Tom Smart/Deseret Morning News

The Utes break into the Top 25 after beating Michigan on Saturday. The Utes are ranked 22 in the AP poll and 23 in the USA Today/Coaches poll. ESPN also has them ranked 22 in their Power Poll.

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Utah Utes Current Record: (11-0)

Rankings:
AP: 8 (1,157 points)
Coaches: 7 (1,104 points)
Harris Poll 8 (2,034 points)
BCS: 7 (0.7692 BCS Avg)

Home Games are denoted in BOLD
Wins Denoted with Green Background
Losses Denoted with Red Background
All Times are Mountain Time

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Utah had an impressive first half against the Wolverines.  They made some mistakes early on Michigan's first drive by fumbling a punt return and then getting called for a pass interference, which negated an interception by Robert Johnson, but they responded with a touchdown drive of their own and then cruised in the 2nd quarter by adding another 16 points off of 3 field goals and a touchdown.

Tom Smart/Deseret Morning News

Utah's defense dominated most of the game by allowing Michigan to have just 203 yards of total offense.  They did have some mistakes with penalties and giving up a 33 yard TD pass after a blocked punt in the 4th quarter.  Overall, I was pleased with their effort.  They held Michigan to 36 yards rushing and held Michigan to 3/14 (21%) on third down conversions.

Utah's offense looked solid in the first half.  They were driving the ball and getting into scoring position the entire first half. Louie Sakoda was 3/3 on field goals in the first half and didn't have to kick a punt until the final two minutes of the half.  Utah managed to put up 341 yards of total offense in the game.  The only concerning thing to me was the net of 36 total yards of rushing for the Utes.  Mack and Asiata had a net of 94 yards on 21 carries, but Johnson had a net loss of 66 yards.

Tom Smart/Deseret Morning News

Louie Sakoda looked fantastic, but overall, the special teams were not impressive at all.  We fumbled a punt and had both a PAT and punt blocked.  That is horrible!  We need to improve the special teams play if we want to be successful this year.  Special teams are a key component of successful football teams.

Despite the negatives, I can't complain about this victory.  It was a great win over a historically big program.  This win will help gain back some of the national attention we received in 2004.

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It's that time of year again!  The Utah Football season kicks off for 2008 with the Utes heading to Ann Arbor, Michigan to take on the Wolverines.

Early hype for Utah is this team has been compared to the BCS busting team in 2004.  It is way too early to be hyping this team up that much, but they have the favorable schedule and talent to make it a possibility.  The 2004 team was able to avoid injuries to their key players all year and Utah has not been able to avoid the injury bug the past few seasons.  We'll see if the shoe fits this year.

Utah heads to the "Big House" and is looking to do better than the trip in 2002 where they lost 10-7.  Utah returns 7 starters on both offense and defense this year and has experience and talent in almost all the key positions on the football field.  The Utes have a prime opportunity to upset Michigan this weekend since the Wolverines are coming in with a very inexperienced offense that is learning a new system.

Michigan has a new coach in Rich Rodriguez and he is attempting to build Michigan back into the leader of the Big Ten Conference.  He has his work cut out for him as Michigan has been an I-Back formation power team in the past and Rodriguez is one of the main innovators of the spread offense.  He has helped mold the spread offense to what it is today.  The Wolverines return 8 starters on defense and 3 on offense.  They are breaking in a new quarterbacks and also are trying to learn the ins and outs of the spread offense.

I expect this to be a close game that will be a defensive struggle.  The Utes have the experience and talent to explode on offense, but under the coordination of Andy Ludwig, their offensive yards per game have gone down each of the past 3 years.  They will need to turn this around drastically if they are to be compared to the 2004 Fiesta Bowl champs.  Utah's defense is strong, but inexperienced with the front 7.  They will have their hands full on Saturday, but have the ability to perform well.  If they can pressure Michigan force mistakes, then they have a great shot at pulling off the upset.

Phife's Prediction = Utah 20, Michigan 13.  Go Utes!!

Kickoff is at 1:30 PM MT and can be seen on ABC and heard on KALL 700.

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The bowl season begins tonight as the Utes take on the Midshipmen. Navy comes into this game with an 8-4 record and on a 4 game winning streak. Utah comes in with an 8-4 record as well and winners of 7 of their last 8 games in the regular season. Utah has also won their last 6 bowl games and look to continue that streak.

Navy:

Navy will be playing their first game under their newly appointed head coach Ken Niumatalolo. Paul Johnson left for Georgia Tech after 6 seasons with Navy. The Naval Academy an option attack offense and they pride themselves on their ability to run a disciplined option attack. They force defenses to play assignment football and will burn you if each defender does not perform his job. The offense averages 351 yards per game on the ground and really wears on you with the monotonous option attack. They are a high scoring team averaging 39.9 points per game and try to outscore all of their opponents.

Navy's defense is a completely opposite as they are giving up 438 yards per game and their secondary is giving up 265 yards in the air. The run defense isn't much better, giving up 172 yards per game. They also allow teams to score an average of 36.5 points per game. The Midshipmen are undersized and don't have the team speed on defense to force teams to make plays against them.

Navy will grind the ball on the ground and force the Utah defense to make plays on every down. Defensively they will try to attack the Ute offense from different spots and force the Utes to make mistakes or turn the ball over.

Utah

Utah is looking to bounce back from the disappointing loss against BYU at the end of the regular season and extend their bowl winning streak to 7 games. Utah's offense has been a thing of inconsistency this year as they have spectacular performances on occasion and really lack luster performances at other times. The Utes should be able to have a balanced attack against the undersized Midshipmen. The offense should be able to put together long sustaining drives and force the poor Navy defense to make plays in order to get them off the field. Utah comes in only averaging 362 yards per game on offense, but they should have more yards against the Navy defense.

Utah's defense has a big challenge ahead of them tonight against Navy. They are facing a team with a very disciplined and assignment sound option attack. The good news for the defense is they have seen the option before against Air Force in past years, but experience can only do so much. The Ute defenders need to scheme properly and execute their assignment. One misread or missed assignment can lead to big plays for the Navy offense. Coach Whittingham has plenty of experience in preparing to play an option team and with the extra time to prepare for this offense, you can expect his defense to be prepared. Utah had been great against the run this year giving up just 130 yards per game and only 98 yards in the last 10 games of the season.

Utah will control the ball and make Navy march the entire length of the field on every drive due to their great special teams play. Utah needs to control the ball and not allow the Navy offense to have big plays. If they play assignment sound football and protect the football, they should be able to control Navy and pick up their 7^th straight bowl victory.

The game kicks off at 7:00 PM MT and can be seen on ESPN and heard on Kall 700 Sports (700 AM) .

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The Runnin' Utes get their first shot at a team ranked in the Top 25. Utah heads to Portland, OR to take on the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks come into this game with a 6-1 record and are ranked 19^th in the Associated Press Top 25.

Oregon has not played a game for about a week and half, so they should be fully rested. Utah is coming off an emotional win over Utah State on Wednesday and they are on a 3 game winning streak.

The Utes are looking to show that they can win a challenging game on the road. The Utes have a tough defensive battle ahead of them since the all five starters for the Ducks are averaging over 10 points per game and are lead by Malik Hairston (17.9 points/game) and Maarty Leunen (15.7 points/game).

The Utes will need to play solid team defense in order to slow down the Ducks. They will also need to continue their great field goal percentage. Utah is 4^th in the nation in field goal percentage at 53.3%. A strong defensive performance and a hot hand could give the Utes a chance to pull off the victory.

The game can be seen on ESPN's Full Court pay per view and heard on KALL 700 Sports (700 AM).

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