Week 2 PREVIEW

Week 2 PREVIEW

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Utah and BYU both climbed into the polls this week. Utah came in at #20-AP and tied for 20 with Auburn in the Coaches. BYU reached #24 in the Coaches poll. I tend to think the AP poll is far more accurate since the writers are paid to cover the sport. However, we all know the Coaches poll is what goes into the BCS ranking.

As an aside, look for future posts discussing the poll that is probably the most accurate – that’s right, the odds makers Top 30 poll that comes out of Las Vegas.

As for the games today –
Utah should have no problems handling UNLV at home. However, QB Jordan Wynn’s health is still up in the air. BYU will have a tougher test on the road at Air Force. Boise State is off this week

Games to watch other than your own this week:

BYU Fan – #17 Florida State vs. #10 Oklahoma
Florida State travels to Oklahoma. Cougar fans of course remember the pounding BYU received at home last year when Bobby Bowden showed up during what turned out to be his farewell tour. BYU had come off the big Oklahoma victory, pummeled Tulane in week 2, moved up to #9 ranking nationally or thereabouts and were ready to start rolling. That all changed when Florida State ran all over them at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The Cougars travel to Tallahassee next week. Not sure if Bronco Mendenhall will have the quarterback situation figured out by then. If he decides to go with Heaps, which everyone thinks he should, then that Florida State game could be a baptism by fire for Heaps. BYU will definitely want to have a better showing this year against FSU. Public opinion seems to be that BYU goes something like 9-3 this year with FSU on the road as one of the losses. We’ll find out how good the Seminoles are today vs. Oklahoma.

Utah fan – Notre Dame vs. Michigan
Michigan should be over their 2 year run as Big-10 doormat and should provide a nice test for Notre Dame. Back in the day, this game, which is always played early in the season, seemed to always have national title implications. It will be fun to see if Notre Dame is for real with the new coach. Utah travels to South Bend in November.

Boise State fan
You should be cheering like crazy that Oregon State beats Louisville next Saturday. The last thing you want is your 2nd toughest game of the season to be against a winless team when you guys play two weeks from now in what will be just the 3rd game for each team.

Matt Nielson has been writing about the college sports landscape in Utah and the Intermountain West since 2010. When he’s not pretending to be a professional blogger, he works full time as a residential real estate agent and house flipper. Matt graduated from Brigham Young University in 2000. He and his family reside in Salt Lake City, UT.

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