Indeed the two athletic programs have gone against one another often in sports other than football while knocking heads consistently on the recruiting trail, working to attract similar type of athletes. This includes football recruiting where the Cardinal and Cougars have often risen to be the top two options for many top athletes from the state of Utah, along with out-of-state athletes who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The list of what one may term ‘BYU-type’ football prospects that have wound up at Stanford is relatively long, dating back many years. Several notable names include receiver Simi Fehoko, Offensive lineman Kirk Chambers, safety Dallas Lloyd and offensive lineman Brandon Fanaika, just to name a few.

Even legendary BYU quarterback Taysom Hill first signed on with Stanford before opting to transfer to BYU following his two-year LDS Church mission service.

But BYU has won its fair share of recruiting battles versus the Cardinal, too, with the recent transfers of both Tiger and Bear Bachmeier standing as the most prominent recent examples. Tiger played for Stanford for a couple of seasons before opting to transfer to BYU while Bear did the same after practicing during the spring in Palo Alto.

“They have a really good system in place there with education and what they have with their football program,” said BYU Coach Kalani Sitake when asked about BYU and Stanford going head-to-head for football recruits. “So the standard is still there…It’s difficult to get into school there, so we have a lot of common ground with the (challenge) of getting guys accepted to BYU…So we’re going to battle them always and I don’t think that’s going to change.”

Another big time time on BYU’s roster who committed to Stanford initially is running back LJ Martin. The 6-foot-2, 220 pound junior standout accepted an offer to sign with the Cardinal early on during his recruiting process before opting to sign with the Cougars as part of their 2023 signing class.

“I really wanted to go to Stanford and my mom really did, as well,” Martin said. “But they had a coaching change right after BYU had beat them…so I kind of had to consider some other options.”

The game Martin is referring to is the last time the two schools played one another back in 2022, when the Cougars came away with a 35-26 win which ultimately led to the resignation of then Cardinal Head Coach David Shaw.

“I had to convince my mom a bit as to why I wasn’t going to get a Stanford education, but it’s worked out pretty good so far,” Martin added.

Certainly one of the big reasons Saturday’s game holds a good degree of importance is so BYU can continue to win inevitable recruiting battles with Stanford. Few programs around the country can come close to matching what the Cardinal can offer academically, so other aspects, perhaps most prominently football success, has to come into play.

It’s also an opportunity for BYU to stack up necessary wins in preparation for the gauntlet that is Big 12 Conference play, which will begin toward the end of September with a game at Colorado.

For Stanford, it’s a program in transition under Head Coach Frank Reich, who took the position on the very last day of March of this year, replacing Troy Taylor. Reich brings with him a very impressive coaching resume that includes NFL head-coaching experience along with the staff that features former NFL great Andrew Luck, among others.

Reich’s first game coaching the Cardinal came with a 23-20 loss at Hawaii two weeks ago before heading into a bye week, giving him and his staff two full weeks to prepare for Saturday’s game in Provo.

“We know that we’re going to get their best shot, so we need to make sure we give them our best shot,” Sitake said. “We have a lot of respect and we know that they’re in a difficult situation, so we know they’re going to come in ready to roll.”

The Cougars, meanwhile, are coming off a 69-0 route over Portland State which coaches define as being one of the “cleanest” games they’ve ever coached. But those same coaches all anticipate the competition Stanford brings to be raised significantly come Saturday.

“All you have to do is look at the guys we got from there,” Sitake said. “I think (Stanford) was put in a really difficult situation as a program, but I think Andrew Luck and Frank Reich are doing everything they can to make it right.”