any Utah loss, transfer or year of struggle as some permanent program-defining event.

In 2009, BYU played a great game and beat Utah. BYU fans felt it erased any momentum of Utah's 2008 run and signaled new dominance.

That didn't happen.

It was a great win. But in OT, in Provo, with a talented senior-laden team over a true frosh QB. No need to read more into it.

Utah's struggles early in the P12, with a true freshman in 2017 or this year, with the star QB out, somehow were supposedly program defining for Utah, instead of just normal ups and downs that every program experiences.

BYU winning in a P4...will position the Cougars to recruit at a level they have never before. I agree BYU-Utah rivalry will be intense, on level footing and back and forth. I don't see the Cougars changing the guard and becoming dominant though.

Utah is just a few injured players returning from being a legit top 15-25 team. Not bad considering they just had a handful of guys drafted.

Where Utah could fall apart is if a bunch of guys transfer out, they struggle in recruiting or can't get the funds to compete in NIL.