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College football boasts plenty of heated rivalries, and that includes the one between BYU and Utah. The two teams will face off in Provo this weekend, but one Cougars fan who was planning to attend the showdown won’t be in the stands after he was charged with making unhinged threats that led to his arrest.
The football teams at BYU and the University of Utah face off for the first time all the way back in 1896, which kicked off a rivalry that’s seen the two squads meet on the gridiron over 100 times since then.
Utah has historically been the big brother in the interstate clash known as the “Holy War,” although there is some disagreement over its record in the series. The Utes list their edge as 62-36-4, but BYU doesn’t acknowledge the six games played before 1922 (the year the rivalry was revived after a 24-year hiatus) while going with 59-33-4.
The series can essentially be broken down into a few distinct eras where one team firmly established its dominance.
Utah had a 21-game unbeaten streak between 1898 and 1941 and continued to beat up on the Cougars until the tide turned when BYU finally gained control at the start of the 1970s. The one-sidedness began to ebb a couple of decades later (they were fairly evenly matched in the 1990s), but Utah once again seized control once the new millennium rolled around.
However, there has arguably been a changing of the guard over the past couple of years, as BYU heads into this year’s Holy War looking to extend its current winning streak to three, while #23 Utah is hoping to hand the 15th-ranked team in the country its first loss of the season.
There’s understandably plenty of hype surrounding a game between two teams with plenty of bad blood between them, but one fan has been hit with criminal charges after going a bit too far ahead of the contest.
A BYU fan was arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot Utah fans who head to Provo for the Holy War
There are far too many college football fans who harness the anonymity the internet grants them to engage in objectively unhinged behavior, and according to KUTV, that includes a 28-year-old BYU supporter who has landed in hot water over some threats he issued online.
The outlet reports Christopher Justice, a resident of Huntington, Utah, was booked at Emery County jail on Wednesday due to a series of tweets he sent out under the handle “@juiceisloose328,” a spree he kicked off with a post where he said, “I’ll be in LES [LaVell Edwards Stadium] Saturday. Any Ute fan I see is dead. Mark my words.”
He decided to double down when someone wisely advised him to log off, opting instead to reply by saying “nah anyone wearing red is getting shot.”
The outlet spoke with a man identified only as Spencer who said he reported the tweets to the police, which sparked an investigation where the Utah Department of Public Safety was able to trace them back to Justice.
Authorities say he initially denied that he sent them after he arrived at his home, but he admitted he was responsible after a search of his iPad and phone showed he was operating the account and had also sent some texts to a friend where he said he planned to deny he’d posted the messages he deleted after realizing he might be in trouble.
That ended up being the case, as Justice, who was already on probation for multiple DUIs, was charged with threat of violence and obstruction of justice (both misdemeanors).
He was released after appearing in court, but he will not be in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday due to the ankle bracelet that’s being used to ensure he doesn’t violate the terms of his home confinement.