With Sitake as their head coach, they are going to be harder to 'hate.'

[Utesbyfive]

Not that I hate BYU, I just don’t like them much. But I like Sitake, and if he changes the culture there to something resembling Utah’s culture, I’m going to have a hard time rooting against them when they aren’t playing us. Bronco made it very very easy to hate on the Y. Sitake is a good dude, and I’m going to have to re-evaluate my whole opinion of that team. Anyone else feeling the same?

[AlohaUte]

Yup. I kept trying to hate BYU during the game, but everytime the camera sat on Sitake I thought, man, I love that guy!

[Anonymous]

Sitake is very much attempting to be in direct competition with Utah. Most of the local media I hear now is look out for Sitake Utah(Moral victory) combined with WHEN BYU gets the Big12 invite(fantasy).  That appears to be the narrative after Utah won, despite losing the turnover margin so thoroughly. Utah didn’t win it was a bad play call away from losing basically seems to be the narrative. Or for the full zoob if Nacua was playing Utah loses in OT because Sitake kicks the PAT. Ignoring the what if for Utah: Fitts didn’t get hurt or McCormick.  Hell I watched that eleven minute drive again if McCormick was in instead of Joe Williams Utah scores a TD and puts it out of reach.  Ain’t no way BYU executing an onside kick correctly.

I don’t hate Sitake but I do want BYU to lose every single game they play. Utah still battles them for recruits and he has caused a sense of revival down south to the age of Lavell.

[Utesbyfive]

I can’t fault Sitake for trying to compete with the Utes for eyeballs and recruits, or on the field. He’s their head coach. But when he was hugging it out with his former Ute players after the game and telling them to “go win the Pac-12,” it really touched me. Could we be on the cusp of a new era in an actual “friendly” rivalry?

[Anonymous]

The guy who knocked McCormick out of the game.  Watch his walk to the locker room again. McChutney or whatever he is a tool bag.

Also Sitake is lying why would you want Utah to win the PAC?  That would be devastating in the recruiting trail.

[Utesbyfive]

Aside from the targeting incidents, did anybody see anything super dirty? Time will tell, but I expect more discipline and less dirty play with Sitake at the helm. Bronco fostered the whole Mormons against the world attitude. I have a feeling Sitake is more genuine, and just less of a bitter asshole than Bronco.

And I’m not going to call him a liar when he’s talking to his former players. If you want to keep on hatin’ that’s fine, whatever.

But life is bigger than Xs and Os, and just maybe Sitake knows it.

[Anonymous]

Everyone has this loveable attitude towards him now. Former players want BYU in big 12 because it means better football for the state. Personally I want their entire athletic department shut down and I hope we never play them again.

I tried to like Dave Rose and look how he runs his program.  I am not trying to be all big brother Utah has moved on attitude either but Utah gains nothing from playing them and has had three key players injured in a meaningless game.  Yes injuries are a part of football and can happen at any time but injuries against BYU are salty enough for me.  Maybe Fitts got hurt on one of those blocking below the knee played.  I know Tyrone Smith was hurt on a horse collar tackle by that McChutney or whatever. One BYU player hurt two of Utah’s offensive players.

[Utesbyfive]

My hope, is that Sitake cleans up the program. If he doesn’t, then my opinion will change, of course. As I said, time will tell, but my attitude towards them has softened for the moment.

Football is a rough, tough game, and the injuries we suffered could have come at the hands of any other MWC level team as well. Unless it was just super-blatant, I’m not convinced that they were trying to hurt anyone.

As far as the Big 12, or shutting down their program, I’m not gonna delve into that, because it’s just kinda petty. They need to go their own way, just like we need to go ours.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Utesbyfive.

[Anonymous]

1:38 mark for a better view of that horse collar tackle.

SportsBeat: Breaking down Utah’s 20-19 rivalry win over BYU; Utah State falls at USC
https://ksl.com/?sid=41444633

[Anonymous]

I watched it. I would not call that a horse collar tackle. Also hard to see how he was even injured on that play.

[Anonymous]

Huh?  His right arm is on the collar and his left is on the shoulder pad. It is very easy to see how he was injured when your dragged down by your pads.

[89ute]

Byu is a business rival and must be marginalized to the level of Utah St. and Weber St in terms of importance in Salt Lake. BYU stunts our growth of becoming a Pac 12 sports city. Every second BYU takes up in the local media comes at the expense of Utah. We can’t dial into a radio station, pick up a paper or visit a local news site and find out ANYTHING regarding our Pac 12 foes.

With BYU marginalized we pick up their sponsors and donors. You want a big ass stadium with corporate suites? Ain’t happening as long as we’re sharing corporate sponsorship and donor dollars with BYU. We need their money and future fans if we want big shiny Pac 12 stuff like Oregon, USC and UCLA.

I bet a healthy amount of our fans could not even list the 12 teams in our conference. Our fans know more about BYU than they do the entire Pac 12 combined.

BYU must fade which means Sitake must fail.

Sitake ran around the field like a little bitch, a la Bronco when #12 was ejected. He’s a little f**king baby bitch!

[Utesbyfive]

Denial isn’t a river in Egypt dude. It sounds like you’re just denying the reality that they aren’t going away, they will always be sort of good, and the next time they beat us, because it will happen, is going to hurt like a motherf***er.

[89ute]

If they do not get into the Big 12, they’re going away. By their own admission independence is not sustainable. Objectively I don’t see them getting into the Big 12. That’s not denial.

[Anonymous]

This title should actually say with Sitake as BYUs head coach we should hate BYU more. Sitake left for a lateral transfer at best and convinced Utah kids to head to Corvallis. Sort of severed ties with Utah only to take the BYU job shortly after that. Even the announcement of Sitake as the head coach during the Vegas bowl was douchey. Man I just can’t stand that school.

[Utesbyfive]

That’s a lot of hate. You hate them more for me, mmkay?

[Anonymous]

No it is just logical that you shouldn’t like a guy who left for Oregon st only to pave the way for him to take a head coaching job at another recruiting rival.  Yeah Whitt is saying the professional thing now but I wonder what he says to kids in their homes.

[Utesbyfive]

Yeah, not gonna hate the guy for pursuing his career. He is now a head coach. So obviously he did the right thing by himself and his family.

[KiYi-Ute]

Even if Sitake cleans up the program, their fanbase will still be insufferable. I don’t predict that I will ever hate the TDS any less than I do. Having been born and raised in Salt Lake, BYU-P epitomizes traits that I dislike the most in a group of people: close-mindedness combined with a superiority and persecution complex. I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Purely from a football perspective, playing them is a no-win situation. I’d just assume never play them again in any sport.

[Utesbyfive]

Well, yeah, their fans are asses. And I grew up in the Avenues dude, in the shadow of the Block U on the hill. My parents met each other in the Olpin Union ballroom 52 years ago. I’m as much of a Ute as anybody ever has been. I’m just expressing that I feel some respect for Sitake I never had for Bronco, and I’m interested to see where he takes the program. I’m never going to be a fan of that team, or not want the Utes to stomp a mudhole in them, but if the rivalry hate could be softened, I’m all for it. It’s gotten to be too much for me.

If we are stuck playing them, for whatever reason, then I’d like to see it go down as less of a grudge-fest.

[Anonymous]

Ok all I am saying is wait for next year and see how you feel after that. Zoob is as zoob does.

[BungalowUte]

I respect/like Kalani a lot. But their self-righteous/delusional fans are why I will NEVER cheer for BYU in anything ever.

[ChooseTheRed]

Andy Phillips’ Instagram post after the game seems to be an indication of Sitake’s genuineness and class. After talking about his baby being born during rivalry week and the support he received from Kyle and the team, Phillips went on to say, “As I walked onto the field Saturday, life was again put into perspective for me as Coach Sitake came up to me, gave me a huge hug and said, ‘Congrats Andy, I love you and am so proud of you. That’s what this is all about.'”

I’ll trust the perspective of Phillips (and others) who actually know Sitake well. It’s too easy to hold onto the narrative that anyone associated with BYU is an evil, self-righteous a-hole. It’s much harder to accept he can be a fierce competitor, going after our recruits sometimes, who is also a nice guy and wants good things for the friends he still has at the U.

[89ute]

Thanks, I may have gone too far calling him a bitch and I do acknowledge there appears to be a change down there. I have some interest in their next game and after that I’m looking forward to never giving them another thought until the week before we play them again, which I will dread. I don’t like the game.

On second thought, I’m following the Big 12 expansion closely so they won’t be out of mind just yet.