towards a religion. Many BYU fans feel they are actively rooting for their religion, in a sense, while rooting for BYU sports teams. The connection isnt hurting anybody, so its fine, but it is a gigantic logical fallacy. Its sports, not religion. There is no connection between a bunch of gigantic guys trying to take each others heads off, and the gospel. They are the Church's team, but, at its core, there is no connection to what the religion actually is.
I have a relative who is as devout LDS as you will find. Gives INCREDIBLE amounts of his time to the church. Loves the church with all his heart, but he dislikes BYU sports teams. Suggesting that has anything to do with how he feels towards the religion is downright insulting to me.