In every rivalry there will be groups of fans on both sides that take things beyond what they should be. This is, after all, just sports and nothing more.

In the BYU-Utah rivalry there are a few groups that make it a bit to heated.

On the BYU side there is the "holier than thou" group that brings religion into the discussion. They somehow thing that going to BYU makes them morally superior. It has gotten a bit worse as BYU has become more difficult to get into academically.

On the Utah side there are two groups.

The first is the non-LDS that grew up in Utah and felt they were discriminated against. I cannot really say whether this is true because I only went to school at BYU and did not grow up there. I can see that in some cases there would have been some difficulties. There are way to many LDS families who seem to think their children can only play with other LDS kids. I know that if your were not LDS you would hear other kids talking about things they do in Church activities but you would be left out of that discussion. This forces these fans to become anti-LDS to a point and bring religion into the rivalry.

The second group at Utah is much more aggressive. They are the Ute fans that are no longer active in the Church and they will go to any length to let everyone know they are not active and they have a much more visceral hatred of anything LDS. That means they have to hate BYU. These are the guys serving jello shots in sacrament trays and thinking they are funny.

My very best friend is a dyed in the wool Utah graduate. He often tells me he went to an institution of higher learning and not some parochial school. Now his wife is a BYU graduate and he son is a BYU graduate. His daughter started at BYU but transferred to Westminster and then Utah. He and I have gone to BYU-Utah games. Bill comes all decked out in red and when in Provo he gets some good natured kidding with an occasional idiot. When we go to the game in Salt Lake City I am attacked immediately with all sorts of verbal barrages and profanities. A few years ago Bill was about to deck a Utah fan for some of his comments.

But I want to make it clear, the vast majority of fans treat this as a rivalry that is fun. They realize it is just sports and life goes on after the game. We may be a bit miserable for a few weeks (or months) but we get through it. But please God, let us win so those arrogant pukes will shut up. LOL