Unbeaten Utah Hosts BYU In A Holy War That Could Shape The Big 12 Title Race

A Holy War starting in the breakfast hour is going to set the stage for a furious finish in the Big 12.

No. 3 Utah hosts No. 7 BYU in what should go a long way toward determining a spot in the Dec. 4 conference championship game in Arlington, Texas.

The tight league race will come down to whether the Utes (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) can hold onto their first-place perch with second-place BYU and No. 13 Texas Tech lurking. 

The Cougars and Red Raiders both are 7-1 and 4-1 in the conference, and another loss could jeopardize their chances of playing for a title and making the 12-team College Football Playoff. 

Texas Tech does not play BYU or Utah during the regular season.

Neither Utah nor BYU has won a Big 12 title. BYU lost in the championship game last year to Texas Tech, which became the leagues lone playoff representative.

The Utes and Cougars will kick off at 10 a.m. local time at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City to accommodate a noon time slot for television on the East Coast.

"Early, 10 a.m.," Utah coach Morgan Scalley said. "But I know our fans are juiced and fired up and theyll be there early and excited for this one."

BYU coach Kalani Sitake tried to play nice about having to roll out of bed for the early start.

"Its a little bit different," he said, adding theres no doubt his players will be ready. "The guys are really focused. Theres more energy and more effort towards the preparation for this game than ever before."

BYU has won three straight in the series that Utah dominated with nine consecutive wins before that. Utah quarterback Devon Dampier said he couldnt go anywhere the entire offseason without hearing about the rivalry.

"I understand what this means to the state, for sure," he said.

Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire plans to pay attention to his television set, first when the initial playoff rankings come out Tuesday night, then on other games that will have playoff implications. The Red Raiders host West Virginia on Saturday night.

"Yeah, Ill be tuned in. Its going to be really interesting," McGuire said. "And then its going be really interesting, like, as a college football fan and then a guy thats tracking everything right now. This weekend is huge for a lot of football teams."

The Big 12 is the only Power 4 conference never to have multiple teams in the playoff.

McGuire expects the Red Raiders to start out in the initial playoff ranking around where they are in the AP Top 25 poll, "which is good — striking distance," he said Monday. They'll need to finish in the top 11 because the 12th spot will go to the highest-ranked Group of Six team, which currently is No. 20 Boise State.

He points to SEC matchups including No. 2 Georgia at No. 12 Mississippi, and No. 9 Alabama at No. 15 LSU. Then there's No. 11 Ohio State, minus quarterback Julian Sayin, hosting Oregon and top-ranked Miami traveling to No. 4 Notre Dame. McGuire said this week "is probably as big of a Saturday as weve seen in college football in a long time."

Utah can count on a high ranking as one of three remaining unbeaten teams along with Miami and No. 5 UCLA. Scalley went into a two-minute explanation promising that his team won't get caught up in the CFP hype.

"Im pretty confident in our guys that theyre not going to look beyond this week," he said.

Scalley and Sitake are coaching at their alma maters and several members of their staffs coached or played at the other school. Sitake was a fullback under BYU coach Lavelle Edwards. Scalley was a safety and punt returner for the Utes.

They worked together on the staff of Utah coach Kyle Whittingham when Sitake was the defensive coordinator and Scalley the safeties coach. Sitake left in 2015 to become defensive coordinator at Oregon State, then was named BYUs coach in 2016. 

Scalley became Utah's defe