Why? Because they broke down their high school films, visited their high schools and probably sat in all their living rooms as they tried their best to get them to become Utes, not Beavers.

When it comes to recruiting, the Utes go head-to-head more with Oregon State than with any school other than BYU.

The Utes have won their share, too, with defensive ends Thor Salanoa and Junior Tui'one and linebackers Nai Fotu and Afa Garrigan and safety Robert Johnson all having been offered scholarships by the Beavers. Another lineman, Viliamu Nau, committed to the Beavers then changed his mind and came to Utah in August.

"I don't know why that is, but it is," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said of the recruiting wars. "I guess we're both identifying the same guys, recruiting similar areas like Southern Cal and Hawaii, so there is a lot of crossover. For whatever reason, we've gone against them more than any other school in the last four years."

Oregon State has two players on its roster from Utah. There is Paea, a former rugby star who played one year of high school ball at Timpview High before attending Snow College, and Sioeli Nau, his roommate at Snow College, who graduated from Spanish Fork High.

Utah doesn't have any players from Oregon on its roster, but it does have 31 players from California, a frequent visiting ground for the Beavers.

Oregon State also is venturing to the Hawaiian islands more and more often.

In the spring, the Utes had commitments from Kahuku, Hawaii, players Anthony Siilita and Benji Kemoeatu, who then changed their minds and committed to Oregon State before changing their destinations again to junior colleges.

Still, the Beavers have three players in their 2008 class from the islands, while the Utes were shut out, putting a dent in their much-touted Polynesian Pipeline.

"Recruiting the islands isn't a secret anymore," said Utah assistant Kalani Sitake, who is in charge of recruiting the islands and Los Angeles. "It's a good sign for the Utes that we're competing with Oregon State and the Pac-10 schools.

"We're not going to win every one, but we have enough to offer that those student-athletes are looking at us whether they are from the islands, California or Utah."

Oregon State coach Mike Riley said one reason the two schools compete with each other is both put a priority on speed, especially when recruiting defensive players.

"Speed is very important in the game for us," said Riley, who sounded like Whittingham in explaining his philosophy. "We don't get the ready-made 290-pound guys, so a compensating factor can be speed and strength, and we try to develop guys in that fashion."

Come Thursday, we'll see which program is developing its talent better.

lwodraska@sltrib.com

Oregon State at Utah

Thursday, 7 p.m., Versus