When I was a kid in the 80's, if you were a Yewt fan you basically got made fun of endlessly. My entire ward on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley had 3 families who cheered for the Utes. And we teased them relentlessly for cheering for a joke of a program.
It was definitely cool to cheer for BYU in those days. It pains me to see how the trend has reversed over the past 10-15 years.
I found myself explaining this to a co-worker the other day who moved to Utah from Germany about 8-10 years ago. He had no idea that BYU used to dominate the state and that Utah was pathetic. He thought I was lying to him about how bad Utah was and how good BYU was and how BYU dominated them for years. Of course he is a big Yewt fan now. Those days are long gone.