Haha!

Thank you Adam's Sports Blog for finding this! It amazes me how fast stuff like this is generated!

Max definitely hates me

(Max in 20 years??)

Does he hate our fine Prophet and President as well? I'm just sayin.

Anyway, be sure to join the "Max Hall Hates Me and Thinks I'm Classless" facebook page. Hours of fun!

Stay Classy!

Update: For your viewing enjoyment

Mad Max

I might as well be the one to cover this since someone has to. After the BYU Utah game, BYU's QB Max Hall said some very disparaging things about the Ute football team. He said he hated everything about them: players, coaches, fans, program, groundskeepers etc. And it didn't stop there. He doesn't just hate them (because it's OK to hate your rivals) he finds all of them completely classless. Max's trademark has been his fiery competitiveness which can get out of control then he sometimes makes poor decisions. I think that's what happened here. He obviously harbors a great deal of resentment about his experience playing at RES last year. It appears his wife and family were treated poorly by fans at the stadium. I don't know any details. I DO know that if my wife had been subject to the kind of behavior his wife was treated to I would have been furious and it would be very hard to let go. Now I, personally, have only attended one game there myself but we were yelled at repeatedly and some not nice things were said including anti-LDS slogans (I will never understand this especially since almost half the Utah players are LDS). I want so hard to believe that these kind of fans are the exception to the rule and not the standard behavior for Utah fans. I mean, we are all good people who love football and love our team so I can only figure that the minority at RES is very vocal.

None of this excuses Max's comments. He should have toned it down. "I'm thrilled we beat them and I can't imagine a better way to end my college career than defeating our rival." That would have worked. I get the impression that Max is the kind of guy that reads press about himself and also the boards. I think it drives him crazy to be disparaged by Utah and BYU fans alike. I think a lot of pent up emotion just came exploding out. Max has been a great QB for BYU. His competitive spirit carried the team on more than one occasion. I believe that he deserves just about all the credit for beating OU, maybe the 2nd or 3rd biggest win in BYU history. But that fiery competitive spirit just won't let go of real and perceived injustices. I think we saw similar behavior by Michael Jordan at his hall of fame acceptance speech. It is too bad when great athletes can't enjoy their accomplishments fully without losing their heads over what happened along the way. Should Max say sorry? Probably. Do I understand how he feels? Yes.

What a crazy game!

First of all you will notice the background color in tribute to BYU's throwback Blue uniforms! Stylish!

Things I never thought I would see in a BYU win:

Max Hall completing 30% of his passes for less than 150 yards.
4 kick return interference calls against Utah.
BYU gaining less than 265 total yards.
BYU's Defense being the unit that won the game. BYU only allowed Utah into the end zone once the whole game.

Great game on both sides of the ball. Quick gripe: I thought the ball management at the end of the 4th quarter was crazy bad. What were they thinking?

Anyway, very satisfying. Max had the worst game of the year but delivered when it matter and Andrew George came away as not just "the other TE." Here's to one year of lording this victory over my Ute fan friends. YEAH COUGS!

Here's a little tribute to the rivalry. It feels a bit one sided and there might be a few minor cusses. Sorry!

It was a fitting end to a typical Holy War

Well, what can I say, that was a heck of a Holy War, unfortunately my Utes came out on the wrong end of a 26-23 overtime game. I can't say I am angry or all that disappointed. In all reality, the way that game went the Utes never should have made it that close and BYU never should have let the Utes back into it.

The Utes and Jordan Wynn started the game out beautifully on the first two drives, though they were unable to finish with TD's and settled for two FG's; a turn of events that turned out to be a huge issue. Wynn started the game 7-7 and looked nothing like a Freshman QB. But following those drives everything went south. The Utes kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalites; remincient of the TCU game, Wynn couldn't hit the broad side of the barn, and we couldn't run run the ball if our lives depended on it. The game quickly went from 6-0 Utes to 20-6 BYU by mid-way through the 3rd quarter.

But then everything changed. Our defense, which was solid all night, stepped up and kept the Cougs from moving the ball. The whole night Max Hall wasn't good. He looked better than Wynn, but not like the typical player we know. Though he did make the occassional good play, actually didn't throw an interception, and who knew he could run? Speaking the interception thing, if JR told me that the Cougs would have no turnovers in the game, yet it went into overtime, I would have thought he was crazy.

Also in the 4th quarter, Jordan Wynn turned it back on and hit some great mid-range passes; though he did miss on a lot of long balls. He and Eddie Wide finally got the game going and moved the ball and brought the Utes back and enabled the tie to send it to overtime.

The thing that would drive me nuts if I were a BYU fan though is Bronco Mendenhall's lack of killer instinct. He had a chance to call a timeout (when he had three left) with around a minute to go in the game but left it in his pocket and allowed the Utes to drain the clock to about 30 seconds left to kick a FG for the tie. A minute left with 2 timeouts and Senior QB like Max Hall is plenty of time to get into FG range for the win. On top of that, why call a run play at the end of the game to run out the clock? What if Unga fumbles it?

Nevertheless, my rants against BYU's coaching doesn't excuse some of the horrendous Ute coaching. First, they are as much to blame for the many personal fouls and penalties as the players are, there is no excuse for such lack of discipline. Second, some of the offensive play calls were terrible. That stupid "wildcat formation" play where Smithson throws it to Reed was brutal. Twice Smithson shorted the pass. Right now, Asiata is the only Ute play that should be allowed to run that formation. But not only was that and many other plays terrible, the timing of the called plays were brutal as well.

Anyway, it was a good win for the Cougs and yet another fantastic Holy War. This is THE BEST rivalry in the country, hands down. For my Utes, mucho kudos to our defense. They were fantastic tonight and gave the Utes a chance to win. They were the stars on the Red side. Also, despite his many struggles, I loved the way that Wynn bounced back and am thrilled that he is a Freshman. I am very much looking forward to 3 more years with him!

UTES 9-3

P.S. I think BYU should stick with that shade of blue. It is what BYU is. Go with it!

Holy War Game Day!

Alright folks, today is the big day. At 1700 EST, the Utes begin the beatdown of BYU. There is no question that the Cougs have talent and experience. There is no question that they need this win more, especially considering this was supposed to be they year they were to break into the BCS and Utah was in rebuilding mode. So what do the Utes need to do to win?

1. Use their speed advantage. Just like last year they need to put pressure on Hall early and often. Max has shown that if he gets knocked around a little he will come unhinged and likely start pressing.

2. The Utes secondary, which has had some holes, needs to be stout and contain the Coug passing game. They especially need to keep an eye on Pitta.

3. Jordan Wynn needs to continue to play with confidence and not make Freshman mistakes. No pick-6's and no more than one interception.

4. Our O-line needs to out muscle BYU's D-line. I am confident this will happen.

5. Eddie Wide and Sausan Shakerin need to pick up the blitz on pass plays. This is something that was lost when Asiata went down.

6. Take the crowd out of the game early and often. Come out and punch the Cougs in the mouth and put up some points early.

7. In the 2nd half save their timeouts for the last two minutes. No stupid timeout to avoid a delay of game or whatever.

8. Trust that Whit is better than Bronco. He is. Believe it.

What makes today's game so exciting is that all things seem to be equal. The Utes and Cougs both come in at 9-2; each with one conference loss to TCU (in which we were both badly embarrassed). BYU is favored by 7 in the game, which I largely attribute to having more experience and the fact the game is being played in Provo. But recent history has shown that the Utes usually enter big games better prepared and more focused than the Cougs. It could be a misconception, but I doubt it. I am confident that as long as the Utes execute like they should, they will win this game.

Utes 35-32

WHY BYU IS GOING TO WIN THE HOLY WAR

Make no mistake. BYU IS going to win the Holy War this year. That's not even up for discussion. Now let me explain why.

5 - Dennis Pitta. Last year Dennis injured his knee in the AF game and was unproductive against Utah. Not so this year. Get ready for the best TE in college football. He is such a difficult match up for opposing defenses. He is big but fast for his size and has great hands. He will be a frequent target for Brother-in-Law Max Hall. The only thing you can do is double team him. And that leads to...

4 - An incredibly diverse passing attack. Last year BYU had two main targets: Austin Collie and Dennis Pitta (who was injured). Max had 5 picks because everyone knew where the ball was going. This year BYU averages 7 different players recording receptions per game. Wanna double team Dennis? Don't forget about Andrew George. Also, BYU has 4 solid WRs with McKay Jacobsen fast enough to beat you deep if you lose your concentration for a second. Got the WRs covered? Don't forget about the RBs and FB. Unga, DiLuigi, Karyia and Tonga are all great ball catchers and have hundreds of yards a piece receiving this year. In essence, BYU could have 6 eligible receivers lined up in any given play.

3 - The Stable. Last year Harvey Unga, practically on his own, averaged close to 8 yards per carry against Utah. I am still baffled at why BYU didn't keep the ball on the ground all game. Now we have Unga, Tonga (BYU's best FB in many years) and Karyia, all big bruising backs ready to take the rock on any play. Throw in the shifty Diluigi, who has proven to be a very explosive runner, and BYU's ground attack should have a field day. You might be able to catch our backs, but have fun colliding head-on with them. Personally I would love to see a repeat of the 1996 game where BYU only passed the ball 11 times and racked up over 300 yards on the ground.

2 - Max Hall. He has been the butt of Ute jokes for the last year. Understandably so. His meltdown turned a close game into a laugher. That will not be the case this year. Utah boasts a very good Pass D but AF was supposed to have just about the best pass D in the nation. Thank you AF for giving up almost 400 yards and 5 passing TDs. Max has all the weapons at his disposal to put together an unstoppable aerial attack. Also, he has demonstrated increased maturity and poise. Need an example? Go watch the 4th quarter of the OU game.

1 - Jordan Wynn. Our young freshman friend has no idea what he is about to walk into. This is a rivalry like nothing else. BYU is going to pressure him all night long and Jan Jorgensen is the MWC all-time sack leader. I'm willing to bet he just isn't ready yet to handle the pressure. This year I expect BYU to win the turnover war and Jordan Wynn will figure into that.

So tell me Ute Nation, WHATCHYA GONNA DO WHEN MAX HALL, HARVEY UNGA, DENNIS PITTA, JAN JORGENSEN, COUGARMANIA AND NEARLY 70,000 RABID SCREAMING FANS COME CRASHING DOWN ON YOU?!?!? GO COUGARS!!!

Things I'm Thankful For... Holy War Edition Part II

1. That I'm a BYU fan. As a result, I know my stadium will fill more than half it's seats even when we don't have a double digit win season.
2. That BYU has a proud winning tradition and will only get better as our recruiting improves by leaps and bounds.
3. The knowledge that BYU will make it to the Title game in the next 5 years. Pretty sure I heard it in Conference.
4. We have a coach that makes players the #1 priority.
5. That I am in a Ward that has only one Ute fan.
6. That the Holy War is a real rivalry with all the passion, hatred, and fun that comes with it.
7. That both teams are very good teams and have been for the last two decades. Makes for a fun game.
8. That Max Hall is a prolific QB who will light up Utah this year.
9. That BYU is strong.
10. To have friends that are as passionate about Utah football as I am with BYU football and to write on this blog with one of them.
GO COUGS!!!

Things I'm Thankful For...Holy War Edition

1. That I'm a Ute fan. As a result, I don't have to be self-righteous and don't have to go on any "quests".
2. That the Utes have won and will continue to win BCS games and perhaps a Nat Championship.
3. The knowledge that BYU will never make a BCS game or MNC.
4. We have a coach that makes Football the #1 priority.
5. That I am in a Ward that has more Ute fans than BYU fans
6. That the Holy War is a real rivalry with all the passion, hatred, and fun that comes with it.
7. That both teams are very good teams and have been for the last two decades. Makes for a fun game.
8. That Max Hall throws interceptions...a lot of them.
9. That BYU is slow
10. To have friends that are as passionate about BYU football as I am with Utah football and to write on this blog with one of them.
GO UTES!!!

Keys to the Game

BYU is going to win this game. But here is what we have to do to come away victorious.

1 - Run early and run often. Mix it up with all our running backs. I think we need to not worry so much about trying to kick it outside. We should just plow ahead. We have 3 big backs in Unga, Karyia and Tonga. The best way to beat speed is to punch it in the face. I don't care how fast their D is, a 250 lbs RB colliding with a 210 lbs LB wins every time. If you can't run away from it, knock it down. Remember, last year we were gaining close to 8 yards per carry against Utah and this year we ran right down OU's throat and their front 7 is much better than Utah's.

2 - Keep the ball in front of us. Our short pass D is what Utah will pick on all game. It is our obvious weakness. We need to prevent big plays and make Wynn execute all the way down the field.

3 - Get pressure on Wynn. He has only started for a handful of games. BYU has rushed aggressively in the last few games and I think it will work here. If we can fluster Wynn it will go a long ways. That being said, we need to stay assignment sound and watch out for screens.

4 - Keep it together, Max. Max Hall has made serious strides in dealing with bad situations since last year's Utah debacle. But he still loses composure from time to time. Utah will try to pressure him all game. Be aware of that and adjust. One INT won't be the end of the world. But 5 will.

5- Turnovers. I predict that the winner of the turnover battle will win this game.

I'll post again in a few days with my 5 reasons why BYU will win. Until then, let me know what you all think!

Cold Hard Facts...Mostly

In the next few days there will be lots of emotional rhetoric that won't mean a whole lot. So I'd like to offer this statistical analysis of how BYU and Utah fared when playing the same opponent. You can say whatever you want but cold hard numbers don't lie. I apologize in advance, this could go long.


UTAH STATE
First of all I want to congratulate USU on a much improved team. They are headed in the right direction. In a few years they could be an upper echelon team in the WAC. BYU and Utah both beat Utah State with the same score of 35-17. Advantage: Draw.


COLORADO STATE
BYU Thoroughly handled CSU winning 42-23. In the Utah game, CSU was winning going into the 4th quarter. They ended up wining 24-17 but not impressive. The Ute D gave up 150 yards Rushing. BYU's D gave up 62. Advantage: BYU.


UNLV
BYU worked UNLV 59-21. Utah also had an impressive victory beating UNLV 35-15. Aside from the larger margin of victory I want to point out that BYU gained twice as many yards on the ground as Utah and gave up half as many rushing yards to UNLV. Advantage: BYU.


SAN DIEGO STATE
Utah had a much more impressive game against San Diego State than BYU did. BYU won 38-28 but Utah won 38-7 holding SDSU scoreless until garbage time. I will say that in the Utah game SDSU was without their star receiver but I doubt it would have made much difference. Advantage: Utah.


TCU
Both BYU and Utah were humiliated but in different ways. I really thought BYU would score more and I also thought Utah would do a better job defending TCU. However, BYU lost 38-7 and Utah lost 28-55. This supports my hunch that the Ute D is not as good as they keep saying it is. Let's face it, this is not the D that manhandled Alabama last year. It is also time to officially recognize that TCU is the best team in the league and it's not very close. Advantage: Draw


WYOMING
This is one of the games that I think really separates BYU and Utah. Of course the Ute fans could say the same thing about the UNM game and they have a good argument. BYU destroyed Wyoming 52-0. That 0 is my favorite number of the game. Utah beat Wyoming 22-10 but Wyoming led the whole game until the 4th quarter. Also Wyoming only allowed Utah in the end zone once. Advantage: BYU


NEW MEXICO
I really don't know what happened here. Utah killed UNM 45-14. BYU should have had a similar result. Instead, BYU won by just 5 points 24-19, and if UNM's kicker hadn't had the worst luck I've ever seen they might have beat BYU. This really was the worst offensive game BYU played all year. Dropped passes and poor throws stopped drive after drive after drive. No justifying makes this better. Advantage: Utah


AIR FORCE
BYU handled Air Force 38-21 and the score only looked as close as this because AF scored a meaningless end of the game TD against BYU's 2nd string D. BYU just seems to play AF better than most other teams. We always cut their offensive production in half. Utah, on the other hand, needed OT to put away those pesky falcons winning 23-16. Advantage: BYU

This means that in all the games BYU and Utah played against the same teams, BYU outperformed Utah in 4 games, performed worse in 2 and both teams had similar results in 2 games. That gives BYU a +2 advantage.

OK now all that being said you could argue that my assessments were biased because I'm a BYU fan and I just can't help it. So let's look at some cold hard stats. All of these stats come from games where BYU and Utah played the same opponents.

POINTS SCORED:
BYU 295 UTAH 251 That means BYU scored an average of 5.5 points more per game than Utah.
POINTS ALLOWED:
BYU 167 UTAH 151 Utah allowed 2 fewer points per game than BYU. I really expected this to be bigger. That's less than a FG's difference. What about how great Utah's D is and how bad BYU's D sucks? I just don't see it. Each team has definite D strengths but in all the games against all the opponents the overall difference between the 2 D's is minimal. Now let's look at my favorite statistic, again only using data from games where BYU and Utah played the same teams.
AVG MARGIN OF VICTORY
BYU 22.7 UTAH 18 That means BYU beat the same opponents that Utah beat by an average of 4.7 more points. That's significant because it means one more FG per game doesn't bridge that gap.

What does all this mean? Overall BYU has a better team than Utah this year. It's going to be a good game, but the best team WILL win. GO COUGARS!

It's that time again!

Not a lot of time to post today but just want to scout Utah's level of execution this year. As long as the Utes play like this BYU ought to be OK.

It's Rivalry Week!!!!

Alright, we kicked the crap out of San Diego State. That covers our review of the game today.

So, to start rivalry week, let's start our gameday preparation with an analysis of the QB our Utes will be facing:



Now that we know we will have a high defensive pass interception rating, let's review the defense the Cougs will be facing:



GO UTES!

Destroy the Aztecs like it's 2012

So, tonight is Senior Night and the Utes' last home game of the year. Last week was awful and it can be hard to jump back and get a win. But fortunately the Utes play the Aztecs who are decent but should be a fairly easy win, especially in Salt Lake. I also expect Coach Whit to have this team motivated and prepared and not looking forward to the Holy War.

Based upon previous games, I would predict that the Utes would win by about 15 - closer than we'd like. But I really think this offense is coming together behind Jordan Wynn. He was one of the few bright spots coming out of last weeks debacle; the Utes scored more points on the Frogs than any other team has all season. So I expect Wynn to have a big night tonight and take apart this tricky 3-3-5 Rocky Long defense.

There is no doubt that the Aztecs are improved this year and the Brady Hoke is for real. If he sticks with the Aztecs, I think they could be a real force in the MWC in a few years. Certainly they are not the push overs they were last week, so the Utes can't look past them.

UTES 42-19

MWC vs WAC Championship?

VS

NationalChamps.net is proposing the idea of a MWC v WAC championship game to determine an automatic bid for the BCS.

November 12, 2009 - The Mountain West Conference (MWC) and the Western
Athletic Conference (WAC) are closing in on a deal that will send the football champion of each respective conference to a Championship Game against each other the first weekend of December much like the ACC, Big 12, SEC, C-USA and MAC currently have in place. The game would be played at a predetermined neutral facility.

Since the Mountain West and Western Athletic Conferences currently lack
enough teams to maintain a Championship Game structure as individual leagues, the logical choice among each school's presidents was to let the champions of each league square off with a chance for the winner to be represented in the current BCS bowl process.

BCS representatives continue to receive criticism from non-aligned BCS conferences that they are not getting a fair shake in the bowl selection process. This week Texas head coach Mack Brown spoke out in support of schools not getting an equal chance at receiving an automatic BCS bid. While the MWC/WAC Championship Game would not necessarily place the BCS selection process on a level playing field, it would at least help solve some of the scheduling problems that mid-major schools face.

It is an interesting idea and one that I have considered in the past. Could you imagine how great a TCU v. BSU game would be this year to determine a spot in the BCS? That would be epic...of course this year both teams look like they will make it in, so such a scenario could screw one of the teams.

Nevertheless, it would be quite fun. Though I think another way to set it up, especially if there was no chance the MWC could get an auto bid on it's own, is to have the two-highest rated Non-BCS teams play in a championship game. Certainly most years it would be MWC v WAC, but it could also be CUSA, MAC, or (heaven forbid) Sun-Belt. For instance this year it could have quite possibly been Houston up there with TCU and BSU.

Ultimately, however, it is still in the best interest of the Utes, Cougs and all MWC teams to add Boise and maybe another two teams (my vote being either Houston and Nevada or Houston and SMU) and securing an auto-bid for the conference alone to guarantee the money would be there year in and year out.

Thoughts?

Well...That Sucked

That game was brutal! TCU completely dominated us, the worst part of which was an 8-10 minute stretch from the end of the 1st quarter into the first part of the 2nd quarter when TCU went from being tied 7-7 to leading 35-7. In that stretch Utah committed every penalty known to man, had a kicked block, allowed a long kick return, couldn't move the ball, had a pick-six, etc. It was brutal.

The lone bright spots for the Utes were the fact that Jordan Wynn can throw the deep ball and...well...no one got majorly hurt. But here are the bads:
1. Penalties - you've got to be kidding me.
2. Play calls - what happened to the short pass across the middle, like the slant? Why so many passes to the sideline.
3. No defensive adjustment to double up on Hughes (this one is unforgivable; can a coordinator be fired for this??)
4. Joe Dale was brutal, ugh. (Although Lamar Chapman was the lone bright spot on D, he had a real good game).
5. Special Teams; what is the deal with the spread out punt formation? That seems stupid, it certainly was tonight.

Overall, the Coaching blew, when there are that many penalties and mental mistakes and the fact there were limited defensive adjustments, the loss falls on the coaches. And I'll be honest, when the Utes promoted our new cooridnators from within I was concerned. How deep can the pipeline be? It is something I am worried about and am concerned about it for the future.

Now the only saving grace for the season is beating BYU. And I not only want to beat them, I want them embarrassed and decimated (at least they almost lost to UNM, at least that provided some comedic relief tonight!).

UTES 8-2

Stomp the Frogs!!

On the Front Page of ESPN.com!

Alright folks, this is game day, and it's not just any gameday, but it is the biggest game of the Year for both the Utes and the Mountain West. In fact some are saying it is the biggest game in MWC history and the biggest game for TCU since 1955. How great is it that Utah is smack in the middle of games such as this!

The Utes face a tough test today. No one outside of Utah fans expect the Utes to win. Undoubtedly TCU is one of the best teams in the country, in fact I haven't seen anything from Florida, Bama, or Texas to make me think that they are any better (or worse) than the Frogs. What is incredible about TCU this year is that they are Top-10 in almost every statistical category both on offense and defense. They are extremely balanced.

Utah, though, is not a push-over and will not go quietly. They are ranked 16th in the nation, have a fantastic defense, and the offense is starting to click under Jordan Wynn. Utah has a knack for winning the big game. They prepare well and are focused. Additionally they feel disrespected and are using that for extra motivation (not that they need it).

Naturally, I am a Ute homer and WILL NOT pick against the Utes in this game. I have the Utes pulling out the upset 19-17. So why will the Utes pull it off?

1. In Coach Whitt we trust. He is the Man and knows how to prepare and motivate the team.
2. It all depends on Wynn under center. If he can protect the ball and play turnover free we are golden. He also will need to spread the defense out through a solid mix of deep passes, option, screens, slants, and run plays
3. The O-line must neutralize Jerry Hughes to the extent possible. Easier said than done.
4. Run D has had moments of weakness this year and have been bend don't break. They must be stout through the game. The line needs to knock Andy Dalton around at the beginning of the game.
5. Rojo and the secondary need to create some turnovers. They have the advantage against the TCU pass offense and need to maximize it.

Ultimately, it is a tall order for my Utes, but it was a similar situation to the Bama game last year. Look for the Utes to come out firing.

UTES 19-17

P.S. Our beloved Runnin' Utes dropped their opening game to Idaho 94-87.
P.P.S. J.R., Your Cougs had a solid win last night in BBall, you should cover it!

Stomp the Frogs!!

Utes BBall Open It's Season

Tonight the Runnin' Utes open their season with a matchup against up and coming Idaho Vandals in Salt Lake City. The Utes are seemingly in a rebuilding year, coming off of our MWC Championship last year. Looking at the schedule, I figure the Utes will finish with a simlar record to last season, which was right around .500. Expect the Utes in the NIT this season, though Coach Boylen is a solid coach and could give the team some unexpected success.

In the MWC this year the conference is going to come down to BYU, SDSU, and UNLV. With New Mexico and Utah in the middle of the pack. My predictions for the MWC final standings:

1. UNLV
2. SDSU
3. BYU
4. UNM
5. Utah
6. Wyoming
7. Colorado State
8. TCU
9. Air Force

Go UTES!

Scouting UNM. This game will be close if...

...the giant wolf head pictured above comes to life and devours BYU's entire 1st string. Then BYU might only win by 10 points.
Seriously. This game is going to be ugly. It should look a lot like last week but potentially worse. UNM's D is terrible. If BYU doesn't score in the 40s I will be disappointed. UNM DOES have the nation's leading tackler. But he's the only player on UNM that has recorded any tackles at all (may or may not be true). Expect Harvey to have a field day. Expect Max to reach 300 yards and get pulled in the 3rd quarter. The real question is whether or not Riley Nelson will complete a pass.

BYU 49 UNM 7

TCU -20??

You've got to be kidding me! Vegas has TCU at -20 to win this game against the Utes. We aren't BYU! We actually show up for big games.

Look I am not saying that we are going to win, but I guarantee we won't lose by 20 or more. If I were a betting man, I would lay a ton of cash on that line. The Utes have their problems for sure, but our offense is coming along and our defense is stout. Undoubtedly, TCU is going to score on us, but we will also stop them often as well. If you look at the Utes season, we've only allowed one team, Oregon, to score more than 20 points in a game. Additionally we have score more than 20 points in every game. I am not going to dive in further as to why the Utes won't lose by 20, but we Ute fans shouldn't have to justify our team. We are the winningest team in the last two years (something like 31-2 in our last 33 games).

All I can is the Utes are well coached, well prepared, and won't lay down to anybody. I am not saying we are going to win (I am not saying we are not going win either), but there is no chance the Utes get blown out like Vegas is predicting.

GO UTES!

Utes Clobber Lobos

The game was just what I had hoped; a dominating 45-14 win against an inferior opponent. The game started slow and frustrating with a 7-7 tie at the end of the first quarter; it was a "here we go again" feeling. But in the 2nd quarter the Utes started pouring it on and hit the gas. A handful of big plays, sustained drives, and the defense stepping up gave the Utes a dominating lead by the 4th quarter. Once the game was comfortably in hand, the Utes placed many 2nd teamers in to get them some experience and the defense gave up a garbage TD. It was a great all around victory for the Utes, however the whole game I wondered if the Utes are that much better with Wynn in or if they just look this good because they are playing the Lobos. I think it is a mix of both, but mostly because New Mexico sux.

This brings me to Jordan Wynn. There is no doubt that he brings an extra spark to this team. He can hit the deep ball, he is a natural leader, and he can even run a bit - though not like Cain can. He is definitely the right choice to start against TCU. Sure he made many Freshman mistakes and missed a few passes. But his leadership and energy drive the team. They look much more confident with him in.

I think the problem with Cain, who was a fine QB by the way, was that he was too quiet and reserved and he fumbled the ball. Ball control has been much better these last two games and it produces results.

The biggest concern that I have going forward is their defense. Yeah, their defense. They are not as dominant as last year's defense and I think it could bite them next week against TCU. Just look at the first quarter of the UNM game when the Lobos virtually moved the ball at will. We can't have that for even a drive against TCU. The one saving grace for this defense is that it is a bend but not break. Sure teams have been pretty successful moving the ball against it, but the Utes have done a good job keeping them out of the end zone.

A great win for the Utes and just as important it was a great confidence booster for Wynn.

UTES: 8-1

Giddyup!

I should have known after watching the Utah Wyoming game last week that this would be a close one. I was biting my nails until BYU scored their 45th point. I wish they had made it more comfortable by scoring a few more TDs in the first half. Honestly though folks, BYU could have hung 70 points on Wyoming. Hall went out half way through the third quarter and BYU only passed the ball one more time the rest of the game.

I'll follow Steve's cue and give some grades.

QB - A
Max hall was nearly perfect. Only 2 incomplete passes and one of them was a throw away to avoid a sack. 325 yards in 2 and 1/2 quarters of play with three TD passes. He spread it around to 7 receivers. This game also reminded me how dangerous a mobile QB is. Every time BYU's backup Riley Nelson tucked it and ran he gained around 9-10 yards.

Running - A-
Over 200 yards. Harvey had 85, Nelson had 70 and DiLuigi and Hall each had 30 yards. It would have been nice to see someone break at least one big run. But I'll take 7 yards every touch.

O-line - A
Max was only pressured once and the run game ran away.

Defense - A
Shutout. Enough said.

Great game. Can't wait to beat up New Mexico next week as well.

Go Cougars!

Los Lobos

(Is it OK if it is against the Cougs??)

Good news for the Utes, we have a bye week to prepare for the horned frogs.....wait, what? We have a game? Oh, New Mexico, well it might as well be a bye week.

The short and dry of this game with the Lobos is that we better win big. This is one game where winning it in the fourth quarter would be embarrassing. This game better be over by half time. The Wolves are freaking terrible. They have a coach who may be as bad a guy as Tom Cable, have female soccer players who also hate BYU, and generally just appear to have no motivation whatsoever.

Nevertheless, this complete mismatch of a game isn't without its intrigue. The big question is "who will start at QB for the Utes?" The answer should be obvious and it should be Jordan Wynn. I have nothing against Terrance Cain, in fact he looks to be comparable to Wynn, and when the players are equals you go with the youngest. We already blew his red-shirt, so we better run with him and get him experience. Give our Utes three more years of an experienced QB and a real chance to get back to the BCS.

This game also should be used as a solid tuneup for the TCU game next week. (That's right, I'm looking ahead!). Focus on the fundamentals and execution. Test Wynn's accuracy and pocket presence. Send him out on some designed runs and option plays. Let's get Wynn comfortable and ready.

UTES: 45-10