Bronson Kaufusi played his first Holy War against two of his own cousins.
For most players, BYU and Utah is the rivalry that defines a college career. For the Kaufusis, it has been a standing family arrangement for four decades, blood on both sidelines and backyard trash talk staged in front of tens of thousands of fans. Kaufusi, the former Cougar defensive lineman and 2016 third-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens, grew up inside that split household. His perspective on college football’s nastiest rivalry is unlike anyone else’s, because he watched it from both teams’ sidelines before he ever played a snap in it.
Kaufusi spoke with PFN’s Unguarded Access at Pro Athlete Community’s Accelerate Event in Phoenix, a multi-day conference designed to prepare players for their post-NFL careers.
How the Kaufusi Family Became the Heart of the BYU-Utah Holy War
The Kaufusi name has sat on both sides of the rivalry since the 1980s. Bronson’s father, Steve, played defensive line at BYU and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1988. Several of Steve’s brothers went to Utah. Then Steve coached at Utah for eight seasons before crossing the rivalry to coach at BYU for 16 more, most of them with the defensive line, a stretch that put his son in Cougar blue and made the family a fixture in Provo.
“My dad’s the oldest. He played at BYU. And then his next brother played at BYU, and then like four of the other brothers went to Utah,” Kaufusi said. He was the first grandson in the family to play football at BYU, by his own account, and the pull toward Utah never fully went away. His youngest brother, Devin, started at BYU and transferred to Utah in 2020. “That shook up the house,” Kaufusi said.
Growing up between the two programs shaped how he understood the game itself. He did not even realize his father had played in the NFL until later. “I thought you just coached,” Kaufusi said. What he absorbed instead was the competition, the kind that only siblings and cousins can manufacture.
“When you go and play a sport against your sibling, it’s a different level of competition, and you’re talking way more smack,” Kaufusi said. “And also there’s a different level of respect that you’re earning.” His debut delivered exactly that. “For me, that first game I played against two of my first cousins, my first Holy War as a player,” he said.
BYU Owns the Holy War Again Heading Into 2026
The rivalry Kaufusi grew up inside now belongs to his old school. BYU beat Utah 24-21 on Oct. 18, 2025, at LaVell Edwards Stadium, the 103rd meeting between the schools and the Cougars’ third straight win in the series. BYU had not won three in a row against Utah since the 1989 through 1992 run. Utah still leads the all-time series 62-37-4, and the rivalry carries fresh stakes now that both schools share the Big 12.
Kaufusi credits the standard set in Provo for the player he became. He calls former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall one of the hardest coaches he ever had, and he still repeats the message Mendenhall delivered every January.
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“We’re going to test you guys physically, mentally, but most importantly, we’re going to test your spirit,” Kaufusi recalled. “It weeded out anyone that wasn’t all in.”
Playing for his father raised the bar higher. Steve gave his son no shortcuts, and Kaufusi says that was the point. “Everything was harder for me,” he said. “I had to earn the respect of my teammates.” The two programs meet again on Nov. 7, 2026, and somewhere in the Kaufusi family, the loyalties will split right down the middle, the way they always have.
