I'm still having a super hard time seeing how someone essentially saying "People have made allegations. There isn't any evidence the allegations are true. If someone wants to provide some evidence, then we can talk about it. Until then, it's just rumors" is fueling anything.

When is the last time someone saying "those are just rumors" fueled the rumors in question? Neither of them said they believed the rumors. Neither of them said they believed the rumors but just could find evidence to support them.

To me - this is just another example of the rivalry and bias causing people to see/hear what they want to see/hear to justify their belief that the other guy is in the wrong.

I'm not saying I love those guys - just that this is a big nothingburger being blown out of proportion.

I don't love Bill Riley either - but he also pooh-poohed the allegations, said they were driven by the rivalry, and basically said that upset Utah fans needed to look to Utah to up their NIL game rather than get mad at BYU over unfounded rumors. He took it so far as to say if this was about Arizona, Utah fans wouldn't care.

There's no reason to twist innocuous statements around to try to fire up righteous indignation when these guys will give you other opportunities to be offended. Save the emotion for a real slight, not an invented one.