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Las Vegas • Anybody who says the BYU-Utah rivalry game shouldn't be played, that there's no longer any usefulness to it, any enjoyment in it, any reason for it, is out of his or her freaking mind.

Saturday's Las Vegas Bowl was one more witness to the fact.

And it is a fact.

That was clearly reinforced at Sam Boyd Stadium, in a postseason setting where the Utes and the Cougars were forced together by the Fates — and by Pac-12 bowl affiliations and bowl finagling — after certain powers tried to separate the teams for a two-year hiatus.

Bad idea. Presumptuous idea. Arrogant idea. Stupid idea.

Sweet intervention.

Everyone who loves a good rivalry, the passion and football it hatches, people with eyes to see, saw that for themselves in a game that became a remarkable 35-28 contest, a game that had a bit of everything. Including, at its end, the official announcement that Kalani Sitake would be BYU's new head coach.

The core narrative at the start — and what seemed to be the decisive part, but, as it turned out, was merely a scene setter — sounds like the opening of a joke, like … A BYU quarterback, two Utah defensive backs and a lame-duck Cougar head coach walk into a bar. The joke appeared to be one-sided.

It goes like this …

Tanner Mangum fumbles — Gionni Paul recovers — on the opening series at the BYU 25-yard line. Joe Williams takes over from there, scoring from the 1-yard line. Tevin Carter picks off a tipped Mangum pass and returns it 22 yards for a touchdown, making the count 14-zip, Utah. Mangum throws another pick at his own 34-yard line, swiped by Carter again, which he returns to the 1, from where Williams scores again, and it's 21-zip, Utah. Next, Mangum is hit as he throws, wobbling another interception to Dominique Hatfield, who returns it 46 yards for a pick-six … 28-zip, Utah. Squally Canada fumbles at the BYU 39, setting up a 20-yard TD run by Travis Wilson, 35-zip, Utah …

"It could have easily gone to 70," Bronco Mendenhall said, afterward.

There's no punch line, only BYU getting punched out.

At that juncture, one would have thought the Cougars had lost their way, fully aware that their head coach was now somebody else's head coach — Virginia's — gone along with most of his staff and there had been no reason to prepare hard or play hard. It seemed as though BYU was doing more damage to the rivalry actually playing in it than having both teams sit it out.

And then … everything changed. What could have turned wholly into a practice session/party for the Utes and a harsh combination of a bridge too far and a hole too deep for BYU transformed itself into a competitive gem. Far from flawless, it was compelling to the max.

The Cougars fought back, while the Utes lurched.

Mangum managed a touchdown pass with 36 seconds left in the first half, narrowing the margin to 28 points. Then, it went to 21 on a 12-play, 72-yard drive. Next, Mangum hit Devon Blackmon on a deep ball to preserve a drive that ended in a BYU touchdown on a Magnum-to-Nick Kurtz throw.

From that time, as Kyle Whittingham said, "it was game on."

It was on even more after Mangum dived into the end zone with 3:23 left, making it a one-possession affair.

That's where the comeback ended, though, much to the relief of the Utes, who never could come up with any points in the second half. If anything was proved here, it's that the talent difference between these two teams is slim. All told, BYU gained 386 total yards, Utah had 197, Utah gained 14 first downs, BYU 21, BYU had 315 passing yards, Utah had 71.

Whittingham praised his defense, but termed parts of his team's performance "pathetic."

Mendenhall, who coached his last game with the Cougars, said, "I'm not sure I've ever been as proud of a team. … There's no quit."

Except for the head coach, who announced two weeks ago that he was quitting.

Whittingham said his players "deserved to win this game … they earned it."

Mendenhall said, "We just came up a little bit short."

So the Cougars did. But nobody else was shorted. They proved, just like the Utes, that they belong on the field together, that these two teams should play one another every year, no matter who is in the Pac-12 and who isn't, no matter who's an independent and who isn't.

Come what may, the rivalry should live on. If it didn't, the losers would be people around here who love football, people who cheer for both sides.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone. Twitter: @GordonMonson.