In another installment of the BYU-Utah rivalry, the first regular season matchup since 2013, the Utes will take on the Cougars on Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The last time the two teams met was in the 2015 Las Vegas Bowl when the Utes got the best of the Cougars, forcing four first quarter turnovers, resulting in a 35-28 win for Utah.
Utah is coming off a 24-0 shutout win against the SUU Thunderbirds, but the offense did not look as sharp as both the coaches and players would have liked.
Head coach Kyle Whittingham would like to see his offensive line hold up together a bit more than it did against SUU, but even still, he isn’t too concerned with that group of guys. They just need to bring some more physicality to the game, and they should be set.
BYU on the other hand is coming off a close 18-16 win against fellow Pac-12 foe Arizona. Utah has struggled with Arizona for the past few years, the Utes have dropped the last four games to the Wildcats, so they will be looking at the game film for any inclination as to how BYU might play them. BYU is also under new control as former Utah defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake has taken over the reigns.
Whittingham has a lot of respect for both Sitake and the entire BYU football program. The two head coaches have even golfed together over the summer, and the fact that Sitake is the head coach of BYU does nothing to impact their friendship.
However, Whittingham knows his players are going to have to bring their “A” game if they stand a chance of beating a team that held Arizona scoreless for two quarters.
“Been a couple years in the regular season since we played,” Whittingham said. “Should be a great crowd, atmosphere, and our guys will be ready — there’s no doubt about that. Should make for a great game like it traditionally has been.”
In Thursday’s season opener, backup running back Troy McCormick outshone the starting running back, Joe Williams. McCormick rushed for 55 yards with a touchdown, and he also had 55 receiving yards. Joe Williams finished with 49 yards, and he lost one fumble.
Although McCormick isn’t too concerned with where he falls on the depth chart, he is making a conscious decision to give it his best shot, and he does want to be the best one out on the field. Starting quarterback Troy Williams thinks McCormick could make his way into the starting lineup, but it’s nothing against Joe Williams, who he thinks will bounce back from his first outing.
Troy Williams has adjusted to the Utah offense fairly seamlessly — he threw for two touchdowns on 20-of-35 passing and a total of 272 passing yards. But he is aware he needs to do a lot more for the offense come game time.
Williams admits he wasn’t as confident as he could have been against SUU. However, after getting those first game jitters out of the way, he is sure he his comfort level will rise against the Cougars.
“We feel like that was an average performance passing the ball [against SUU],” Williams said. “We feel like with more execution and finishing off drives, we can be even more lethal as an offense and be a better combination with our defense.”
@kbrenneisen