Tonight is the first time that Utah and Utah State have met on the gridiron since 2009. I thought I'd give some of my favorite memories of this series.
1996:
This was right after my family moved to Utah from Texas. It was the first game I watched as a real Ute fan (I had watched the 1994 Utah-CSU game in TX, and that remains one of my favorite all-time Ute moments). Unfortunately, we lost, but that game is where I truly fell in love with Utah football.
2001:
2001 doesn't seem like that long ago, but it was back in the days when Utah football gave out tickets to anybody who would take them to fill the stadium. As such, the kids in my ward (an LDS congregation) were all given tickets by the youth leaders. We went and had a blast. We sat in the North End Zone and I was in heaven, especially since we won.
2003:
My first game as a member of the MUSS (mighty utah student section). My buddy and I were walking in and past a guy wearing a USU shirt. My friend stopped, stared at him, started laughing hysterically, then kept walking. I LOVED my time in the MUSS.
2007:
Fresh off our win over #11 UCLA, we had gone to UNLV and been blown out 27-0. We were 1-3 on the season and things weren't looking good. I came up from SUU where I was in school to go to this game with my Dad. I remember converting a big 3rd down play and yelling "You just saved your job, Whittingham!" A laughable thought now was amazingly spot on back then. Strange, eh?
So that brings us to tonight. Here are some of my thoughts:
-I LOVED Jake Murphy in last Thursday's game. In that one game, he had more receptions and yards than in last year total. However, Northern Colorado a) probably didn't game plan for him much and b) didn't have the personnel to contain him anyway. Utah State will have both. I'm anxious to see how Murphy does tonight. Hopefully, he can show that he is a force to be reckoned with.
-I thought that John White would have a line more along the lines of 20 carries, 157 yards. We also used him a lot more than I anticipated (he sat most of the fourth and still had 24 carries). The backups had their moments, but they will need to get better. John White is great, but we can't run him like we did last year.
-Keep your eyes on Seni Fauonuku, #98. He is the backup to Star, but he can play either spot on the interior of the line. He was extremely active during his limited reps last Thursday. He has quite possibly the quickest jump off the snap on the team and remains active until the play is dead. He is only about 6'0 but that can have its advantages. The comparisons to Steve Fifita and Kenape Eliapo leap to mind. Personally, I think he is going to be much closer to Fifita than Eliapo, which is a good thing. Also, it helps ease my concerns over next year when Star is not here. I'm not saying that there won't be a dropoff, but I think having Seni will be great for us. Though I have no doubt that we will be endlessly bombarded with "The Utes are in trouble without Star!" from the media, but what else is new?
Prediction:
Utah 27-USU 17
No comments:
Post a Comment