San Diego State may be the next opponent listed on the Utah football team’s schedule, but Ute fans can be forgiven for looking past the 2-7 Aztecs and looking forward to the Utes’ Nov. 17 matchup with BYU.
After all, with the Cougars undefeated at 9-0 and ranked in the top 10 in the nation, the looming contest between the two carries with it even more intrigue than the usual annual bloodlust accounts for.
Nevertheless, at the Coaches Huddle Tuesday at the Green Street Cafe, U coach Ron McBride and his players steadfastly maintained that, with SDSU coming to town Saturday, Utah’s rival to the south is not yet even a blip on the Utes’ radar screen.
“We’re only worried about the team we’re playing this week,” McBride said. “Everybody else wants to talk about BYU. I don’t care about BYU. Our focus is on San Diego State.”
Still though, as the 6-2 Utes continue their quest for a Mountain West Conference championship and a postseason bowl appearance, it is inevitable that the hypothetical battle lines between BYU’s prolific offense and the Utes’ stingy defense will get drawn a little early by the teams’ respective followers.
Doesn’t that enter into the players’ consciousness even the slightest bit?
“It’s not a distraction at all?we’re just taking things one game at a time. Right now, [San Diego State] is the most important game for us,” said defensive tackle Lauvale Sape. “This is a championship game to me. We’re not thinking of anything that lies ahead.”
Apparently, either this team has the mental discipline of a Jedi master, or the U coaching staff has taught the players a lesson in political correctness that even a six-term congressman would be impressed by.
But while it’s hard to take the Aztecs seriously enough not to let the Cougars become even a peripheral notion, the Utes are asserting that if they don’t keep their focus on the here and now, that marquee matchup in the not-so-distant future that people keep talking about really won’t be all that relevant.
“If we don’t win this week, that [BYU] game doesn’t mean as much,” said sophomore quarterback Lance Rice. “If we don’t beat San Diego State, that game [next week] loses some of its luster.”
The idea of a BYU-Utah game “losing its luster” may be as bold-faced a lie as any courtroom testimony ever offered up by O.J. Simpson, but Rice is correct in espousing Utah’s need to beat SDSU.
Simply put, Utah needs to win out to win the conference. That makes even the lowly Aztecs worth remembering.
“Every game just gets that much more important when you win,” Rice said.