Utes look ahead to Pokes after blowing away Cyclones

The 10th-ranked Utah Utes (5-0, 2-0 MWC) demolished the Iowa State Cyclones (3-3, 1-1 Big 12) last Saturday night in Ames, Iowa, winning by a score of 68-27. The Utes looked like the superior team in all phases of the game and after trailing following the first quarter really put their foot to the gas pedal and never looked back. Jordan Wynn looked solid in his first road start of the year and well the offense as a whole looked good. Shaky Smithson had a nifty long punt return as well as a touchdown pass on a trick play. He was doing everything for the Utes and looks like a really good player. In fact he had more yards than the entire Iowa State team in the first half.

The Utes, who somehow dropped a spot in the AP Poll and are now ranked 11th, next visit the Wyoming Cowboys (2-4, 0-2 MWC) tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. The game will be televised on the Mtn. As long as the Utes don't look past this game it really shouldn't be much of a challenge. The Pokes have not looked very good this year and really looked bad in getting blown out 51-6 on their home field by third-ranked Boise State (5-0, 1-0 WAC) on their home field earlier this year. The Utes shouldn't be in much trouble on this one.

I'll be following the game and have some tweets during it (follow me at twitter.com/dpaysports) but my main focus tomorrow will be on Game 1 of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies (see immediately below for previews of both LCS) that starts at 5:57 p.m. MT on FOX. My hope is that the Utes will have a big enough lead to where I won't feel too guilty about changing the channel and checking out the Giants. I'll be featuring tweets of the baseball game too. I will also be blogging about both games after the fact.

Utes visit Iowa State tonight

The 10th ranked University of Utah Utes (4-0, 2-0 MWC) visit Iowa State (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) at 5 p.m. MT. The game will be televised on Fox College Sports, available tonight on channel 623 on DirecTV and on expanded Comcast in the Salt Lake area although I am not sure what channel. The Utes face their first real road test because as one of my friends said a good high school team could probably give New Mexico a good game this year.

Under Kyle Whittingham the Utes have traditionally done well with more than one week to prepare and that's what they have now following their 56-3 trouncing of San Jose State two weeks ago. I expect the Utes to be hungry and ready to go tonight, but I don't think it will be all that easy of a game. It's a long trip to Ames, Iowa and the Cyclones will have their sights set on a knocking off a top 10 team.

Iowa State is led by senior quarterback Austin Arnaud who from what I have read can run and throw the ball so the Utes will have to watch out for that. The Cyclones' running game was solid last week also as they had a pair of running backs go over the century mark in Alexander Robinson and Shontrelle Johnson. Of course I do think Utah's defense is more formidable than that of Texas Tech but the Utes still have to be wary of the Cylcones.

I'll take the Utes in a close one on the road. You can follow me on Twitter during the game for updates at twitter.com/dpaysports. I'll be back to blog after the game as well. Go Utes!