Saturday's game between Utah and Washington might be the first time ever former BYU players lined up to coach against one another.
Kyle Whittingham was a linebacker for the Cougars back during their glory days in the 80s and Steve Sarkisian led the one-year revival of BYU in 1996 - quarterbacking the Cougars to a 37-17 victory over Utah at Rice Stadium en route to a 14-1 regular season finish.
Of course, during his two-year stint down in Provo, he had transferred as a junior from El Camino Community College, he was coached by current Utes offensive coordinator Norm Chow - a graduate of the University of Utah.
But the connections don't end there. Sarkisian was the Trojans' quarterbacks coach on two separate occasions, coaching along side Chow and Tim Davis, Utah's current OL coach. He became the full-time offensive play caller in 2007, when Lane Kiffin, who replaced Chow, left to coach the Oakland Raiders.
The links go well beyond just coaching, however, as current Husky linebacker Cort Dennison is a Judge Memorial Catholic High School graduate - a school that is in the shadows of the U and Rice-Eccles Stadium. Dennison grew up an avid Utah fan and has been to the stadium, by his own estimation, a hundred or so times. His father still has season tickets to the Utes, yet he didn't receive a scholarship, even though he had hoped for one - the coaches wanted him to join the team as a walk on.
Even though Utah and Washington have not met since 1979 and have a limited history of playing each other, the two programs do share some strong ties and they'll be on full display this Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.