The Yewts always had this gnawing feeling in the back of their heads that told them they were frauds. Imposter syndrome. They couldn't shake that unmistakable feeling that they got invited to the PAC12 not because they were a valuable program, but because the PAC12 got pantsed when OU and UT didn't take the bait. And because they weren't BYU.
They always knew Big Blue Brother was the better program. They knew BYU was in the wilderness only because the PAC12 were bigots. That's why they stabbed at BYU every chance they got. The fact that BYU still existed was a maddening reminder that Utah was an imposter. "Why won't they just go away?!" Yewts stewed.
Over time, Yewts tried to ignore BYU. Refusing to play them or even say their name. They focused on their pretty bowl losses. They luxuriated in the warm California sun. They learned to live with that tickling feeling that they didn't really belong and that BYU was lurking in the darkness. They told themselves the Team Down South didn't exist. Or if it still existed, it didn't matter. But it did.
Most folks suffering from imposter syndrome never actually get exposed. It all just plays out in their minds. They fake it till they make it and nobody is the wiser. But such mercy was not to be Utah's fate.
Last Saturday night, the mask was ripped off like a Scooby Doo villian. Imposter! Everyone saw. Big Blue Brother had emerged from the shadows and grabbed the collective waistband of the Yewts' underpants. Big Brother pulled it up, up and over their collective heads. In front of the entire school. The humiliation and exposure broke them mentally and emotionally.
Harlan's savage self-own on his program, his school and himself was more of a confession and admission than it was a complaint. But it was cathartic. To finally come clean was a relief. To acknowledge in front of the world that Utah is classless, filthy, pathetic and mean was freeing — liberating. They know what they are and they are finally saying it to the world loud and proud.
Utah isn't going back. Nope, the energy Yewts had expended over the last more than a decade trying to play the part of a big boy was a major strain. Too much of a strain. There's comfort in the familiar position of little brother. That's where they'll stay, forever. It's all going to be okay.