare in Salt Lake City was a dream season in Provo.

The Cougars are 8-0 for the fifth time in school history and remain one of only five teams in the country without a loss. They were ranked No. 9 in the College Football Playoff Selection Committee’s first-season rankings — good enough for a top-four finish and a possible first-round bye — and could rightly claim to be one of the most improved programs in to be the country. after a disappointing 5-7 debut last season as a power-conference team that suffered five double-digit losses in league play.

If they prevail Saturday night at Rice-Eccles for the first time since 2006, it would see the team fully double its preseason win total of 4.5 from the sportsbooks and keep BYU atop the Big 12 standings in which it was initially picked to finish. 13th.

“In college football, especially as you get close to the end in November, it becomes a test of how you’re going to finish,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. ‘You can’t count on anything; college football is unpredictable. There is a lot of equality at this conference, and we have said that from the beginning.”

One of the driving forces behind the resurgence of navy blue and white was the play of QB Jake Retzlaff. Retzlaff, a junior college transfer from California, went winless in his four starts for an injury-plagued team last year but has improved his play significantly this season. His yards per attempt have nearly doubled and he has thrown 18 touchdowns – one more than the team had last year.

Retzlaff has also been arrested. He led a lead in the fourth quarter to help defeat the SMU Mustangs, going 75 yards in 62 seconds before throwing the winning touchdown to Darius Lassiter in a memorable victory over the Oklahoma State Cowboys. When you’re the Cougars’ second-leading rusher, the junior is no longer just an intriguing story to outsiders as the first Jewish quarterback to play at BYU, but the driving force that could help win the program’s first conference title since 2007 to conquer.

Also helping is a defensive resurgence under Sitake and coordinator Jay Hill, 49, who shockingly suffered a heart attack just two days before the season opener. It was a scary moment for everyone involved, but the former Weber State head coach quickly recovered and the event brought the team closer together. Despite not signing many transfers this summer, BYU ranks in the top 20 in points allowed (up from 86th in FBS a year ago) and has one of the stingiest pass defenses in the country. Remarkably, the team’s fourteen interceptions have come from eleven different players, underscoring its depth.

On paper, that would seemingly give the visitors a big advantage in the first Holy War, which comes with matching Big 12 logos on the two uniforms. In practice, however, this rivalry has been anything but simple. The last four meetings in Salt Lake City have had an average winning margin of just over a field goal, including one game where fans stormed the field three times.

“There are a lot of emotions and there is a lot of equality between the teams. It doesn’t really matter what the records are,” Sitake said. “I think there’s a lot of pride in both sides and tradition. We are going to do their utmost.”

There are plenty of players competing against old high school teammates, and the crossover between the two coaching staffs adds another layer that few series can match in college football.

Whittingham is a former BYU linebacker who was a star player under the legendary LaVell Edwards, while Sitake was in the red for nearly a decade as an assistant under his good friend Whittingham. Both Cougars coordinators coached at each school, plus both Hill and defensive line coach Sione Po’uha played in the game as former Utes. Five of the Utah assistants are alumni with extensive experience at the school down south, including defensive coordinator (and head coach-in-waiting) Morgan Scalley.

Perhaps that’s why BYU, despite coming in with momentum in the opposite direction, is favored by just four points in a series where Utah has won nine of the last 10 meetings.

“That’s unusual and hasn’t happened in a while,” noted Whittingham, who will be in charge of the program for the 250th time on Saturday but has lost just once to his alma mater in 20 seasons at Rice-Eccles. “But that is our motivation.”

It’s an odd position for the Utes heading into a crucial on-court meeting with BYU. But Holy War or not, maybe it’s the most normal thing in the world at the moment.