During that time, my observation was that when it came to Utah versus BYU, they valued their conference affiliation even more than the rivalry game itself (even though they they went 9-0 versus BYU between 2010 and 2019).

They not only loved lording over BYU as a result of their Pac 12 membership, they absolutely reveled in it.

And with each passing year, they saw themselves distancing further and further from BYU (at least as far as football is concerned).

After all of that, it has to be incredibly painful for them to not only be back in the same conference as BYU but, to add insult to injury, to be two games behind BYU in the standings (and unranked nationally) halfway through a season where they were supposed to be at or near the top of the conference and BYU was supposed to be at or near the bottom (and on the cusp of a top 10 national ranking).