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SALT LAKE CITY — If you're an Aggies, Cougars or Utes football fan, cherish your team and what they are doing right now. It's been a long time coming, but finally, the big three in the state of Utah have good football teams at the same time.
The term "good" is vague and can be described in a variety of ways. A team can have superstars — clear NFL guys who make games fun to watch — but have a record that doesn't reflect that production. But the point of college football is to win games and assert dominance over other teams. BYU, Utah and Utah State have done that.
The 2021 season was the first time ever that all three teams ended the season with double-digit wins and inclusion in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll. Whatever your definition of good or successful may be, it's hard to argue with that success.
Here's a recap of what made last year so special for each team and what fans can look forward to this season and beyond.
BYU Cougars
2021 Season: The Cougars and head coach Kalani Sitake knew that a lot of their season would ride on the play of new starting quarterback Jaren Hall. With Zach Wilson's move to the NFL, Hall took over as starter to face one of the tougher schedules in school history.
Hall threw for over 2,500 yards and only turned the ball over five times. Though he missed time with some injuries, he was just about everything BYU fans could have asked for in a new starting quarterback.
Running back Tyler Allgeier set a single-season school record for rushing yards with 1,601 yards and 23 touchdowns. The defense, while dealing with plenty of injuries, kept the team in games and held its own against several strong offenses. Against seven Power Five schools, BYU went 6-1 to finish the season 10-3 overall.
What to look forward to: The end of FBS independence and a new era of BYU football. Though no one may openly admit the invitation to the Big 12 motivated the team, it sure looked that way on the field.
BYU enters the final year of its independence schedule, and it's arguably as difficult, if not more so, than last year's. But Hall and a host of starters return (on both sides of the ball) to set the Cougars up for what could turn into another option for its "best year in school history."
After 2022, Sitake and his team jump in with the big boys in a power conference. Recruiting has already seen a bump, with more three- and four-star recruits interested in the program. While no one's expecting a Big 12 title in the first year or two, BYU fans should be excited about the direction the football team is headed.
Utah Utes
2021 Season: The big "what if?" of the season is what if quarterback Cam Rising started the entire year? Utah's year got off to a rough 1-2 start before Rising took over full time and led the Utes to their first Rose Bowl in the school history. After only scoring 17 points in a loss to BYU, the Utes offense never scored less than 24 points in a game for the remainder of the season, including a season-high 52 points at Stanford.
Head coach Kyle Whittingham's teams have often been known for their lockdown defenses. While not the staunchest defense in Whittingham's tenure, it clamped down on normally high-scoring offenses, including only giving up a combined 17 points in two games against perennial power Oregon. A tough fought 48-45 loss in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State couldn't damper the successful season the team had.
What to look forward to: The Utes start their first season as the reigning Pac-12 champion. To overcome that hurdle took a burden off while pushing the team to do more: reach the College Football Playoff. Should Utah run the table, or even have just one loss, they should be in the CFP discussions near the end of the regular season.
While their conference is in a bit of a predicament with the departure of USC and UCLA in 2024, the Utes under Whittingham should expect similar success to last year's in the seasons to come. The sky's the limit for this team.
Utah State Aggies
2021 Season: It's hard to imagine a better first year for head coach Blake Anderson: double-digit wins for just the fourth time in the football program's long history is nothing short of impressive. As with BYU and Utah, Utah State was led by a stellar quarterback in Logan Bonner.
The transfer, who followed his coach from Arkansas State, commanded the high-powered offense as they drove through a tough Mountain West Conference schedule to a conference championship and bowl win over Oregon State.
The Aggies defense bent but did not break multiple times throughout the season. The unit hit its stride midway through the season after a win against Hawaii and allowed only two touchdowns or more in a game one time after that. The team's 11-3 record is the third best season in school history based on win percentage.
What to look forward to: The goal moving forward is to continue upward. Fans should look forward to the coach-player tandem of Anderson and Bonner and what they can accomplish. The Aggies have a challenging schedule, starting with their second game at No. 1 ranked Alabama.
The Mountain West, as a whole, is trending up, but Anderson believes his team has all the tools necessary to compete for a conference title once again.
Utah State may not be joining a power conference anytime soon, like BYU, or get invited to a New Year's Six bowl like Utah, but the team finished the 2021 season ranked in the top 25 and will look to end up there again. It feels like the beginning of a new era in Aggies football, and fans should get excited for what their team can accomplish in the coming years.
