Conference Changes

Alright, a kind of mid-week, off subject post. TCU announced today that as of the school year 2012-2013 they will be joining the Big East in all sports. So let's look at the current Mountain West Conference schools and see what's going to be in place over the next 2 years.

Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, TCU, UNLV, Utah and Wyoming. Of those 9 teams Utah and BYU will be leaving next year (2011-2012) and Boise State will be leaving the WAC to enter. So it will look like this next football season:

Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, TCU, UNLV and Wyoming. The following year TCU will leave and Fresno State and Nevada will enter the MWC. So it will look like this:

Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV and Wyoming. Is this a BCS quality conference? With only Boise State and Nevada having any success over the last few years, not a chance in hell. So Boise State leaves a conference that has a great partnership with ESPN and gets to show a lot of their games nationally to a conference without any kind of national exposer at all and it's pretty much the same conference. Here's what the WAC looks like right now:

Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Utah State. Now let's compare the current WAC next to what the MWC will be.

Because BSU, FSU and Nevada are all the same, I'll skip those. Air Force is better than anyone else in the WAC right now and with SDSU climbing, they may be equal to Hawaii. So the new MWC will be better in that respect. After that you have a wash. Colorado State and New Mexico have seen their heydays come and go, as has Utah State. But again, MWC is better. New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech are not any good at all, along with Wyoming, Idaho and UNLV. Honestly, the new MWC will be a better conference since teams like LTU don't even want to play in the west and San Jose State may contemplate going back down into the Big West and play against Montana and Weber State. But is it worth it for BSU? I don't think so. Just wait Bronco fans until you can't see them on TV anymore.

Will this move benefit TCU? Let's look at the Big East as of 2012-2013 (unless further changes appear). Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, TCU, U. Southern Florida and West Virginia. (just football) The people who I know read this are pretty smart, so who would you pick to win the conference this year? TCU by a lot. In 2 years? If they aren't projected to be in the top 3, I'll wear purple for a week straight. In my opinion, TCU is going to frequent the BCS like BYU frequents the BYU invitational (Vegas Bowl). Not every year, but close enough that the Big East will be known as TCU and everyone else like USC and the PAC-10 over the past decade.

I still want to know if BYU is going to garner any more respect in the bowls than the list of affiliations for Navy. Poinsettia, Eagle Bank (?), Kraft Fight Hunger(?) and Armed Forces Bowls. I also would like to see the PAC-12 get better affiliations now. Another thing, if Boise State and New Mexico can host bowls, why can't Salt Lake? I'd love to see the Deseret First University Credit Union or even the Miller Family Bowl at Rice-Eccles. I'd even drive to Provo (wearing red, listening to Metallica and not shaving) to watch it at Levell Edwards.

GO UTES!

Hooray! The Utes must be living right on and off the field to block that field goal!! Go Utes!

Alright, now that is out of my system, I'll get down to my real break down of the game. The Utes sucked. They played their worst game outside of Notre Dame. (That includes TCU). Yet they still won, is that a sign of how bad BYU is? No, not at all. BYU has really changed this season for the better. What it does show however, is how resilient this Utah team can really be. They got beat down in the early part of the game but only allowed 6 points at half, which left Kyle Whittingham clapping on the sidelines that his team was only down 6. The whole T. Cain thing in the second half failed as much as I thought it would if they ever did it. The offensive problems don't just revolve around the QB position. Again, it's the play calling. As a friend of mine mentioned, they seem to get something going, and change the play calling before it stops working and stop themselves. If something works, do it until it doesn't. Make the other defense make you change your calls.

Am I going to call for Aaron Rodericks's head? Not yet, he is no where near the idiot that Ludwig was and he was making good decisions earlier in the year. What happened? Why is Wynn all of the sudden lining up in the pistol offense which is designed for a running threat at QB, which Wynn is decidedly not. I loved almost every play from the line up where Wynn was in the typical shotgun, and you had 2 RB's either flanking him or lined up on one side of him with a 2 yard gap between them. You can do anything from that and you don't have to worry about the QB's lack of run game. My thing is, if you want to run the option read offense, you need someone who the defense fears will run the ball. You don't need Cam Newton or even an Alex Smith, but Jordan Wynn is so afraid of contact, he'll dive head first or slide 3 yards down field on a 3rd and 5 instead of lowering his shoulder and going for the first down. I think that's when most Utah fan's fell into the Cain for president category. And why run the ball between the tackles on all but 2 run plays? Why not try the Utah shuffle pass, an end around, Eddie Wide actually going wide? Why is every pass a double crossing pattern with the TE's going on a fly pattern? Why not get Shaky the ball on bubble screen's? Why not try Shaky and Brooks on the same side of the field and have one go deep and one do a post or even dual cross posts? If I were a defensive coordinator, that would scare the beegeebees out of me.

I'll give it to BYU though, they played great! If they had been playing a lesser defense, they would have had 21 points on the board at half. The BYU defense really came to play today and it's just amazing how different they are from the beginning of the season. I know I complain about Mendenhall and his pious remarks, but man, he knows how to plan a defense. I almost wish he would get fired and come to Utah as the DC. ALMOST, but not quite.

On a side note, I hate how bad play calls keep coming up. It WAS a fumble in this game, it WAS a fumble vs. SDSU. SDSU got screwed with a no call block in the back vs Missouri, Arizona got screwed last year in a call I can't remember, but they did. Oklahoma filled a complaint against the Pac-10 3 years ago. Just about every week, someone is justified in talking about some horrific call from the officials. They need to be held more accountable. In all sports. I loved when the MWC actually suspended officials this year (and I don't think this one is as egregious as those calls). I hope more conferences and the NCAA takes a note and actually hold these guys accountable for blatantly blowing calls. That being said, I've never blamed a football game on officials because there are way to many factors and players to say that 1 or 2 bad calls make it one way or the other (basketball though, I will blame officials, especially Steve Javy). Again I'm going to bring up Super Bowl XL and the Seahawks. Of all the calls that went against the 'Hawks, the only one I complain about is the "blocking below the waist" call on Matt Hassleback's tackle of the guy who intercepted his ball. Other than that, the offensive pass interference WAS the right call. It's NEVER called, but it was the right one. The holding call, meh, either way. If Seattle had scored TD's instead of Field Goals in the first half or didn't lead the league in dropped passes that year (I swear they did it all in that one game), they would have won that game regardless of the calls. So to all my friends who read this that are BYU fan's, I'm sorry your team couldn't score TD's instead of field goals and couldn't run the ball at all or block someone from blocking your field goal. That is why you lost, not the one call. Sorry guys, but it's true.

Rivalry!

Utah hosting BYU this week will be my big one. 4 weeks ago this looked like it wasn't going to be a game at all. Utah was rolling at 7-0 and killing everyone! BYU was 2-5 and it looked like they were not getting anywhere with all that young talent on the team. Than Utah ran into Air Force, TCU, Notre Dame (still the worst I've seen since UNLV) and San Diego State and BYU played Wyoming, UNLV, CSU and New Mexico. BYU rolled through their opponents only allowing 44 points while scoring 169. Utah got bulldozed, first by Air Force, even though they won the game, the Falcon's shook the confidence of the Utes. Than TCU came into town and demoralized them 47-7, and they went into South Bend Indiana and let TCU beat them again falling to the Fighting Irish 28-3. They still looked punch drunk in the first quarter as they played the Aztecs in San Diego before turning it on for a comeback win. In that stretch, Utah got outscored by their opposition 132-76 and just didn't look good through 3 and 1 quarter of those games. So it's a tale of 2 seasons for each team. BYU is coming in 6-5 and Utah is 9-2.

Although the records are still so different the teams are not right now. BYU's defense is looking really good and Utah's defense feel apart against San Diego State. It was the first time I felt that the defense let down the offense this year. If they can't shore it up, look for BYU to throw the ball all over the field with their freshman WR and QB combo. I expect this game to be tight, and go down to the fourth quarter, maybe the last drive once again. It's either going to be 7-3 Utah or 47-44 Utah. (Come on, did you really expect me to pick the kitty cats?)

GO UTES!

Utes vs. Aztecs

All right, my first attempt at this didn't work so well because I'm at work, so I'll make it short and sweet.

BYU is playing New Mexico. Again, Bingham could beat this team. So I expect another huge blowout win for the Cougars.

Utah is playing at San Diego State. For the first time since Marshall Faulk was at SDSU this team looks really good. With Utah playing as bad as they have over the last 3 weeks (see former posts), this could get ugly real quick. If Utah could get back to early season form, it could get ugly the other way. What ever team wins the turnover battle will win this game. If Utah can get over their dropsies syndrome and 3-n-out idis, I think utah could pull out a win against a really good SDSU team. It sadens me to say this but my pick this week is SDSU by 8.

What the Hell was that?!

Wow, Utah looks really really bad right now. They are playing outside their heads, not making good decisions nor are they playing with any heart. The offense was so bad that it not only took the air out of themselves, but the defense lost it to. The O line is taking a lot of heat for the past two weeks, unnecessarily in my opinion. I think Wynn is holding the ball to long, drifting to far back into the pocket and running out of the pocket before the pressure gets to him. He is throwing the ball into the dirt right now and I haven't seen him play right since the Wyoming game. I'm not blaming everything on him, he is the QB though and needs to take a huge step forward mentally for this offense to get back on track.

Another huge issue has been the play calling of Aaron Roderick. Before the Airforce game, the offense was almost dead even, but since that game, the are sporadic at best. They tried to run the ball down the throats of AF without stretching the field at all. Against TCU, they abandoned the run to try to get back into the game after being down 14-0 early. After Wynn got picked deep against TCU, they haven't thrown deep at all, not once. Against Notre Dame, they killed themselves by not getting back into the offense they had before. Utah excels at power running the ball up the gut and than calling play action pass with either a deep pass or a crossing pattern by one of the WR's. They are trying to get those deep passes without the play action so the DB's are all over the WR's. Because of that, teams are dropping 8 to 9 guys into "the box" and Utah can't get any running lanes open and every yard is hard fought. With Utah's passing game only being out in the flat or 5-10 yards down field, the linebackers and defensive backs don't have to drop back, so the 5-10 yard passes are closing up as well. In other words, run the ball, play action pass, stretch the field deep. Catch the ball when it comes, hold the ball when you have it, throw it to where a receiver can catch it and run.

On the other side of the ball, it's about going back to basics. Tackling is a huge issue right now. They are not doing it, they are hitting and arm tackling. Simplify the scheme, these guys are used to a 4-3 man based defense with some zone blitzes mixed in. Not a weird combo of 4-3 zone and 3-4 or 3-3-5 zone. Get back to basics, you don't have the Paul Kruger, Koa Misi, Robert Johnson, Eric Weddle, Sioni Pouha, Shaun Smith, etc., to cover for mistakes. This is a very good, blue collar defense that is playing really well as a team that just needs to be allowed to do what they do best. Defensive line eating up blocks and getting some pressure, linebackers staying in their gabs and covering their zones and defensive backs covering WR's tight.

It's not only that these guys have lost the past 2 weeks, they haven't played well and just got blown out by a BAD Notre Dame team. It's gut check time going into a 7-3 San Diego State as a 5 point underdog. Get back the bark, more importantly, get back the bite. Don't let TCU beat you a 3rd time. Even if Utah loses this game but fights hard, that will be better than what I've witnessed the past 2 weeks.

I Didn't Forget!

Sorry about the late post this week. I didn't forget about this though. So let's get right into it. Utah is going to Notre Dame. Utah is a 4 point favorite over a bad Notre Dame team. I think the Utes are smarting from last week and ready to show the country what they can do. They are better on both sides of the line than ND and if they play their defense (no more of this 3-3-5 zone blitz crap, where did that come from?), they will shut down any hopes of ND having any kind of a run game and putting it all on a freshman QB making his 3rd start. I'm saying Utes and Utes big. 21 points for me.

BYU is going to Colorado State as a 5 point favorite. If this young BYU team keeps improving, I wouldn't doubt that the final is even bigger than the 5 point line. However, they have yet to win on the road and CSU is actually better than their paltry record. So I will say BYU to at least cover the spread, maybe win by 6.

The Aggies are a 7 point favorite going into San Jose State. Everyone wins there, so I am beating on the Aggies for this one. The big question for SJSU, should they stay in the FBS when the WAC breaks up or step down to the FCS and actually be able to compete?

Oregon is going to just kill Cal, they don't have the defense to hold OU beneath 42 points and Cal just can't put up that many points.

Auburn hosting Georgia might actually be interesting with all the hub-bub surrounding Cam Newton and him getting paid to play at Auburn. I think the Bulldogs can either scare the hell out of this team or even pull off an upset here. I wouldn't bet to highly on the latter, but I sau Georgia keeps it close.

TCU big over SDSU, 56-0. SDSU may not even cross the 50.

LSU, Stanford, Wisconsin, and Nebraska will all roll to easy wins this week while Ohio State struggles, but beats the Nittney Lions and the Oklahoma State rounds up the Longhorns into the pen (I couldn't help myself), where they will stay for the rest of the season.

Beyond that, the only interesting game is South Carolina at Florida. Steve Spurrier against the team he played for and coached to his first National Title. It's always a story and I think he will actually pull off a victory here.

That Was Unexpected

I haven't seen anything like that since Boise State in 2002. TCU came into Utah and showed why they are ranked #1 in almost every defensive category. However, I think the biggest problem for the Utes was the Utes. They got out coached by them selves. They ran a 3-3-5 defense almost the entire game. Why would you do that when your number one defensive attribute is your defensive line? In the 5th DB spot they played a mix of people, including Lamar Chapman down to Christian Cox. I saw the best corner for Utah blitzing at least 1/4 the time and a speed rusher backing out into coverage. The only 2 TCU drives I saw Utah put up any real threat was when they ran their typical 4-3 defense. They over schemed for TCU and got out of what got them undefeated in the first place.

On offense it wasn't any better. Maybe even worse. Utah is best when they run the ball and throw off play action. The Utes thought they would attack the #1 pass defense through the air more than run at them with a bigger, and more physical o-line than they have faced all year. On the touchdown drive, they got back to what they do best. Running the ball with Matt Asiatta and throwing off play action pass. What happened the next drive? They threw on first and second down going for a screen on 3rd down. So... punt. Well, at least I can say my National Champion pick is still alive.

Utah has to come out next week against Notre Dame and just kill them to show they still have reason to be in the top 20.

LSU just beat Alabama as well. That means Auburn needs to lose to Georgia AND Alabama so the National Championship can be TCU vs. Oregon. Or hell, let Oregon lose to Arizona and Oregon State. So that way, it will be TCU vs. Boise State again. Now that would be a hell of a game!

This is it!

This week is the week! Utah students and fans are invited to camp out for College Gameday that is coming to Utah for the biggest game of the week. This is the Under Armor Blackout week at the U. So, if you are going to the game, do not wear white at all. You shouldn't even wear red. You should all wear black, or some combo of black and red. I won't be going to the game but I will be wearing my Blackout Jersey all day Saturday and my red polo on friday. Dr. Chris Hill sent an email to the media asking for at least 10k Ute Fans to show up for College Gameday. I really hope this happens. C'mon Utah Fans! U-T-A-H, Utah Utah Utah Utes!

Now for the break down. Because of the sheer magnitude of this game, I'm going into lot's of detail and break down matchups.

I'll start with what I believe is the key to this game. The Offensive Line. Utah's O-Line is massive at an average of 6-5 and 316 pounds. The weak link is LT John Cullen. Calling him a weak link is proof of how good this O line is. They have only allowed 3 sacks this season and are creating HUGE holes the past 2 weeks for the double back system. By comparison, The TCU Horned Frogs are almost as good. They have only allowed 5 sacks the whole season. I give the edge to Utah here. I think this is such an important position for this game, because both defenses LOVE to pressure the QB and run blitz.

I'll stay in the trenches for my second thought. The D-line is what changed the game last year for TCU and the year before for Utah. If Jerry Hughes wasn't in the back field disrupting, he was occupying 2 or 3 O-Linemen so guys like Tank Carder could get an extraordinary amount of tackles and even a pick 6. This year, there is no Paul Kruger or Koa Misi for the Utes and no Jerry Hughes for TCU. But both D-lines are filled with super talented, hard working, hard hitting guys. Utah just happens to have more of them rotating in 10-12 guys consistently. So again, the edge goes to Utah here for man power.

Let's get into the "sexy" positions now. Utah has a dual-headed RB system with Matt Asiata and Eddie Wide getting nearly equal carries and yards. Together they are having a good year at 206 attempts and 998 yards. They both do a pretty good job catching out of the back field as well and both are really smart in blitz pick ups. TCU has the "guy" though. Ed Wesley is running rough shod all over everyone right now. He is rushing for 6.8 YPC and has 938 yards on the season so far. They don't throw to him much, but he does great in reading blitzes as well. They also have a "change of pace" back in Matthew Tucker. He has gained 496 Yards this season on just over 100 carries. He's not as big of a threat as Wesley, but still a good back to while Wesley gets a breather. This one is a toss up though I am leaning toward the Horned Frogs even though I LOVE the Utes backfield.

The WR's are another issue all together. Utah has several guys that are "go to" quality. Jereme Brooks is the over the middle, take a hit, make a guy miss and run for the End Zone guy. He has 38 catches for 451 yards. DeVonte Christopher is the deep zone guy who I'm looking forward to watching for the rest of his carrier. He has 26 catches for 499 yards and is coming back this week from injury. Just having him there means a lot to getting the other guys open. The Utes throw to the RB's and TE's alot this year as well but they have 2 underused weapons in Shaky Smithson (13 cathes 234 yards) and Luke Matthews (13 catches for 207 yards). I think they need to find ways to get Shaky the ball. End-a-rounds, reverses, put him in the Asiata package, even try some hook and ladder stuff with him. He is fantastic when he has the ball! TCU is similar in their distribution of the ball, they just run more. They have Jeremy Kerley, Josh Boyce and Bart Johnson who are kind of a 3 headed monster in their spread attack system. Both Kerley and Boyce are burners on the outside and Johnson is the post guy. The 2 are probably better over all receivers than anyone Utah has, however, Utah gets the ball to them more, so edge to Utah.

The QB's are a different story though. Jordan Wynn is a playah! He is a talented gun slinger who will force some things but he usually gets away with it. The Wyoming game is the only exception with 3 picks. Andy Dalton is more of the savvy vet and great game manager. He may be a little more athletic than Wynn as well and has 496 rushing yards to match his 1877 passing yards and 16-5 td to int ratio. Wynns stats are a little different, with him being out for 2 games, he still has 1431 yards, and a 13-6 td-int ratio. The nod here goes to Dalton, and it's a big nod. I'd rather have a game manager with good talent than a gunslinger any day.

In the LB core, Utah has the blue collar, get to work type of guy. I think this is why Utah doesn't get a ton of turn overs this year because they tackle right, and play their positions correctly. It's all about doing your job the best you can, and than doing it again. However, MLB Chaz Walker is leading the team with 61 tackles and is 2nd on the team with 6 tackles for loss. TCU plays a different style defense with the 4-2-5 so their LB's do a lot for them. And they have good one's. Tanner Brock is getting all the hype with his team leading 65 tackles and 4.5 TFL, but I think the best LB I have seen in the MWC in a long time is Tank Carder. His instincts are incredible and hits like a ton of bricks. He has 45 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks, and a pick. If TCU's D-line can hold onto blocks, these 2 LB's reek havoc on offenses. Even though Utah has 3 to TCU's 2, TCU gets the plus here.

DB's are great this year for the Utes. Again, no super stars, just lots of guys who come to work. The emotional leader has turned out to be CB Lamar Chapman. He's a little guy who has 42 tackles and leads the team in TFL with 9.5 and sacks with 5.5. Coach Kalani Sitake has rarely dialed up a corner blitz before this year. With Chapman's sure tackling and great angles though, how can you not? He goes in on run blitzes just as much as he does pass blitzes. He is an animal. Brandon Burton can cover any one in the country and no one tests his side this year. The safety's might as well get their CDL's with the trucks they hit people with. Brian Blechen has been a surprise this year as a freshman who came into the program a QB, but he has played well and has 2 picks and all his tackles seen to be timely, BIG hits. Justin Taplin-Ross, or Tap Tap, has great instincts and always seems to be around the ball. The 2 safeties are tied for most picks this year with 2 a piece. With the 4-2-5 TCU runs, they play 2 safeties like LB's and it works well, especially with spread offenses. Colin Jones and Tejay Johnson are animals back there. Both are in the top 3 on the team in tackles and have 3 picks between the 2 of them. Jason Teague probably gets tested more than anyone, and does the best with it. With Utah being a little more traditional and TCU being a 4-2-5. I would say that the DB's are a wash because they each have the athletes they need in their systems.

That leaves Special Teams. Joe Phillips is 9-10 on the year and his miss hit the inside of the goal post before it bounced out. He is really good and Sean Sellwood has a great punt average but is not hugely consistent. Nick Marsh handles the kick offs and has 15 touch backs out of 62 kick offs. Not great, but nice. Utah has a great return team this year though with Shaky Smithson leading the way with 126.5 all purpose yards per game. He is leading the country in punt returns 23.33 yards per return. He gives the Utes great field position and he is always a threat when he touches the ball. Evan Ross for TCU is 6-6 on the year, and hasn't had to be clutch at all this year because of their big leads on everyone. I honestly haven't watched enough of their games to say how their punting is (do they even punt?) and the kickoffs are pretty average with 10 touch backs and most of what I've seen landing around the 5. The Kick returns are handled by Jeremy Kerley mostly and he is average at best and punt returns are 13.5 yards per. The kicking game is a wash but Shaky tips the scales BIG for Utah here.

Utah ranks:

Rushing Offense: 27th-191.5 YPG

Passing Offense: 33rd-258.13 YPG

Total Offense: 21st-449.63 YPG

Scoring Offense: 3rd (thank you Shaky)-45.25 PPG

Rushing Defense: 14th (after Air Force)-102.75 YPG

Passing Efficiency Defense: 23rd-112.76

Total Defense: 6th-267.75 YPG

Scoring Defense: 6th-14.13 PPG

TCU ranks:

Rushing Offense: 9th-270.89 YPG

Passing Offense: 60th-214.78 YPG

Total Offense: 11th-485.67 YPG

Scoring Offense: 9th-40.78 PPG

Rushing Defense: 9th-98.33 YPG

Passing Efficiency Defense: 4th-94.53

Total Defense: 1st-217.33 YPG

Scoring Defense: 1st-8.67 PPG

This is going to be a battle of the titans on both sides of the ball. Utah's offense is better and TCU's defense is better. Both sides of the ball are really good for both teams though. It's going to be a low scoring, hard hitting battle much like the Pitt game was. Everything I see though points to TCU. I hate saying this, but TCU is the better team right now. They are even a 4.5 favorite going into Utah, which means they would be a 7.5 favorite in Texas. However, with Utah being so close in athleticism, TCU can be out coached. And I think that may happen here with Rice-Eccles being a crazy atmosphere and Utah always getting up for big games, I.E. Alabama, I am saying Utah by 1. Or TCU by 2. It's even, I can't decide. I can't pick against how good Utah has been, nor can I pick against my pre-season National Champion pick. (I am biased though, so Utah by 1)

I'm not really going to go into any of the other games this week, I don't really care. I will say real quick though, BYU over UNLV by 14 and Utah State over New Mexico State by 10.

The Utah Spazz!

Alright, so I understand we are only 3 games in, and the team is mostly new players, but this team looks spastic already. Maybe it's just that they haven't found a good rhythm yet, maybe they don't know who they are. Are they a defensive team? Giving up 110 points twice and 99 the third night, I don't think so. Are they run and gun? Again, I don't think so, scoring 88 against Denver, 94 against Phoenix, but where did 120 against the Thunder come from?

Paul Millsap. He went crazy! He went for 30 points, 16 rebounds and 6 assists! Al Jefferson was 23 and 10. AK also looked good having 19 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 blocked shot. It looks like the Jazz could be huge inside this season. DWill also dished out 15 assists and had 16 points.

My biggest complaint threw the first 2 games was they were not passing inside very well. Well, Al jefferson wasn't passing at all. Against the Nuggets, I counted 3 straight possessions where he got the ball, got double OR TRIPLE teamed and still tried to shot over and through people. Against the Suns, I saw the same thing at least 4 times, they just didn't go back to him immediately. If he can grasp the offense and learn to pass out of the double team, he could be really good in this system. Until than, the Jazz need to lean heavily on Millsap. He knows the system, he hustles every play and deserves the chance at being the star. If they do those things, the Jazz could beat anyone in the conference. If not, and if Big Al continues to be selfish and not pass out of the post, this team can and will go down in flames fast.

I Won't Miss Air Force

Being a Utah fan and a fan of the armed forces and all they due for us is kind of conflicting at times. Well, really only once a year. I am looking forward to the time when I don't have to route against Air Force in football. Not only because I respect everything they do on and off the field, but also because they always give Utah fits, regardless of how good the Utes are. 28-23 and giving up 210 yards rushing isn't like Utah this year. However, Air Forces YPG went down from 326 to 313. In that aspect, they did well. Playing Air Force though, knocked Utah's 6th ranked rush defense down to 14th. Honestly, I think they did well on defense, but they needed every one of the 6 turnovers to win. Air Force is an even better team than I thought going into this game and I'm grateful I won't have to route against them every year any more.

Utah State got rolled again. Nevada came out firing and beat them 56-42. The score wasn't even close at half time and the Aggies showed some sign of life to score 42 points in the second half after being down 35-0 at the break. Hopefully next year, They will start to win some of these types of games.

With the bigger BCS picture in mind, Utah, TCU and Boise State all got lucky with 2 more unbeatens falling to conference foes this week. With a 2 loss Iowa beating Michigan State and 1 loss Nebraska derailing Missouri, 3 of the top 5 BCS ranked teams are non-AQ.

BSC Standings:

#1 Oregon

#2 Auburn

#3 TCU

#4 Boise State

#5 Utah

#6 Alabama

#7 Nebraska

#8 Oklahoma

#9 Wisconsin

#10 LSU

With Auburn taking care of business against Ole Miss, they really only have 1 more chance of losing and it's going to be against Alabama. So, if Oregon doesn't falter against Oregon State, I could realistically see Alabama jumping everyone else in the standings if they don't lose again, or Auburn staying put if the same holds true. And a 1 loss TCU/Utah will be going to the Vegas Bowl. Man, I am not going to miss the MWC.