In-state rivals No. 23 Utah and No. 15 BYU will play in their “Holy War” game for the first time as ranked opponents since 2009 at Provo, Utah, on Saturday night.
BYU was ranked No. 19 and Utah No. 21 when the Cougars won 26-23 in overtime at Provo in November 2009.
The schools about 50 miles apart will play their second Big 12 game against each other after BYU prevailed 22-21 last year at Salt Lake City.
BYU alum Kyle Whittingham, in his 21st year as head coach at Utah (5-1, 2-1), will match wits against Kilani Sitake, who was a member of Whittingham’s staff for 10 years at Utah.
“Whether we want to admit it or not, we actually need each other,” Sitake said in his weekly press conference Monday. “As I have said before, wishing bad things on others is not good for the soul.
“It has got to be a lot more fun when you can actually talk about the respect that you have for each other and that there is connection from both sides.”
Whittingham opted to not comment much on freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier for BYU (6-0, 3-0), while Sitake openly stated his respect for Utah quarterback Devon Dampier, a transfer from New Mexico.
Bachmeier was selected Big 12 freshman of the week for the third time this season after engineering a 33-27 double-overtime win at Arizona last week.
Bachmeier threw for 172 yards, completing 12 of 29 passes, with one touchdown and two interceptions while also running for 89 yards on 22 carries with two touchdowns. His TD runs forced overtime and were the deciding points in the second overtime.
“You know, I am just going to focus on this week, our guys, our coaches,” Whittingham said at his weekly press conference when asked to talk about Bachmeier. “So I am not going to give much thought on the opponent this week. So really you have to ask them what they think of Bear.”
Dampier is working with former BYU quarterback Jason Beck, who is the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Utah. Beck also coached Dampier at New Mexico in the same roles last season.
Dampier is a dual-threat quarterback who has completed 71.5% (118 of 165) passes for 1,131 yards with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions while running for 378 yards on 65 carries with five TDs.
In last week’s 42-10 win over then-No. 21 Arizona State at Salt Lake City, Dampier passed for only 104 yards with a 7-of-12 performance but rushed for 120 yards on 10 carries with three touchdowns.
“Super talented, and he’s tough, man,” Sitake said of Dampier. “He has great vision, and that’s in the passing game and in the running game. When you look at the stats, he knows where to go with the ball, and he’s well-coached.
“There’s a reason why they brought him in. He looks really comfortable out there. Whatever you need him to do, he’s willing to do it. He’s super tough.”
Utah leads the series 62-36-4. The Utes won nine consecutive games in the series from 2010 to 2019 before BYU was victorious in the last two meetings in 2021 and last season.
