Canzano: Diving into the "Holy War"
Plus... Pac-12... and more.
SALT LAKE CITY — Chris Hill, the former University of Utah athletic director, is bracing for what Rice-Eccles Stadium might look like this weekend.
The “Holy War” will be played on Saturday in Salt Lake City. I’ll be there to cover the BYU-Utah rivalry game for the first time. I called Hill, who served as the AD at Utah for more than three decades, for a primer.
“There may be a lot of blue,” Hill told me.
In the 10 meetings before Hill took over at Utah in 1985, the Utes went 1-9 vs. BYU. Utah also lost five of the first six games in his tenure before getting traction. During Hill’s time as AD, the Utes posted a 18-12 record against BYU.
“I’m proud of that,” he said. “Having a winning record against them was one of my goals.”
It’s been a disappointing season for Utah (4-4). Undefeated BYU was No. 9 this week in the College Football Playoff rankings. Hill is wondering if the cold weather (temperatures in the mid-30s on Saturday night), the 8:15 p.m. MT kickoff, and an 8-0 BYU team might give die-hard Utah fans a reason to sell their tickets.
“People at Utah forgot what it was like to lose to BYU,” Hill told me on Friday, “and those who do remember may not want to be there for it.”
I asked Hill for his favorite “Holy War” memory. He didn’t hesitate. Hill pointed to the 52-21 victory over BYU in 2004. It was the regular-season finale and clinched an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl for Urban Meyer’s team.
“There was a real inferiority thing to overcome at Utah,” Hill said. “People had watched BYU beat Utah over and over. We weren’t even close. Winning that game signified so much to so many people.”
Beating BYU that season was a pivot point for the Utah football program. Hill said he took a moment to look around the stadium in the closing minutes and soak up the significance.
“One of my favorite things is the end of a big win like that,” he said. “You’ve got the game won. You take a knee. You leave in a classy way. Although, Urban probably wanted to pour it on and score a couple of more touchdowns.”
A few other things for your Friday:
• The talent and hard work of my photography team has been a great addition to this independent publication. I’ve got photographer Emma Kappel assigned to the Washington-Penn State “White Out” on Saturday in Happy Valley. I’m looking forward to seeing what she does with the game.
• Naji Saker is shooting the San Jose State-Oregon State game in Corvallis. Tim Healy is working the Maryland-Oregon game in Eugene. And Rob Gray drew the assignmet for the “Holy War” in Salt Lake City. Their respective photo galleries will be posted throughout the weekend.
• The Pac-12 is focused on shopping its media rights. It has Octagon, a media consultant, on the job. Along those lines, anyone else shaking their heads at the rumors and “reports” on social media about Sacramento State being a hot expansion target for the Pac-12? Nothing against the Hornets — I applaud ambition — but there’s a line of reasons why the rumor doesn’t make sense.
• Among them? The NCAA-imposed July 1, 2026 deadline for the Pac-12 to add at least one “all sports” school. It comes too soon for Sacramento State. The Hornets wouldn’t be ready.
• There are also substantial costs involved in the jump from FCS to FBS. The application fee to transition from the FCS to the FBS recently bumped up from $5,000 to $5 million. Schools making the leap must also fund a minimum of 210 scholarships a year. That’s another $6 million in annual expenses. Plus, the facility-improvement costs are staggering.
• I love that Sacramento State’s president is making no small plans and generating buzz. Maybe the school eventually gets in position for a promotion to a bigger conference. Keep in mind, conferences think in terms of revenue upside, brand, media market size, academics, etc. So ask yourself: Does Sacramento State add value to the Pac-12 right now? No knock on the school, but it’s a ‘no’ for me.
• Who will the Pac-12 target in expansion? UNLV? Nevada? Memphis? Tulane? Some other school nobody is talking about? One thing is certain — expansion never sleeps. The conference’s prospective media partners get the biggest vote.
• Portland State wrapped up the final round of interviews for its athletic director job. PSU President Ann Cudd appointed a hiring committee to give her recommendations, but she’ll make the hire. There are three finalists, per a source. I expect news on this front in the coming days and hope the Vikings go with a candidate who has outside ideas, a fundraising background, and will stick around. Portland State has it hard enough — this is not the time to make a safe, cozy, comfortable hire.
• I talked with Oregon State coach Trent Bray in a 1-on-1 radio interview on my radio show. Bray spent his bye week recruiting and prepping for his game against San Jose State on Saturday. It was a good talk about how a week “off” isn’t at all a week “off.”
• My radio show airs weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland (750-AM), Eugene (1050-AM), Klamath Falls (960-AM), Roseburg (1490-AM), Bend (92.5-FM), and Medford (107.9-FM). If you’re out of state and want to listen, you can stream it live or grab the podcast at your leisure.
• If you haven’t seen my picks, predictions, and opinions on this week’s college games, give it a look. I love that readers have started putting their own game picks in the comment section.
• I talked with 93-year-old Beth Smith on Thursday. You may remember Beth and her husband, Walt, from a column I wrote in the spring of 2023. They’ll celebrate their 74th wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks.
Beth prints out my column and reads it daily to Walt at their assisted-living residence. It has become part of their routine. I love that. Their subscription, and ones to other seniors like them, is covered by kind-hearted readers who donated subscriptions.
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I'm looking forward to this game because it has some real meaning....unfortunately, after sloging through 2/3rds of a football season with the new power 4...I'm just bored shitless. The ACC, B12,B10 and SEC are no longer leagues, they're phone books... way too many teams. Each phone book has a couple of contenders that appear to be better than the rest and a whole lot of other teams relegated to obscurity with absolutely nothing to offer the average fan, playing random exhibition games within their phone book. You know what constitutes an exciting and intriguing league in my humble opinion? 8 or 10 teams tops that have something in common, really don't like each other and play EVERY year....you know, with a "real" championship at stake? Here's my fix. Cut all four of those leagues in half and then I'll pay attention. Until then, I'm just waiting around for the power brokers to stuff their expanded playoffs and hopefully that's more exciting to than what I've seen so far because this sucks....in my opinion.
I hope the Pac 12 expansion moves into Texas, with some combination of UTSA, Texas State and/or North Texas. They are the best combination of media markets and geography. Better markets than UNLV & Nevada and better geography than Memphis & Tulane. Also, recruiting in Texas has always been a priority and this give exposure. Get two Texas teams as traveling partners, and you have a nine team football conference with decent upside.