I will take on that question. I am a die hard ute fan who grew up in Orem. I am an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well. It is difficult for me to understand how a member of the church so easily judges another. I get it....Utah fans = drinking and partying....but there is a point where a member of the church must respect that other people don't share the same religious beliefs. Just because a Utah fan, who isn't a member of the church, drinks gives nobody the right to ridicule them over what they do.
Do I drink? No...nor will I ever care for it. But I embrace a fellow fan for being a fellow fan....not because they believe or don't believe in something I don't. My entire in-laws are BYU fans and it is kind of hard for them to realize that a huge portion of the Utah fan base are solid active members of the same church as there "hated" rival BYU fans hail from.
I truly get the whole hated rival thing....I couldn't care less for BYU just like you couldn't for Utah... and I dare say Utah fans drink FAR less than any other school in the nation minus BYU affiliated schools.
Sorry for the long response.....You guys made the right decision to go independent.
- Utah fan/ PAC 12 affiliate