Utah Utes players looking forward to one game this season and it's not the Holy War

The matchup with BYU isn't top on the minds of Kyle Whittingham's team going into 2024

Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

On Friday afternoon, the third annual Across the Green NIL golf tournament took place at Stonebridge Golf Course in West Valley City. Each team of fans got the chance to play with one Utah football player in a special pairing.

Sammy Mora from 247Sports was on hand covering the event and asked the 17 Utes players a series of questions, including which team they're looking forward to facing the most. The majority had a surprising answer and it wasn't BYU. In fact, a total of four said outright that the Holy War was the "one to watch," but here's what each of them said.

Isaac Wilson: "BYU. It's on my birthday."

JT Greep: "BYU without a doubt."

Logan Fano: "BYU. Wait actually the team down south."

Charlie Vincent: "I'm looking forward to BYU the most. I've only played them away in my career."

Tao Johnson: "I have two games I'm looking forward to I want to go to OK State and beat OK State. And then I want to beat Colorado. I want to beat Deion at Colorado. And then you know, I don't really think about it much. But of course, is the BYU game. That's going to be lit but we got some big fish to fry."

Utah's Cam Rising on BYU: "I just want to go down there and whoop their ass"

Lander Barton: "Oklahoma State, in Stillwater, it's gonna be awesome."

Levani Damuni: "That fourth game versus Oklahoma State."

Tevita Fotu: "Oklahoma State. I heard they have the number one running back or whatever but we will see about that."

Miki Suguturaga: "Oklahoma State. For sure they got a lot of good fans. We'll see how they play through the season and then when we get there."

Micah Bernard: "Oklahoma State. I heard they got a nice little hostile environment there and I love hostility."

Josh Calvert: "I probably say Oklahoma State. I think it's gonna be a good game. I think they're pretty good. And I think we're set up to have a good season. I think that should be a fun game to play."

Jaylon Glover: "Big game versus Oklahoma State and I love being able to go back home and play UCF. It's awesome that I came all the way out here and every year we've played someone in Florida somehow."

Spencer Fano: "Oklahoma State or Utah State. Playing in Logan is a really cool stadium. I've been there a few times growing up"

Money Parks: "TCU. My hometown team."

Zemaiah Vaughn: "Arizona. Got a big match up and it's gonna be fun."

Caleb Lomu: "Just like Coach Whitt says, the first game, of course, looking forward to that opening season game against Southern Utah."

Keanu Tanuvasa: "Championship game, I'm looking forward to that. College Football Playoff championship."

Utah's official Big 12 opener against Oklahoma State at Boone Pickens Stadium sounds like the one most have circled on the calendar. Kyle Whittingham's team looks forward to the challenge and the new experiences that come with competing in Stillwater for the first time.

Whittingham and OSU's Mike Gundy are two of the most respected coaches, who began their respective head coaching tenures at Oklahoma State and Utah one month apart nearly 20 years ago. Over the past two decades, they have built their programs into consistent powerhouses, becoming two of the longest-tenured coaches in college football. Both coaches have witnessed and navigated significant changes in their careers and have shared mutual respect for each other's achievements and coaching styles.

Utah travels to Oklahoma State on Sept. 21 with game time TBD.