You can see Ute fandom growing, and local recruits considering them more and more. The fact is, you MUST win in-state recruiting and mindshare to stay relevant.

Beating Utah every year is, and should be a requirement to make sure that recruits still want to come to BYU.

Otherwise, the sales job of "Utah is BYU-lite, without the honor code, etc, play big-time, and beat them." will ring true, and we will continue to lose.

You win the battle for home turf first, then expand outwards.

I think people outside the state don't realize how important it is to win this game. It is vital to long term health of the program.