Welcome To Purple Mountain Haze

Welcome to your new home for all the latest on BYU and Utah sports, as well as Boise State Football – PurpleMountainHaze.com.

For those of you that followed me on my previous blog, thanks for making the jump to Purple Mountain Haze. There’s been enough interest that I figured it was time to actually get a full blown web site up and running. As for the name change, some company wanted a sum of money greater than I have to purchase the old domain. Needless to say, I began conjuring up something that best described what my site/blog is all about – college sports in Utah. I thought the red and blue motif was a bit played out so what did I do? I took it even one step further and combined the colors! Stay tuned for the slick new mountain logo as well.

Since BYU is basically playing a J.V. team on Saturday in Idaho State, I figured any in-depth analysis of the game would be a waste of time.

Instead, here are thoughts from Dick Harmon of the Deseret News regarding BYU making the jump to the Big 12. He is probably more connected in Provo than anyone else along the Wasatch front. His hunch is BYU will ultimately receive an invite.

Is BYU really headed to the Big 12?

If you’re wondering why every BYU fan is still desperately clinging to the hope of BYU going to the Big 12, the answer is this:

BYU’s season essentially ended after their 3rd game, a 54-10 beat-down at the hands ofUtah. At that point, BYU had officially lost any chance to play in the BCS with 2 losses, miserably performed in their most anticipated game of the season, were reminded they were already locked in to the worthless Armed Forces Bowl, realized they had no conference championship to play for and had a garbage home schedule the rest of the way. Sure the television exposure has been and will continue to be great. However, fans can’t get behind TV exposure alone. They want to play with the big boys, be part of the club and have something to play for all year. As I’ve said several times this year, this could be the most meaningless 9-3, 10-2 season of all time. BYU needs to find a way into the Big 12.

As for the football team in town that is part of a BCS conference……

Utah seems to have gotten back on track last week against Pitt. The defense played outstanding. They did not give up a touchdown. Problem for Utah is still the offense. It’s non-existent at this point. Pitt recorded 7 sacks against Utah and the Utes settled for four field goals.Utah’s lone offensive touchdown came off a tipped ball.

The Utes play Cal Saturday in the Bay area. It’s not a must win as they are now 3-3 and should win plenty of games against the lower rung Pac-12 schools to finish the year. That said; it sure would be nice forUtahget their first Pac-12 win tomorrow.Calis 1-3 in conference so far and they were blown out in their last two games against USC andOregon. This appears to be a winnable game forUtah- if, and a very big if – they find a way to score some points.Utahis a 2.5 point underdog. That’s essentially a pick-em when you figure the home team usually gets 3 points. Incidentally, it won’t be a true home game for Cal. The game will be played atAT&TParkinSan Franciscodue to on-campus stadium renovation.