An amazing thing has taken place across the Wasatch front in the past few days. Cougar fans, who just 10 days ago were openly cheering for Utah to beat TCU and carry the torch for the conference and the state, are now licking their chops for a chance to further unravel Utah’s season. The rivalry game is still two weeks away but Cougar fans’ fortunes have changed in a big way and they can’t wait for Utah.
Utah is gonna have a fight on their hands when they play
San Diego
State this Saturday in
Southern California. BYU fans are thinking they’ll trounce
New Mexico at home. This sets up the 6-5 Cougars vs. potentially, the reeling 8-3 Utes in
Salt
Lake. BYU would love to go 7-5 and send
Utah off to the PAC-12 losing their last 4 and finishing an extremely disappointing 8-4. Nothing would make the Cougars happier.
That said, BYU still needs to go out this Saturday and put on another impressive performance against a Mountain West door mat. If they do, they will have all the momentum in the world on their side going into the Utah game.
Utah had better find some offense against
San Diego
State on Saturday. SDSU has a pro-caliber quarterback and the Aztecs should be able to put some points on the board. Aside from the penalties and the other problems the Utes experienced Saturday against Notre Dame, it’s obvious they have problems at quarterback. Is back-up, Terrence Cain the answer? Who knows but Kyle Whittingham will need to figure out a way to jump start their offense. Maybe they need a blocked punt of their own, a pick-6 or a Shaky Smithson special on defense/special teams to take some pressure off their offense and get the team going. I still think Whittingham is one of the best coaches in the country and I think the team’s offense will get back on track.
Regardless of what happens this Saturday, Rivalry week is going to be great. We’re coming off the Max Hall blast from last year. In fact, I don’t think it’s too early to go ahead and re-visit that:
Of course that rant prompted this classic from a Utah fan:
Not only are last year’s shenanigans and the unfolding of the 2010 season for both teams going to create a lot of build-up, you’ve also got the drama of this being the last meeting with both teams in the same conference. Remember, next year the game will be played the third week of the season. It will be fun but it just won’t have the same intrigue. Let’s see how things unfold this Saturday and then get ready for a great rivalry week.
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.
Loved the post. Especially the revisit to max hall's famous words.
Great post, Matt. Now I am pumped up for rivalry week.