The #7 Utah Utes (10-0) travel to San Diego this weekend for a little sun and a little tune up before the Holy War next week. The San Diego State Aztecs (1-9) have been decimated with injuries this year and have only been able to muster up one win on the season against the very lowly Idaho Vandals.
With the Utes coming off a longer than usual week and an emotion win over a very tough TCU Horned Frogs team last thursday night, look for the Utes to set a tempo early and run all over the depleated Aztecs who have one of the worst rushing defenses in the nation.
Utah can not afford to look past any team this year as there are only two games left and the offense has only really put a full game together once this year. Look for the offense to establish some consistency and confidence that they can take with them into next week. Also look for the starters to come out early if the game gets out of hand.
The Utes had yet another miraculous come from behind victory at home last thursday in Rice-Eccles Stadium. With the help of TCU's freshman place kicker's two missed field goals, the Utes were able to drive down the field and score the game winning touchdown with just 0:47 to play in the game.
The drive was indicative of the way the offense plays when Brian Johnson is able to quickly make play calls at the line and keep the defense off balance. All the previous drives in the game were plagued with miscues from the offense. When a drive was being sustained, it was killed by trying to get to cute with the play calling.
In the end it was Brian's heroics that won the day to keep the Utes a perfect 10-0. Following the win the Utes moved up in the BCS poll from 9 to 7 and keep their hopes alive of getting to the BCS for the second time in 5 years.
The Utes are headed to Albuquerque
to take on the Lobos.The Utes look to
come out with another victory and continue the path to another BCS
appearance.The Lobos on the other hand,
are fight to stay bowl eligible.
Utah
is coming off a bye week, which has allowed them to do extra preparation for
this game, but they could also be rusty.New Mexico
had a solid victory over San Diego State 2 week ago, but followed it up with a
poor performance at Air Force last week.Rocky Long always seems to have his team prepared to face the Utes and
this week will be no exception.
Kyle Whittingham is 3-0 coming off a bye week in his
coaching tenure with the Utes, so that proves Utah can and will be ready to play following
the bye week.The last time Utah headed to Albuquerque
with an 8-0 records, they lost 23-21 to the Lobos.Whittingham has used the experience as a
motivator for his team and to remind them that they cannot over look anyone.
This should be tough battle for both teams and I expect it
to be close.The game will be televised
on The Mtn. and can be heard on KALL 700 AM .
Coach Whit travelled back to Bristol, Connecticut to hang out with the boys on the ESPN campus. He had several interviews on both television and radio. Here is one of his interviews on while visiting.
The day at ESPN will give the program more national attention and exposure to help in recruiting efforts and also give the pollsters a name and face to the Ute program.
Let's hope we can live up to the hype. UNM is next on November 1st. The offense had better show up, unlike two years ago in Albuquerque.
