The Utah football team used the second of its three byes last weekend to get in some extra preparation for this Saturday’s game against Wyoming?a team that is 2-4 overall, 0-3 in MWC games and runs an offense similar to the South Florida team the Utes demolished 52-21 back on Oct. 6.
Despite all those factors seemingly working in his team’s favor, U coach Ron McBride was customarily hesitant in assessing Utah’s chances at a 5-1 start to the season Tuesday at the “Coaches Huddle” at Green Street Cafe.
“[Wyoming] is a dangerous team because their backs are to the wall, they have to win?that’s the most dangerous time to play a team,” McBride said. “You’re sitting there at 4-1, feeling pretty good, and then pretty soon they come out and kick the hell out of you.”
Though the bye enabled the Utes to get players with injuries healthy again?specifically, the starting left side of the line, tackle Doug Kaufusi and guard Ed Ta’amu?the coach was concerned about complacency sneaking in.
“We shouldn’t have a letdown, but you always worry about it,” he said. “People start telling your players they’re good, the players start thinking they’re good? You’ve got to keep an edge to win.”
So how does he guard against the team feeling too good about itself?
“You just yell a lot,” he said.
In the meantime, perhaps the biggest challenge McBride has personally had to face is going an entire week without playing an official game.
While he certainly recognizes the beneficial aspects of having some down time, his eagerness to get on the field makes any layoff difficult for the man who’s been involved in coaching for over 40 years.
“Saturday, I was alright, but by Sunday, I was bored,” McBride said. “I was looking for something to do, I wanted to watch some film?it could have been anybody’s film.”
Use the Course, Luke?
McBride also weighed in on the situation with BYU running back Luke Staley, who was suspended for last week’s game against New Mexico due to concerns that he may have fallen below the 12-credit hour-limit when he dropped a class and added a non-credit class in its place.
Though Staley was reinstated Tuesday and cleared to play in Saturday’s contest against Air Force, once it was determined that NCAA bylaw 14.1.6.2.3 allows for a non-credit class to be counted toward fulfilling the minimum full-time enrollment under certain situations, McBride?who was reprimanded earlier this year in a U investigation that revealed secondary NCAA violations in his program?said the situation just reinforced the need to be cautious about the rules.
“Your compliance and academic people are very important,” he said. “At the University of Utah, they double-check and triple-check everything, and they can still make a mistake. We know what can happen. Your people have got to know what’s going on.”