Great Win for Utah; BYU is up tomorrow

As I was driving home from school late last night, I tuned in to the postgame show after Utah's 27-20 victory over TCU. I was pretty surprised about how negative everyone was about the Utes' triumph. Brian Johnson still isn't 100%. Dumb penalties. Bad play calling. Darrell Mack only averaged 3.1 yards per carry. Horrible special teams play. It went on like that the whole time I was in my car.

This is my take: the win was a great win for the Utes. It increased their winning streak to four games, adding to that momentum that is so important to gain at this stage of the season. It puts them at 5-3 on the season, meaning they really only need two more victories to ensure a bowl game. They improve to 2-2 in conference play, keeping them in realistic view of a share of the conference crown.

In my opinion, every road win in conference play is a good one. Granted, TCU is not the worldbeaters everyone thought they would be (not even close), but the Utes looked a whole lot better last night than they did at UNLV a few weeks ago. And many can say that the Utes still looked far from flawless. But isn't that a good sign when you win despite playing a less-than-stellar game? Methinks so. Everyone gave a lot credit to BYU (rightly so) for road wins over New Mexico and UNLV despite less-than-stellar performances. I think Utah should get the same credit.

Chalk up a huge win for the Utes. And with a game on the road next week against Colorado State, I expect the Utes to hit the meat of their schedule with a 6-3 (3-2) record.

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Meanwhile, the cougars are back at home tomorrow against I-AA foe Eastern Washington. I know BYU will probably win easily, but there is always a seed of worry in the back of my mind. What if BYU loses? That would be humiliating.

But no, the Cougars will win. Hopefully by more than 25 points. What I think Bronco will do is work a lot more on the BYU passing attack. Max Hall has struggled lately in getting the ball into the hands of Austin Collie, Matt Allen, and Michael Reed. The tight ends will hopefully get involved a lot as well. This will ideally boost the confidence of Hall and the passing game, plus I don't think the Cougars will mess around with the possibility of Harvey Unga and Manase Tonga getting dinged up.

And hopefully Brendan Gaskins will see a quarter or more of action on the field at quarterback. The way Hall has been hit this year, I would not be surprised if Gaskins sees some big plays down the road, and he could use some reps. Maybe we'll also see Wayne Latu get his random hundred yards.

I predict BYU wins this one 42-13.