No matter the arena, BYU showed its in-state rivals how dominating it can be in the battle for beehive state supremacy.

The Cougars performed a clean sweep of their in-state rivals last week, with the football team defeating Utah State 34-10, the men's soccer team outlasting the Aggies 1-0 and the men's hockey team annihilating Utah 13-4. As icing on the cake, the women's soccer team easily handled both schools, beating Utah State 2-0 on Thursday and Utah 5-0 on Saturday.

Mixing proximity and history, in-state rivalry games usually carry more emotion and intensity than other contests.

"I think there's always a little bit of pride, especially when they come to your own home field," said B.J. Pugmire, a forward for the men's soccer team. "You always want to be the number one team in Utah."

Pugmire scored the winning goal in the second overtime against the Aggies.

BYU quarterback Max Hall expressed similar feelings about the emotion of in-state games.

"Even though it wasn't our best game, it was a great game to be a part of," he said. "Rivalry games are tough, and Utah State gave us everything they had. It was a great atmosphere and they battled like crazy. It was a great experience coming up to Logan, and fortunately for us, we were able to come out of it with a win."

Women's soccer coach Jennifer Rockwood knows that rivalry games are tough, no matter the teams' records coming in.

"In-state schools are always exciting for us to play because our players are so familiar with each other," Rockwood said. "A lot of their players played together with our players growing up or attended camps here at BYU, so they have a lot to prove when they play against us. We always get the very best from our in-state rivals, no matter what they've done during the season - whether they are undefeated or haven't won a game."

The soccer team's victory over Utah gave BYU an early 6-0 lead in the Deseret First Duel, a competition between the two schools' athletic programs. Each sport in which BYU and Utah play head-to-head is assigned a point value, and there are 64 total points available throughout the year.

BYU won the inaugural competition last year 34-30.

The Cougars will have several more chances in the next few months to increase their lead in the duel standings. The women's volleyball team will host the Utes on October 17 at the Smith Fieldhouse before visiting Salt Lake City on November 14.

The football team will take on the Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium in their final game of the regular season on November 22.

Copyright Brigham Young University 9 Oct 2008