Over the past 10+ years the BYU/Utah rivalry has become unbearable. It has gotten to the point where some from both sides hate each other and go out of their way to try and make the other team and University's lives miserable (with little success, but what a waste of time!). What has been the cause of such great hatred? Well it goes back before this time period, but I believe it was fairly calm during the Lavell/McBride years.

1. Coaches... Urban Meyer's childishness in not even being able to name the rivals team is a great way to develop the hatred. Whittingham being a former Cougar who had an opportunity to coach at BYU and chose Utah didn't help. Then Whittingham and Bronco's demeanor towards one another fueled the rivalry and the hate.

2. The emergence of Utah... BYU owned Utah for 25+ years. Yes we didn't win every game against them during this time, but our record was incredible. Add to that fact that BYU had a legendary coach, a National Title, a Heisman Winner, many other awards and tons of conference championships and there was no question who the better football program was. To be honest during this time Utah fans seemed to be few and far between because there was no argument they could win. Then Utah became better and broke through with an undefeated team. The attitude and arrogance that BYU fans (yes it existed in some form, although Utah was not always top of mind for Cougar fans) had shown towards Utah fans had been flipped, at least for a time. Utah fans took out years of frustration on Cougar fans although at the time it was fairly mild.

3. BYU sinks to new lows... At the same time that Utah was getting better, BYU was getting worse. The Crowton brought a new low to BYU hadn't been reached in 30+ years. For 3-4 years, Utah was clearly the better team. This didn't sit well with Cougar fans and Ute Fans began to multiply and become more vicious. The Ute fan base grew on the backs of non-LDS members of the Salt Lake Community. These are often people who don't like the Church's culture and even sometimes those that have deep seated hatred to the Church. BYU quickly became an easy target or face of their frustration.

4. The Max Hall incident. Certainly we couldn't leave out what happened to Max Hall and his family followed by the ensuing rant against Utah. You want hate? Have your 3-year starting QB go on record as saying he hates everything about and everyone associated with the other program. Cougar fans stood by Max even though they surely didn't hate everything about Utah. Utah fans pointed to BYU as religious hypocrites (ignoring what happened to Hall) despite having players say the same thing about BYU over the years.

5. The Pac 12... After a few really good football years in the rivalry with both teams being good the Pac 10 decided to invite the Utes into the Pac 12. This came after the Pac 12 tried to get Texas to join unsuccessfully. This made the divide between the two schools as wide and big as the Grand Canyon. Why? Well we all know that BYU was not seriously considered because of their beliefs and association to the Mormon Church, yet being a BCS team (now P5) is something that Cougar fans have desperately wanted. So there was certainly some jealousy on the side of the Cougar faithful. The Utes on the other hand thought that they earned this distinguished honor through the strength of their athletics. While there is no doubt that the resurgence of their football team made them a viable candidate, that had nothing to do with the choice between them and BYU (again, it did allow them to be viable whereas teams like UNLV were not). Coupled with a good TV market and a great location they were a fairly easy choice for the Pac 10 (if you want a team in the Mountain or Pacific Time Zones and won't choose BYU who is left? Utah was an obvious candidate at that point).

So now Ute fans felt a sense of entitlement that they never before had experienced. This led to belittling Cougar fans. BYU on the other hand, has definitely been envious of the position in the Pac 12 held by the Utes. Certainly envy can quickly lead to hatred, especially when the team you envy has fans that rub it in your face. On top of this Utah has been able to defeat BYU the past 5 seasons they have played and went so far as not scheduling the rivalry for a couple of years for reasons that could be described as (we are too good for you). This has not set well with BYU fans as they have lost some very close games to Utah and have been generally successful other than the rivalry.

So here we sit in 2016 in a rivalry that is pretty much unbearable. Ute fans create national campaigns trying to denigrate BYU and their existence. BYU fans are at the point that they would go through a bad season if it meant beating Utah, a team that they beat 20 out of 22 times growing up. BYU fans point towards lewd behavior such as topless fans or human waste at Utah games. Utah fans claim to be over BYU while lurking on their message boards and creating campaigns to smear their rival University.

There is some good news. The relationship between coaches went from hateful (or at least they didn't like each other) to two gentleman that have worked together and are friends. The amiable relationship between the two football heads is bound to have a trickle down effect to other coaches, players and fans.

Still, perhaps the biggest thing that will calm down the rivalry IMO is BYU joining the Big 12. Why? Well perhaps the main attitudes and talking point dividing the Universities goes away. One isn't better than the other (although I am sure there will be Big 12 vs Pac 12 smack talk) which puts both on equal footing from an access standpoint and neither in an envious position. Perhaps the Pac 12 stickers will stop (as I have been told they are primarily a way to rub it into their counterparts that they are "big time" while BYU is not) and people will cheer for teams on their own merit. Being in separate, but equal, conferences will also bring a sense of "where are they compared to me" as both teams will be battling with other teams for conference championships and standings.

I hope the rivalry never goes away. I have no problem with both teams circling that game as the most important each season. But I am hoping the hatred comes to an end. I remember years ago cheering for the Utes against Alabama. Today I wonder how I ever did that. I hope to get back to a time when I am able to do that as there is very little reason that the two Universities should be so at odds against each other. Again sports rivalries are great, but after the game a little friendly banter and good game should follow between fans. It makes sports a lot more fun. I also understand that there will always be the 1% on both sides that will be crazy and rude no matter what. I just would like the rest of us to at least be able to be friendly towards each other. We have a long way to go.