Gordon Monson: Don’t act like you don’t care. Utah has a new football rival dressed out in a darker shade of blue.

Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham watches against Western Michigan during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A rivalry — real or imagined — that already was bound to emerge this season between Utah and Michigan has … well, emerged.

Kyle Whittingham, obviously, is at the center of the whole deal. He famously or infamously bolted away from the Utes after Utah administrators bolted away from him. His pockets were stuffed with millions of Utah dollars as he left the building, and whether you, if you’re a Ute fan, personally believe he deserved better treatment and that money, or you’re ticked at him for saying for years that he wouldn’t extend his coaching days at Utah and then desiring, season after season, to extend them, Whittingham left a mark in your soul.

And now, you want him to succeed at Michigan.

Or now, you want him and his Wolverines to get blown to smithereens every … single … week.

One way or the other, you’ve got your one eye on the Utes and your other on Big Blue. No, no, a different Big Blue.

And both eyes on the rankings.

When the most recent AP college football poll came out on Sunday, it revealed a compelling — if at this early point, somewhat meaningless — juxtaposition regarding Utah and Michigan. Even if it is less than impactful at this juncture, that makes it no less interesting.

Utah is ranked No. 17, led as it is by Morgan Scalley.

Michigan is ranked No. 19, led as it is by You-Know-Who.

In their first two games, the Utes have performed sensationally against two weaker opponents. Their offense has looked about as good as it ever has. Their defense has shut down its foes.

In their first two games, the Wolverines have played great on defense and abysmally on offense. They beat (lost to) Western Michigan and then beat Oklahoma. Whittingham has felt the heat that comes with coaching a program that has won more games through its football history than any other. Michigan has had its troubles over the past couple of seasons, and that’s how and, to some degree, why the former Utah coach ended up in Ann Arbor. What the future holds against a difficult schedule is for fortunetellers to decide. One thing you and all Ute fans know about your/their former coach is that his teams often hammer through adversity with ridiculous amounts of determination.

Exactly what Scalley’s teams do is TBD.

Next week, Scalley’s team faces Utah State at Rice-Eccles. Whittingham’s team faces UTEP in the Big House.

In subsequent weeks, the Utes play Iowa State, Kansas, Colorado, Houston, Cincinnati, BYU, Arizona, TCU and West Virginia. Michigan plays Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State, Indiana, Rutgers, Michigan State, Oregon, UCLA and Ohio State.

Here are the questions of this moment and, frankly, every moment in 2026: What if Utah powers through the current season better than Michigan? What if the Utes finish higher ranked than Michigan?

Don’t act like you won’t be watching and comparing and, even more, caring about who ends up better of the two. You all won’t ever stop investing with deep interest in who stands where in the forever rivalry between Utah and the old opponent the Utes face at Rice-Eccles on Nov. 7, that team down south.

But there’s another rival Utah likely won’t play, not directly, this season: that team back east. It might be real, it might be imagined. Still, either way, the Utes will play them, indirectly, every week, hoping to stay on top.