have been prophesying the imminent demise of the Utah program. It happened in 2005, 2009, 2011-2014. And every year since. Especially if Utah lost key personnel to the NFL.

BYU fans have a 1990s, who moved my cheese, view of Utah football and think it's destined to go back...just because.

Utah is an entirely different place now for that.

BYU can do fine. I don't think the two are that connected. BYU can especially gain by securing more top tier LDS talent. Something that has been eluding the program.

For BYU, they have a WAR problem. If they lose out on a top tier recruit that is LDS, the next man up might be markedly inferior.

For Utah, it's different. There is a much larger recruiting pool. So if Utah misses on an elite LDS athlete, they can recover easier by taking a slightly lower graded recruit. It's not a big deal.