Utah needed a bit of help to get by New Mexico on Saturday. Lucky for them, New Mexico began turning the ball over when the Utes needed it most. For the last few years, Utah has struggled against New Mexico's brand of the 3-3-5 defense. New Mexico has always scouted the Utes really well also. The Lobos have consistently played poorly against the Utes in the first half only to come out in the second half and give the Utes a scare (Last year the Lobos erased a large lead by the Utes by throwing short crossing routes the whole second half).Utah's defense was fantastic. They were lucky that a 50 yard play (the first play of the game) was called back. After that, it took the Lobos a while to get any points. Going into half-time, Utah had gone 12 quarters without letting anybody into the end zone. They had also gone 8 quarters of shutout football. That's some pretty tough defense. New Mexico struggled returning Utah's punts (muffing 2 of them, turning the ball over to Utah). Utah was able to capitalize on these mistakes and put points on the board. Out of the last 6 or 7 games, this was Utah's sloppiest and they should feel pretty lucky to be coming away with a win.
Looking ahead, Utah's got a tough game this week. While BYU has been winning their games during the last month and a half, they didn't look pretty doing it (much like the Utes looked today). Instead, BYU played their best complete game of the year against Wyoming and has to feel pretty good about themselves going into Saturday's match up. This game could easily go either way (home-field advantage means nothing) and your wasting your money if you're betting on either team.
1 comment:
Both BYU and Utah lost some ugly games that they should/could have won.
If both teams had not choked, this could two undefeated/one loss teams going head to head.
That said, I believe this is one of the most evenly matched contests of the rivalry.
Saturday will not come soon enough.
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