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BYU's John Nelson celebrates a sack against Baylor at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Tyler Batty greets fans after the Cougars' 34-28 victory at Baylor in Waco on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU senior defensive lineman John Nelson tries to knock a pass down during the game against Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU senior defensive lineman Tyler Batty hypes up the Cougars before the Big 12 game against UCF at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU senior defensive linemen Tyler Batty and John Nelson have combined to play in 89 total games as Cougars, 48 for Batty and 41 for Nelson.

Yet only the veteran duo has only played against BYU’s biggest rival Utah in one of those games — and that was in Provo in 2021.

So this Saturday will be the first (and last) time they’ll get to experience facing the Utes in Rice-Eccles Stadium (8:15 p.m. MT, ESPN).

“It’s amazing,” Nelson said Tuesday after practice. “We had to kind of deal with their stuff and watch them have a lot of success. Now we get to play them again and it’s really great to have this opportunity.”

Batty grinned as he recalled knocking off Utah in 2021.

“It was a lot of fun,” Batty said. “2021 was a fun season, especially that game. It’s always a fun game with a lot of excitement around it. To end our drought in 2021 was a lot of fun.”

He said that recently the team was talking about it and everyone who played in that contest raised their hands.

“It was surprisingly few,” Batty said. “It’s been fun getting the younger guys and guys who haven’t played in it up to speed.”

He knows that this will be a very different setting, though, he talked about how he expects it to be when he takes the field.

“I expect it will be a hostile environment,” Batty said. “I expect it to be loud. They’ve got a great team and great fans, so we are expecting it to be an intense, loud, fun game. It means a ton. You want to win it. Being a senior, there is definitely that added flavor to it. You want to go take care of business.”

Nelson agreed that he expects there to be a lot of noise and plenty of vitriol from the Ute supporters.

“I expect it to be crazy,” Nelson said. “I expect to be cussed out by the fans. I expect their team to bring 100% effort. I expect it to be a really well-coached, high-effort team that we’ll face on the field. That will make for great competition.”

Nelson and Batty have been to a lot of road games, so they have some idea of how to handle the negative energy that often comes from opposing teams.

“Nick Saban had a quote when he was asked about dealing with fans and he said not a single fan is going to make any plays in the game,” Nelson said. “Ever since I heard that, I’ve thought about how that applies to us. It’s the mindset I’m going to take and I think we should take as a team. None of the fans or student sections or anyone else besides the 11 BYU players and the 11 Utah players will be on the field. We’re excited to block out the noise and face a big test.”

He said that he’s seen the entire Cougar squad buckle down to be as prepared as possible to play well this weekend.

“It’s an emotional week when you are playing your rivals,” Nelson said. “We are coming off a bye week, so we’ve had more time to think about it, more time to prepare. It’s been good.”

BYU looks to embrace the rivalry with everything that comes with it, while making the most of the opportunity.

“I’m looking forward to this game,” Cougar defensive coordinator Jay Hill said. “You guys know I love this game. I love what it represents for the state. I love what it represents for the players and the coaches. I think rivalries are fun and I’m excited to play the game.”

The bottom line for BYU, though, is that the players and coaches want to play the best game they can to give themselves the best chance possible to achieve their goals.

“We’re just really stoked to be able to go play in that rivalry game,” Batty said. “We want to go play our brand of football and let everything take care of itself.”