I would probably say that the Utes and Whittingham have a more aggressive "us vs. the world" attitude. I always envied how the Utes never seemed afraid of an opponent and they had a "never back down" mentality. That was their strength.
The way their program is ending our rivalry just seems out of character. The only reason to do it is to avoid a probable loss each year. It just seems like it is going against the very thing that has brought all this success to their program. I would be concerned about this if I were a Ute fan.