Man, after not posting in the rivalry threads for a couple of days and then coming back and reading them, I have to admit that it does seem to be getting rather silly. Some want to argue history, some want to argue the 1984 NC, some want to argue the here and now. Well fret no longer. I'm here to lay down the truth for both sides. Here's how I see it:
-If you're the type who wants to argue the history of the entire rivalry, obviously Utah has the clear upper hand in head-to-head meetings. And while it does feel good as a Ute fan knowing that, nobody really cares what was going on in the 20's and 30's. So if you're a Ute fan talking smack, sure it doesn't hurt to bring it up, but you better bring more than that if you want to be considered an "A" rivalry poster.
-BYU does have a NC. As Ute fans we can talk all we want about how they didn't play anybody that year, etc. and even though all of that is correct, it doesn't change the fact that BYU has an NC trophy on display in Provo. The flip side of this argument if you're a Cougar fan is, so what? It happened in 84 and under the current format of college football, it could never happen again. You should enjoy your championship and the glory years that surrounded it, but please be able to bring more than just this to the smack talk table. As I've said before, it really gives you the Uncle Rico Complex.
-BYU absolutely owned Utah in the 70's and 80's. Ute fan should have no problem admitting that BYU had the better program in during those 2 decades. Sometimes facts are just facts. But conversely, BYU fans need to understand that in the 90's, Utah stopped the bleeding, turned it back into a pretty dead even series and slowly started to pull ahead as we headed into the 2000's.
-That gets us to the "here and now" part of the discussion. I think with any major rivalry, most of the fans focus should be on the here and now which I think in this instance can be around the past 10-12 years. Looking back at that time frame, Utah's had the better program. Just like Utah fans need to understand that there were periods of time in which BYU was better, BYU fan needs to take a step back and realize that this current time belongs to Utah and brace themselves for the fact the gap may even be growing bigger. Don't agree with me? Well the numbers of the past 12 years won't agree with you.
-Now, the "future" of the argument. Really hard to tell at this point considering that we don't even know how much these schools will be playing in the future. I will say this though: When it comes to Utah winning a NC, I don't see that as them "validating" themselves in the eyes of BYU and it's fans if that were to happen. I would see it as more of a validation on a nation wide scale and an amazing reward to the school and it's fans. In fact, Utah winning a NC would have absolutley nothing to do with BYU just like BYU's NC had absolutely nothing to do with Utah. Unless these 2 schools start boasting multiple NC's and even playing head-to-head in some NC games (never gonna happen), it will never be about the titles. This rivalry was and is about the 2 schools and the head-to-head performances.
We all take swipes at each other, but as a Ute fan I can honestly say that' I'm extremely happy where the program is at and where it appears to be headed. I certainly wouldn't trade places with BYU in regards to the future well being of their program.
