1. O-line improvement: UW coach Dave Christensen made it clear early in the week that the offensive line needs to play better after the Cowboys’ last game at Air Force on Oct. 17 — a 10-0 loss. Sophomore John Hutchins replaces junior Sam Sterner at left guard in an attempt to shake things up and seek improvement. It is a cliche to say it all starts with line play, but it really holds true for the Cowboys in this one.
2. Man-to-man: We’ve gone down this path before with the Cowboys: How will they handle man-to-man defense? They were horrible in a 24-0 loss at Colorado, but better in three straight wins over UNLV, Florida Atlantic and New Mexico. Utah is good at playing man — much better than Colorado. Can UW’s receivers get open long enough for true freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels to get them the ball, and can Carta-Samuels deliver the ball in what will be short and small openings to his receivers?
Also, refer back to thing No. 1 in this area.
3. Fumbles: Did a story this week on the fact UW has forced 14 fumbles this season, but recovered just four. Utah fumbled the ball six times against Air Force, but lost just two. The Cowboys need to continue to force turnovers, whether they are fumbles or interceptions, and when they do they must capitalize.
4. Let’s get physical: Utah is one of the more physical teams in the Mountain West, and has been for a while. UW has made strides here, but certainly is not at Utah’s level. Still, this game should be physical and how UW matches that will be vital if it is to have any success.
5. Forget the past: We all know about UW’s struggles against Utah recently: 1-8 this decade, losers of four straight in Salt Lake City by a combined score of 175-30 and losers of the last two games overall by a combined 90-7. If that serves as motivation for the returning players, great. But more importantly, those past failures need to be forgotten. This is a new team, new season, new coach and a new program in a lot of respects. This also will be a good guage to see how far the program is right now going against one of the MWC’s elite.
Christensen and UW are not into moral victories and the goal for the Cowboys is to win. But if UW at very least is competitive against Utah perhaps that is another sign of overall improvement.
See Saturday’s paper for more on the game. The live blog begins Saturday at 5 p.m. from Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake Cit. Go to http://wyomingcowboysblog.com/2009/10/28/wyoming-vs-utah-live-blog/
Loading ...
the ute insiders dont think we will even be competitive. the coaches do but thats what coaches are supposed to say. the talk show guys are wondering if they can give the third string qb some experence for the two games(tcu and byu) that they think will be close. the rest of the league? no-bodies. i think uw will suprise a lot of folks here. i dont see a blow out.