Provo • Bodie Schoonover has seen plenty of streaks in the BYU-Utah rivalry series, both good and bad.

But the fifth-year senior defensive end at BYU has always bled blue.

Mostly, at least.

Schoonover grew up in Cedar Hills, starred at American Fork High, and signed with BYU, where he’s played in 44 games since returning from a church mission in Cape Town, South Africa.

The 6-foot-3, 275-pound pass rusher was “born and raised” to be a BYU fan, he says, learning about the rivalry game from his parents while making the short drive to Provo when the Cougars played at home.

But his older brother Keaton took a different path. His rugby career took him to the University of Utah. Despite growing up in the same family, the Schoonover brothers bled different colors in college.

The passion for the rivalry was real, as it is for most Utah families. But it also never came between brothers.

“That’s exactly how it is,” he said. “Growing up, we were all split down my neighborhood between Utah and BYU fans; we’d spray-paint Y’s and U’s on every lawn. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of love at the same time.”

The biggest rivalry in the state has arrived on the first weekend of November, when the seventh-ranked Cougars head to Salt Lake City to face No. 3 Utah in a top-10 tilt for the first time in the 103-game history of the series.

Or is it 97 games? The series is so divisive, both sides can’t agree on how many times they’ve played, with the Utes dating the series back to 1896 and BYU not counting six games played as Brigham Young Academy before 1922.

Those six games may have been the most even thing about the early series, which Utah dominated before LaVell Edwards arrived in Provo. He quickly flipped the script with a 22-7 record during his 29-year tenure at BYU.

The next decade was more balanced until former BYU linebacker Kyle Whittingham led the Utes to nine consecutive victories from 2010-19. The Cougars snapped the streak in 2021 before winning the first two games as Big 12 rivals as part of their current three-game winning streak.

Eight of the last 10 games in the series have been decided by a single score.

“Even when you look at those win streaks, the games were tight,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “It doesn’t really matter what one team is doing in that year; when it comes to this game, these games come down to one or two scores most of the time.

“There’s a lot of intensity in this game,” he added. “It seems to get the best of the players on the field, and the talent shows up until it usually comes down to a tight finish.”

A tight, heart-wrenching finish, with bragging rights — and sometimes more, like this year — at stake for communities, neighborhoods, workplaces and, as the Schoonovers can attest, even families.

“Playing in it, I’ve felt it a lot deeper,” Schoonover said. “It’s been intense, for sure.”

Sitake’s family is no different.

Before Sitake was a fullback at BYU, his older brother Tevita Pella played defensive end at Utah.

Sitake’s coaching career was famously influenced by Utah, where he spent 10 years coaching linebackers and leading the defense under Whittingham before following Gary Andersen to Oregon State as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for a year.

During that season in 2015, he overlapped with Kevin McGiven, a former BYU graduate assistant who became the Beavers’ quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator nearly a decade before taking the same job under new Utah coach Morgan Scalley.

That’s the same Scalley who coached alongside Sitake at Utah, where he was Mountain West co-defensive player of the year and a second-team All-American in 2004 before becoming a safeties coach, defensive coordinator and, eventually, head coach at the U.

Utah made Scalley into the coach he is, in the same way the coach made the Utes into the first team to start 8-0 since 2010.

Those who know Scalley aren’t surprised by his early success — even those who will be wearing blue on Saturday morning.

“That’s Morgan’s attitude, that’s coach Scalley’s way of life; he’s a go-getter,” said BYU defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa, who transferred from Utah after the 2024 season. “That man has one of the greatest spirits that I’ve been around in being ruthlessly the best version of himself. He’s never satisfied with just OK, or being good.

“Them being a great team doesn’t surprise me.”

Similar, in many ways, to his current head coach.

“Kalani, he and I are very alike in that we love to have fun and to joke,” Scalley said. “But when it gets down to competing and you cross those lines, it’s time to win. Respect him so much as a human for the good that he does and the good that he is.”

Tanuvasa started 19 of 22 games on Utah’s defensive line before transferring to BYU, but he says he’s maintained several strong relationships with Utah players, coaches, administrators and fans since making the move. Scalley even came to his wedding and attended his temple sealing with his wife, Zerin, whom he proposed to after transferring to Provo.

There’s plenty of love between the two schools.

Except this week, of course.

“I have a lot of love for Utah, for the head coach, and for the people there,” Sitake said. “Those are still my friends. I would not be in this position if it weren’t for that school. That’s how this rivalry goes.”

He’s not alone, either.

Sitake’s staff has plenty of BYU alums like defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga, who never worked at the U. But it also features offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick, a former BYU wide receiver who spent 10 years at Utah, including as co-offensive coordinator on two separate occasions.

Associate head coach Sione Po’uha is a Utah grad who coached at his alma mater after eight seasons in the NFL, and BYU cornerbacks coach Lewis Walker played for Sitake at the U.

Even some of the most famous Utes aren’t immune. Scalley’s daughter Maddie enrolled at BYU as a freshman last year, and former Utah star Eric Weddle’s daughter Brooklyn also enrolled at BYU this past summer.

Back in the same conference, it’s natural that the rivalry game can divide families and communities. But it also has the chance to bring them back together after the final whistle.

“This is my third rivalry, and my thing is just to enjoy it,” Tanuvasa said. “These games come around once a year, maybe twice if the odds align. So enjoy it, and be mindful of other people.

“We’re still human beings, and still put on this earth for a great cause. But it’s football season, and this is the greatest rivalry that I’ve been a part of. Let’s go enjoy it.”