At first glance, the biggest personnel disparity in Saturday's rivalry game is at quarterback, where BYU will trot out a senior making his 38th career start and Utah will send out a freshman making his third.
Or is it?
Were it not for his epic struggles last year against Utah, BYU's Max Hall would be seen as having a huge advantage in experience, playmaking ability and practically everything else over Utah's Jordan Wynn at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
But the Utes will always have Nov. 22, 2008 to remind them of Hall's shortcomings -- and their defense's ability to force him into the worst game of his career, a career that includes 30 wins as a starting quarterback, the most in school history.
Hall will have that personal meltdown as either a motivator or a reminder, although he says he has purged the five-interception, one-fumble performance from his memory.
"That left my mind 10 months ago," he said Monday, professing to not have a chip on his shoulder when asked if he has any stored-up venom or anger toward the Utes.
However, BYU teammates say Hall's miscues that directly led to Utah pulling away from a tight game in the third quarter to a 48-24 win have driven him since then, and he's determined not to repeat them.
"People don't give him the credit he deserves, and I think he has played all season with a chip on his shoulder," said tight end Dennis Pitta. "I think he took a lot of blame for what happened last year, and it wasn't right."
Of course, Wynn isn't Hall's biggest concern this week. It's Utah's defense, which ranks 10th in the country in pass efficiency defense (100.84). Hall is No. 2 in the country in pass efficiency (167.16), behind Boise State's Kellen Moore.
Utah safeties Joe Dale (two) and Robert Johnson (one) picked him off three times last year.
"It is not about me [against Johnson], it is not about one person. It is about our team and playing for each other," Hall said. "I don't feel like I am playing against anybody else, but I am playing for my guys, and that's it."
Then there's Wynn, then a senior at California's Oceanside High, who had just changed his non-binding oral commitment from Colorado to Utah when Hall was trying to engineer an upset of the Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium last year.
He got a taste of what he will face in Provo two weeks ago at TCU, and Utah coach Kyle Whittingham says the experience will aid him Saturday.
"We were very pleased with how Jordan handled himself at TCU, [and] even though the numbers weren't prolific, he was poised, calm and never panicked and that was a great learning experience for him at TCU," Whittingham said. "Hopefully, that will help him this week."
To offset his obvious disadvantage in the experience department, Wynn has sought the advice of former Ute quarterback Brian Johnson, who could only lead his team to a touchdown and a field goal when he played in Provo in 2007 in a 17-10 loss to the Cougars.
"I expect it to be worse [playing in Provo than at TCU], honestly," Wynn said. "Their stadium holds more than TCU's and I'm sure it will be packed and their fans will be crazy and they will be hostile, but I'm looking forward to it."
Sports writer Lya Wodraska contributed to this report.
Utah » Interesting that the Utah-BYU game is the only one this week featuring two ranked opponents, yet both coach Kyle Whittingham and Bronco Mendenhall have been asked if the rivalry has lost any luster because a conference title isn't on the line.
