Utah won, again... this time, in lackadasical fashion. Fumbles and penalties that normally would have defined a game were blips on the radar as the Utes cruised to the finish line, making it seven in a row. Nothing to write home about, really. Tyler Huntler continues to emerge as a bona-fide star, the defense is a triumph, penalties have to get cleaned up. Likely the same take-aways Ute fans will have from the upcoming game against San Jose State.

The Holy War. It used to be a perfect name for a rivalry that went deeper than football, deeper than the educational and class divides that help define other rivalries like Duke-UNC, USC-UCLA, and Auburn-Alabama. Along this 45 mile stretch of I-15, immortal souls were at stake. 'Holy War' captured the relentlessness of it, the way it didn't matter who actually won the game, the scoreboard just fuel for the righteous anger of the losing side. 'Holy War' doesn't fit any more.

It's not the same for the players. Their mentors on the team, now gone, couldn't tell them what it felt like to play in the Holy War. They had never lost to BYU. The institutional memory of the Holy War is gone. Only the coaches remember, and that doesn't land on a nineteen year old kid the same way. From a coach, it's a scary story to get you to practice on time. "Respect the process, or the Cougars will get you!" A coaches' Holy War story game isn't history to Tyler Huntley or Chase Hansen, it's mythology.

The rivalry that once was the Holy War doesn't mean what it used to, and unless BYU should happen to fall backwards into a Power 5 conference, it never will again. The game will no doubt continue to be played, and the Cougars will probably win a time or two, just as Utah State has managed to do in the twilight of their rivalry with the Utes. It's not going to change the facts, though.

The Holy War is over. Utah won.