There’s nothing quite like the BYU-Utah rivalry!

The Holy War between BYU and Utah isn’t just a game — it’s the event of the year and bigger than the Super Bowl! With the schools separated by just 45 miles, you’re either bleeding blue or red — there’s no in-between.

It’s a private institution vs. public, church vs. state. Even families are divided, with players on both sides of the rivalry. Just look at the Wilson family. Zach Wilson, whose dad played at Utah, went on to play at BYU and eventually became the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. His younger brother Isaac ended up going to Utah and is now the starting quarterback for the Utes.

You also have Utah head Coach Kyle Whittingham who played at BYU from 1978-81, while BYU head coach Kalani Sitake played fullback at BYU during the 1994 and 1997-2000 seasons. Sitake went on to be the defensive coordinator under Whittingham at Utah for nearly a decade (2005-14). Luckily for Cougar fans, Sitake made his way back to BYU where he leads the undefeated and No. 9 Cougars into Saturday’s showdown against the Utes.

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For as long as I can remember, the Holy War has been something I’ve always looked forward to each year. I’ve been to football games at both LaVell Edwards Stadium, as well as Rice-Eccles Stadium. Both stadiums are electric, the stakes are always high and the fans — especially the student sections — make home games one of the toughest places to play in all of college football.

I have many family and friends on both sides of the rivalry. In fact, I had an aunt, a die-hard Utes fan, who would show up at our house with a Utah cake after every rivalry win. As a kid, I didn’t care who won the rivalry game, just pass me some cake! While the rivalry can be toxic as people go overboard, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed joking and engaging with family, friends, and coworkers and giving everyone a hard time. That’s what makes rivalries so great!

This year, I decided to take things up a level. No more just watching from the press box, the stands, or the couch. This year, I brought the Holy War to my backyard — literally!

It took some convincing, but my wife gave me the green light and I went to work.

The first thing I needed was a stripping machine. With the field being 100 feet long and 40 feet wide, there was no way I was going to hand paint all of that. I looked online and found someone who had a stripping machine that hadn’t been used and made the 1-hour trip to Provo to pick it up.

Striping machine secured.

Next came the paint — and boy did I need a lot of it. I made sure to quickly meet the delivery driver so that I could get all the supplies in the garage before my wife saw.

Paint secured.

I ended up doing a couple of test runs to make sure everything was just right. The width of the field ended up being 1:4 scale and the length was 1:3 scale.

Next up was making all the stencils. We needed a lot of individual letters for the Utah and BYU end zones, not to mention the Big 12 logo. We created stencils for the yard line markers as well, but unfortunately, we ran out of time and didn’t get to it. Next year will be even better!

So why did I decide to paint my backyard into a BYU-Utah football field?

Part of it was for selfish reasons as it was something that I’ve always wanted to have as a kid growing up. I mean, who wouldn’t want a football field in their backyard.

My two oldest kids are now at the age where they enjoy playing sports and love running routes and playing catch in the backyard. Their favorite play is jumping off the slide and into the corner of the end zone to re-enact Chase Robert’s one-handed game-winning touchdown catch against Arkansas. They are big soccer fans as well so they enjoy booming punts — something Jonny Linehan would appreciate. Don’t worry Ute fans, they also love kicking field goals and pretend to be Chris Yergensen and drilling 55-yard game-winning field goals. Luckily we haven’t built goalposts yet so they can’t tear them down. I also don’t have Chad Lewis to chase them away if they start doing that (see the 1993 BYU game).

One of the best parts was seeing my kids pitch in to help set up the field. They worked hard — mowing the lawn, painting the lines, and even helping with the stencils. But ask them to make their beds each day? Now that’s a whole different challenge. We’ll save that one for another day.

Having the football field helped my kids break out of their comfort zone as they’ve been inviting everyone over to play football. As a parent and huge sports fan, there’s nothing better than seeing kids running around and having fun. In the end, we’re still friends, family, coworkers and neighbors — no matter if we bleed red or blue.

The BYU-Utah rivalry is more than just football. It’s about family, tradition, and memories that last a lifetime. Whether it’s the heated competition on the field, or the good-natured jabs off it, the Holy War brings people together in ways only college sports can. For me, turning my backyard into a BYU-Utah football field wasn’t just about reliving the magic of the rivalry — it was about creating new memories with my kids, who will someday look back at this new family tradition and smile.

And while my backyard may not quite measure up to LaVell Edwards or Rice-Eccles in terms of scale, it’s the perfect place for my kids to start their own rivalry traditions — one backyard touchdown at a time. As for my wife, well… we’ll cross that bridge when she sees the paint bill. But for now, it’s safe to say we’re all ready for the next chapter in the greatest rivalry in college football.

So, here’s to another year of the Holy War and may the best team win. Go Cougars, Go Utes, and here’s to many more years of rivalry, family, and fun.

Follow Justin Giles on Twitter and Fan Insider on Facebook.

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