BYU Defeats Utah in 2025 Holy War: Game Analysis, Tackling Issues, and Fourth Quarter Breakdown

The holy war has come and gone this year, and it says BYU comes out on top of things. Let’s talk about the game.

Pre-game

The Big Noon kickoff was here in the morning, and you can find that blog and video here. I thought of getting to the game about an hour early. Yes, I went to the game. But the parking place we always went to was opened up to the public. Finding a space was hard. There was no traffic getting to the game.

Why was that? The stadium was already packed.

The Game

This is the 103rd meeting between the Utes and the Cougars. BYU has won the last two games, while Utah has a streak of nine in a row. This will be a great game since last year’s game was stolen from Utah. Cry me a river.

First Half

It was boring; BYU and Utah didn’t score in the first quarter.

BYU scored first, putting them up by 7

Utah then scored, tying the game

In the final seconds of the first half, after some poor time management, they scored three to take the lead at halftime.

Utah	7
BYU	10

Thoughts on the First Half

Well, it was a slow game with a lot of action but only 17 points on the board. How will the second half go?

Second Half

The third quarter was scoreless.

The fourth quarter, well, let’s say it got good

Utah struck firs,t putting up 14 to 10.

BYU came back and scored, making it 14 to 17.

Then BYU scored on a 22-yard run by the big Bear, who was dragging some Utah players with him.

That put BYU up 14 to 24.

BYU went down the field, and on 4th and 5, they threw for the touchdown. They didn’t make it. I mean, kick the field goal and take the 3 points.

Utah came down the field and scored, putting the game at 21 to 24. We all knew Utah was going to do an onside kick. They did, and Utah recovered the ball. What the heck, BYU? How could you do this? However, there was a flag on the play. A Utah player kicked the ball before it went the standard 10 yards it needed.

Game over

BYU wins its third in a row.

Utah	21
BYU	24

Stats

Utah	Stats	BYU
73	Plays	66
470	Total Yards	368
6.4	Yards per Play	5.6
244	Passing Yards	166
226	Rushing Yards	202
24	First Downs	22
5/12	3rd down Efficency	3/12
1	Fumbles Lost	0
1	Interceptions	0
12	Penalties	5
77	Penalty Yards	42
28:53	Time of Poss.	31:07

Thoughts

BYU won a good one. It was a close game, and they needed to win. Almost everyone predicted Utah would win. But deep down, I know the boys in blue will be the winners.

Now, here come some of my thoughts.

Time Management:

Oh my heck, it isn’t that hard to. Run some darn 2-minute drills. No huddle, no not knowing what the heck is going on. They wasted a good minute to end the first half on poor time management. This isn’t the first game this has happened in.

Leave Points

I understand the desire to score a touchdown, as they are worth 6 points, plus the extra point, making it 7. But if you are close to the endzone, kick the FG. I would rather have 3 points than no points.

BYU isn’t the only one that did this. Utah left some points behind as well.

Tackling

OK, for the love of football, please get some tackling drills on defense, BYU. Poor tacking is killing you out there. Wrap them up and take them down. No more going for the shoes. No more trying to arm-tackle them.

Please don’t get a targeting call or a Personal Foul, but hit them clean and hard.

Holy War

It will continue, but BYU takes home the win and the streak this year. But this will be talked about for a while. The Utah coach was asked about the quarterback draw on that 22-yard run to score a touchdown. He said that it wasn’t on our radar.

Has he not been watching tape of any kind?

This has been run several times. Sometimes, play after play.

Better luck next year, Utah. BYU will get the fourth win,