PROVO — In ksl.com's final set of build-up previews to the 2013 college football season, this week's assignment is to make each in-state team's case as "Best in State."

My job is to state the case for the Cougars, so here we go:

Beehive Boot bragging rights

I am not a big "Boot" backer, but each of Utah's three FBS teams will face each other this season, so we can start there. If one of the teams is to beat the other two, that would give said team a leg up on the best-in-state competition.

BYU will host Utah and visit Utah State.

Utah will host Utah State and visit BYU.

Utah State will visit Utah and host BYU.

#instate

So, all three teams will get home-road opportunities against their in-state brethren.

What are the chances that BYU goes 2-0 against the Utes and Aggies?

BYU draws the Utes after a bye following the Cougars' home opener with Texas, and BYU has been excellent with extra time to prepare. The Cougars have won their last 13 games and 20 of their last 21 with at least an extra week of extra prep time, including season openers, post-bye week games and bowl games.

The Utes have beaten BYU in three consecutive games, four in the last five and eight in the last 11, but two of the last three wins have been by a combined four points.

Each of BYU's last two losses at Utah were games BYU had chances to win or tie on missed/blocked field goal attempts in the closing seconds. The different between three straight BYU losses and three BYU wins in the last four meetings has been literally a matter of inches. The two sides have not been that far apart over the last couple of decades.

Of the last 21 meetings, 16 have been decided by single digits. In the five exceptions, BYU has won by 20 (1996), while Utah has won by 17 (1995), 31 (2004), 23 (2008) and 44 (2011).

Utah is to make it four in a row, I expect it to be by a narrow margin. If BYU is to win in the final meeting before a two-year hiatus, well, let's just say the Cougars are due for a blowout. Of course, beggars can't be choosers, and in this rivarly, BYU has been the pigskin panhandler--so any win will do, thank you.

Receiving Top 25 votes and with a nationally-recognized quarterback leading the team into the Mountain West Conference, Utah State is a team that will feel its time has come when BYU rolls into Logan on October 4th. History, however, will not be on the Aggies' side.

BYU has won 28 of the last 32 meetings between the two teams, including 12 of the last 13.

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The last Utah State victory in the series came in 2010, a game after which Bronco Mendenhall fired defensive coordinator Jaime Hill. The BYU defense rallied under Mendenhall's renewed leadership, and hasn't looked back. BYU's 6-3 win over Utah State last season in Provo is an indicator of just how good the Cougar defense has been over the last couple of seasons. Chuckie Keeton had a rough go of things in 2012; we'll see how far he and the Aggies have come, six weeks from now.

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Cold, hard (and fast) facts

Offensive coordinator Robert Anae has a proven track record with BYU, and it's highly successful one. During his first stint as BYU's OC, he guided the Cougars to top-25 NCAA statistical rankings in 10 different offensive categories a total of 35 times, including 15 top-10 rankings.

Anae's new "ride and decide" style of offense is predicated on a high tempo, leaving opposing defenses little time to align and no substitutions as long as the offense keeps its players on the field. The novelty of BYU's 2013 attack will be an added bonus--at least for the first couple of weeks, as teams discover for the first time what the Cougars are doing on that side of the ball.

Pace can be a great equalizer when facing teams that might have the edge in talent, and BYU will play a few of those games this fall.

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Offensive riches

Yes, BYU is firming up its offensive front, but with Taysom Hill, Jamaal Williams, a crop of long wide receivers, and a bevy of tight ends, the Cougars appear well-equipped to produce the kinds of numbers that Anae's last team did, last season. Arizona featured many of the same types of players, led by a quarterback who as valuable with his legs as his arm. Taysom Hill can play the Matt Scott role, and then some, and while Williams may not be a Kadeem Carey replica, he should expect the same kind of heavy workload.

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Cody Hoffman's numbers speak for themselves, and Ross Apo appears primed for a breakout campaign. Skyler Ridley, Mitch and Marcus Mathews, and JD Falslev help round out a receiving group that is BYU's deepest in some time.

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Linebacker U

Led by popular First Team Preseason All-America selection Kyle Van Noy, BYU's linebacking unit is the unquestioned strength of the squad on defense.

Bronco Mendenhall's challenge is how to get enough of his favorite backers on the field at the same time. He has already hinted at playing outside linebacker Spencer Hadley at his former spot inside, to allow Alani Fua the chance to see more snaps on the edge. With Van Noy playing opposite that spot, and Uani Unga at Mike, it's hard to recall a potential four-man group with such speed, size and versatility. Tyler Beck, Manoa Pikula, Jherremya Leuta-Douyere and others give BYU depth that will come in handy as BYU's defense expects to play more snaps per game, thanks to the offense's increased tempo.

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We'll get our first sense of which Utah team will ultimately be judged "Best in State" one week from Thursday, as the Utes and Aggies kick off the college football season in Salt Lake City.

The final call will wait until late November or early December, after all three programs have battled their way through schedules that each school may justifiably claim will have been their toughest ever.

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