Utah edges TCU

Utah (13-15, 6-8 MWC) defeated TCU (10-19, 1-13 MWC) tonight in Salt Lake City by a score of 50-48. The Runnin' Utes sealed the victory when David Foster blocked a Hank Thorns shot with under five seconds to go and the Utes up just one point. Will Clyburn had made 1 of 2 free throws to give Utah the lead with under 10 seconds to go.

Utah was able to avoid a devastating loss and picked up its third straight win. It was a defensive struggle throughout and TCU did look to be playing hard despite being in the midst of a lengthy losing streak. Well, it's just a relief that the Utes were able to pull this one out. A win is a win. Utah still could realistically end up with as high as the fifth seed in the MWC Tournament if the Utes win out. We'll just have to see how everything shakes out. Hopefully the Utes can put it together and play well a week from Wednesday at Colorado State (18-8, 8-4 MWC) and at home against UNLV (20-7, 8-5 MWC) three days later. Neither game will be easy but I think Utah can play with both of those teams if they really bring it.

Foster also broke the all-time Utah blocks record tonight in the first half. It's really nice to have a guy who is such a defensive presence in the lineup. It's crazy, he's only a junior. Major props to Foster. And that block at the end of the game was obviously huge, too.

Runnin' Utes and other thoughts

A couple of thoughts to start out here: is Anne Hathaway really going to play Cat Woman in a new movie? That's interesting news, but I guess maybe just mildly surprising. Wasn't there another movie like that out not too long ago? Okay, so that's not really sports, but I just felt like throwing that in there because I just saw something like that in my e-mail news feed. I may throw in a thought or two like this that aren't sports as part of sports posts every once in a while, we'll see. Don't worry, it's still going to be sports in every post. Another thing is that I've been surprised by how much of the Australian Open I've been watching. It's been some good, world class tennis, and has been pretty entertaining. I think I may be in danger of becoming a bigger tennis fan. I'm pulling for a Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal final in the men's draw, I think that would be pretty sweet.

Now, on to the Runnin' Utes. They won at TCU yesterday to record their 3rd straight win and move to .500 overall and in conference. Utah is looking improved and needs to keep it up. I'm encouraged and thinking that the Runnin' Utes could salvage the season. They next play at home against Colorado State on Saturday at 4 p.m. MT. I've been particularly impressed of late with how freshman J.J. O'Brien has come on, he's turning into quite a player. If he keeps this up, he could really key a strong finish to the season for Utah.

Runnin' Utes update

Utah (9-10, 2-3 MWC) won last Saturday at Wyoming (8-10, 1-3 MWC) and at home on Wednesday against New Mexico (13-6, 1-3 MWC) in what was probably the team's best complete game performance of the season. It was a really encouraging win to watch as although the Lobos aren't as good as last year, they aren't exactly slouches either. The Runnin' Utes are at TCU (10-10, 1-4 MWC) tomorrow at 4 p.m. MT on the Mtn. My guess is the Utes will win because they've picked up some momentum and TCU isn't that great. But just about anything can happen, especially because it is a road game. I'll be watching and tweeting, you should check it out.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone and I just have to say that I was happy to see TCU top Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl 21-19 to give further credence to the argument for a college football playoff. Who are we kidding? It needs to happen and soon. I also enjoyed taking in the Winter Classic between the Penguins and the Capitals and hope the NHL continues to hold the event. More to come in what will hopefully be a great year, not to mention a great year for blogging.

Utes embarrassed again

The #15 Utah Utes (8-2, 5-1 MWC) were completely embarrassed today by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-5) by a score of 28-3 in South Bend, Indiana. The Utes led 3-0 early, but then had a punt blocked deep in their own territory and returned for a touchdown and the Irish never looked back, taking a 14-3 lead into halftime. Shaky Smithson fumbled the opening kick off of the second half and the Irish quickly converted that into another score and later tacked on another touchdown.

Jordan Wynn was 24-39 passing with no touchdowns and an interception. He looked terrible for the second consecutive week, often missing open receivers and making poor decisions. He should have had at least one more interception. I can't fathom why Coach Whittingham again left Wynn in despite so many struggles. Wynn looked to me like a guy who had lost his confidence. Terrance Cain got in for two plays while Wynn got a bit banged up, but was promptly re-inserted into the game. I think you seriously have to consider starting Cain next week and if Wynn does start, he has to have a short leash.

I don't know what is wrong with the Utes. They just looked completely inept on offense and didn't seem to be able to do much for a while after Notre Dame took the lead on the blocked punt. The Utes had a couple of drives end with failures to convert on fourth downs in the red zone late in the game. I guess it's good that they moved the ball, but the failure to score is disconcerting. I didn't think the defense looked too bad, in reality they only deserved to have 14 points pinned on them. It was just a bad way to look on national television.

Utah plays at San Diego State (7-3, 4-2 MWC) next Saturday night at 8 p.m. MT. The Aztecs lost on the road today to #3 TCU (11-0, 7-0 MWC) by a score of 40-35. That'ws the closest game TCU has played all year. That doesn't bode well for next week and I think I'll have to pick SDSU to win that one.

In basketball, the Utah Runnin' Utes (1-0) opened their season last night with a 72-48 win over Grand Canyon (0-1), a Division II school. It's tough to gauge how much the win really means since it was against a Division II school, but I did enjoy getting to see the new faces of the Runnin' Utes. Will Clyburn in particular looked good and looks to have a good shot, going 2-4 on 3 pointers and scoring 14 points to lead all scorers. The Utes defense looked good as well in the win. I think we'll know more after Wednesday when the Utes take on Montana (0-1) at home at 7 p.m. MT. The Grizzlies are a Division I school that made the NCAA Tournament last season by winning the NCAA Tournament so they should provide a bit more competition.

TCU delivers beat down

#4 TCU beat #6 Utah 47-7 this afternoon in Salt Lake City. It was a beat down in just about every way possible. The Horned Frogs were simply better on both sides of the ball and demonstrated superior focus and discipline as well. Quarterback Andy Dalton was lights out and put on a clinic in efficiently moving the TCU offense up and down the field all day. He looks like he will be ready for the NFL next year if you ask me. TCU's defense shut down the Utah offense all day as well and looked really stingy. The Horned Frogs jumped out to a 20-0 lead after the first quarter and led 23-0 at halftime. The Frogs were hardly done and led 40-0 before the Utes scored in the 4th quarter.

I think TCU was clearly the better team. However, I think Utah did not help themselves. Jordan Wynn had a terrible game at quarterback, missing several open receivers, losing a fumble and throwing two interceptions, all on bad decisions/throws. I don't know why Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham left Wynn in instead of going to Terrance Cain, but I don't think there is a good reason. Wynn didn't have it today and that was evident before halftime. Utah probably would not have won the game anyway, but you never know what could have happened with a little spark from a different quarterback. Cain could hardly have been worse than Wynn was today if he tried and I think he was worth giving a look at. TCU probably still would have won by a couple of scores anyway, but I think Utah definitely shouldn't have lost by 40 at home and could have played a lot better. And of course a lot of why Utah played poorly was due to TCU, let's not forget that, but there were also a number of what looked to me like unforced errors that could have been prevented.

TCU looks like the real deal and will likely be in National Title discussions. I'll be interested to see if they or Boise State can get there. TCU is now 10-0 and 6-0 in Mountain West Conference play. Utah drops to 8-1 and 5-1 in the MWC. It's hard to believe this team was 8-0 before the game the way they played, but again let's not forget that TCU is really good. However, it was a very humiliating and embarrassing loss for the Utes.

Utah-TCU

#5 in the BCS Standings Utah hosts #3 in the BCS Standings TCU tomorrow afternoon at 1:30 p.m. MT at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The game will unfortunately be broadcast on CBS College Sports as opposed to a more prevalent channel that people are actually more inclined to watch. In good news, though, ESPN's College GameDay will be here. GameDay starts at 7 a.m. MT on ESPNU and the big GameDay begins at 8 a.m. on ESPN, i.e. a channel most people actually have. It's a big deal for the U. to get so much national attention from ESPN and I'm really excited about it. I'll be getting up early and attending it so maybe if you are really lucky you can catch me on TV.

As for the game, it will be the two highest ranked teams to ever go at it at Rice-Eccles Stadium. I picked the Utes to win the Mountain West before the season on the strength of having this game at home and I will stick to that pick. I think the Utes will win in a close one behind a raucous crowd that I will be a part of. Utah's defense has been stingy all year and I think they will step up big tomorrow.

As you have probably heard, tomorrow is the camo-blackout game and the Utes will wear black jerseys with camo type numbers and highlights on the shoulder pads. It's for the Wounded Warrior project. I think it's great that the Utes are helping out this project and I know a lot of people think it looks cool when the Utes wear black, but I'm kind of bummed that with GameDay here we won't be encouraged to show our real school colors of red and white. I'll support it but I don't think it's nearly as exciting as wearing the traditional red.

However, the real focus should be more on the game and that's the way I'm going to be looking at it. TCU is a really good football team, but Utah is good too and I think will significantly benefit from playing at home in front of a packed house.

Oh and I'm still reveling in my San Francisco Giants winning the World Series! How awesome is that!? Good stuff. Oh and if you feel so inclined, follow me on Twitter tomorrow for updates, etc. about the Utes at twitter.com/dpaysports. And in conclusion: Go Utes!

My 2010 MWC Football picks

Football season is less than 24 hours away here in Salt Lake City, so it's time for my 2010 Mountain West Conference Football prognostications. Here's how I see the conference shaking out this year:

1. Utah
2. TCU
3. BYU
4. Air Force
5. Wyoming
6. San Diego State
7. UNLV
8. Colorado State
9. New Mexico

I think Utah will win the Conference in large part because they have both TCU and BYU at home. I think the TCU game will be the toughest home game of the year but I think the Utes will feed off the crowd and pull it out in a close one. I'm not seeing an undefeated season for the Utes, but I do see a conference title. TCU is the favorite in most people's books and their talent should be enough to win most games, plus they get BYU at home. BYU always seems to have its way with Air Force as well as the lower tier of the league, so they are an easy pick for 3rd. Air Force could make some noise and I particularly think Utah's late October visit to Colorado Springs is a dangerous game. Wyoming and San Diego State appear to be on a bit of an upswing and I don't really expect much from UNLV, Colorado State and New Mexico (more than 1 win this year and no choking incidents on the coaching staff would be a nice improvement for the Lobos). I'm pretty stoked for tomorrow night's game and I'll have more posted on that here shortly.