Por Renan Filho · 2026-10-26**Lead**
ESPN has once again put its broadcast schedule ahead of the gameday experience, slating the Holy War between Utah and BYU for an early-morning kickoff that has fans in both fan bases scrambling to adjust their plans. The decision, confirmed as part of the network’s Big 12 coverage, means one of college football’s most passionate rivalries will open the day in near-silence, with stadium atmosphere and tailgate culture taking a direct hit.
**Context**
The Holy War is not just another conference game. It is a century-old rivalry between the University of Utah Utes and Brigham Young University Cougars, two programs separated by roughly 45 miles along the Wasatch Front. Their annual meeting has long been a defining moment for athletes, alumni and the broader Intermountain West community. With both schools now members of the Big 12 Conference, the rivalry has gained renewed national relevance, but it has also become subject to the conference’s television contract with ESPN, which controls the scheduling windows for most of the league’s biggest games.
This year, that control has produced one of the most fan-hostile kickoff times imaginable. Instead of a prime-time slot or a traditional afternoon start, the Holy War is being forced into a morning window reserved for ESPN’s early college football programming. For fans in the Mountain Time Zone, where both Utah and BYU are located, that means leaving for the stadium before sunrise, skipping tailgates and dealing with cold morning temperatures. For the players, it means waking up hours earlier than normal and trying to summon genuine rivalry intensity before most of the country has finished breakfast.
The backlash was immediate. Season ticket holders and student sections across both campuses described the decision as a betrayal of the game’s importance. Social media filled with complaints about television networks ignoring the people who actually create the atmosphere that makes college football special. Even casual observers noted that the Holy War deserves better than a timeslot usually reserved for MAC or Conference USA matchups. ESPN has not publicly responded to the criticism, but the choice reflects a broader reality: in the modern media rights era, broadcasters dictate when games are played, and fans are expected to adapt.
**Analysis**
The scheduling decision is about money, not geography or tradition. ESPN pays billions of dollars for college football rights and uses time slots strategically to maximize advertising revenue across its networks. Morning games allow the network to offer consecutive slates of football from noon to midnight on the East Coast, keeping viewers locked in for as many hours as possible. That model works effectively on the East Coast, where a noon kickoff feels reasonable. In Utah, however, the same game begins several hours earlier, and the gap between network convenience and local reality becomes impossible to ignore.
For the Big 12, this is also a delicate moment. The conference has worked hard to build its identity as a national league after the reshuffling of realignment, and adding Utah and BYU brought new geographic territory and devoted fan bases. But if the conference and its television partners treat those fans as afterthoughts, the long-term cost could exceed the short-term broadcast profit. Fans are not merely viewers; they are tailgaters, ticket buyers, donors and recruits’ parents. When a network schedules a rivalry game at a time that suggests it barely matters, the message is clear: television rights trump everything.
The Holy War is particularly vulnerable to this dynamic because both schools are in the same state and share an intense, deeply felt history. Unlike cross-country rivalries played at neutral sites, this game thrives on atmosphere. The stadiums are extensions of the communities around them. A morning kickoff undercuts the entire spectacle. Players feed off crowd energy; college football’s best moments happen when the stands are electric. By putting Utah and BYU in a sleepy morning window, ESPN has diminished the product it claims to be promoting.
There is also a broader trend at play. Early-morning kickoffs have become increasingly common across college football, particularly for teams west of the Rocky Mountains. Networks justify these starts by pointing to national viewership, but the result is a growing disconnect between the television product and the local stadium experience. Fans in the West have grown accustomed to sacrificing sleep, but the Holy War is different. This is the game each school’s entire year can be defined by, and treating it as a warm-up act is a mistake.
The resentment is not just about the clock. It is about respect. Utah and BYU fans have packed stadiums for decades, traveled in massive numbers to bowl games and proven that the Holy War deserves a marquee slot. Saturday mornings are for cartoons and coffee, not for one of the most bitter rivalries in the sport. The decision to schedule it so early suggests that ESPN does not understand or value what makes this matchup special.
Whether the network will reconsider future editions of the rivalry remains unclear, but the damage to this year’s gameday experience is already done. Fans will still show up, but many will do so half-awake and irritated, and the majority will watch from home instead of sitting in the cold. That is not how the Holy War should be sold to the nation. It is a game that deserves sunlight and noise, not a background slot on a Saturday morning before the rest of the country wakes up. If college football’s TV partners keep making these calls, they will eventually find that the passionate fan bases they rely on will not stay silent forever.
**Fontes**
ESPN broadcast schedule announcements, Big 12 Conference media rights information, official athletics communications from the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.