Utah Football Team Opens Conference Play This Saturday

Sept. 10, 2001

SALT LAKE CITY -

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Utah (1-1, 0-0 MWC) opens Mountain West Conference play this Saturday, playing Air Force (1-1, 0-0 MWC) in an ESPN+Plus televised game in Colorado Springs. Kickoff will be at 1:00 p.m. in Falcon Stadium ... Air Force was also Utah's first conference opponent last season ... This Saturday's Utah-AFA game will be televised live on ESPN+Plus, which is shown locally on KJZZ-TV ... The game will also be broadcast live on KALL 910 (AM) radio and on the Internet (www.kall910.com).

BREAKING NEWS

Utah kick returner Desmond Davis tore his ACL on a 35-yard return at Oregon last Saturday and will miss the rest of the season.

LAST WEEK

Utah played the No. 7 ranked Oregon Ducks close, but fell 24-10 before a sold-out Autzen Stadium crowd. Utah tied the game at 10-10 six minutes into the second quarter, when Adam Tate bulled in from three yards out, but the Utes wouldn't score again. The Ute defense shut out the Ducks in the third quarter and allowed just one touchdown in the fourth in a fine effort against Oregon's highly touted offense. Utah's offense gained 373 yards, 104 from running back Dameon Hunter on a career day. Lance Rice was 21-of-39 for 170 passing yards and Cliff Russell had seven catches for 100 yards. Second-string QB Ryan Breska relieved Rice late in the fourth quarter and was 4-of-12 for 82 yards in his first college game.

HEAD COACH RON MCBRIDE

Ron McBride has a 76-54 record in his 12th year as head Ute coach. He has the second most wins of any coach in Utah football history. McBride has won a share of two conference titles (1995 and 1999) and his teams have finished at .500 or better nine times, with eight winning seasons. He has taken the Utes to five bowl games and has a 2-3 bowl record. Utah's most recent bowl appearance was in 1999, when the Utes beat Fresno State 17-16 in the Las Vegas Bowl. McBride is 4-4 against Air Force.

MAC IN LEAGUE PLAY

Utah's 12th-year head coach Ron McBride is 51-35 against conference teams. Since Utah joined the Mountain West Conference in 1999, McBride's conference mark is 13-10. He is .500 or better against every conference school except Brigham Young-and he's just a game under .500 in that series (5-6).

SERIES SHORTS

Air Force leads 11-6 ... AFA won seven straight from 1985-91, but the Utes have won four of the last seven ... Utes have won just twice in Falcon Stadium (1992, 1999) ... both road wins were under McBride ... AFA leads 6-2 all-time in Falcon Stadium.

GRIDBITS

This Saturday's game will be "homecoming" for Utah senior fullback Thomas Fortune. Fortune, a native of Colorado Springs, prepped at Harrison High. The Utes have two other Colorado natives on their roster, both from Grand Junction: junior running back J.R. Peroulis and freshman wide receiver Justin Walterscheid ... all-time Ute record is 523-392-31 ... Utes are 241-129-10 in home games, 10-8 in Rice-Eccles Stadium (1998-on) and 283-264-21 outside of Salt Lake City.

OFFENSIVE NOTES

> Senior wide receiver Cliff Russell (6-0, 185), the fastest player ever at Utah (runs a 4.27 40), has a team-high 12 receptions for 148 yards. Russell had 7 catches for 100 yards against Oregon. It was his fourth career 100-yard game.

> Senior running back Dameon Hunter (5-11, 223) had a career-day at Oregon on September 15. Hunter rushed 25 times for 104 yards (4.2 ypc), his first-ever 100-yard game. He broke his previous career mark of 65 yards in the first half.

> Dameon Hunter is Utah's leading rusher through two games. He has 42 rushes for 164 yards (3.9 ypc), an average of 82.0 ypg.

> Junior college transfer Marty Johnson (5-11, 222) missed the Oregon game with bruised ribs suffered against Utah State on September 1. Johnson rushed for 95 yards and 1 TD and averaged 15.8 yards per carry against the Aggies. He is questionable to play this week.

> Sophomore quarterback Lance Rice (6-2, 200) has started both games this year and is 1-1. Going back to his freshman year, he is 3-2 as the starter. Rice has completed 37 of 71 passes for 317 yards (158.5 ypg). He has one interception and no touchdowns. Against Oregon last week, he was 21 of 39 for 170 yards.

> Sophomore quarterback Ryan Breska (6-4, 209), who sat out last year after transferring from Purdue, got his first taste of college ball last week against Oregon. Breska entered the game in the fourth quarter and completed 4 of 12 passes for 82 yards. His long of 36 yards was to Cliff Russell.

DEFENSIVE NOTES

> It's safety first for the Utes, who have a pair of all-conference candidates roaming the backfield. Sophomore safeties Arnold Parker (6-2, 214) and Antwoine Sanders (6-3, 193) are second and third on Utah's tackle charts. Parker has 13 total tackles, 2 for loss, and Sanders has 12 tackles and 2 interceptions.

> Utah's tackle leader is Sheldon Deckart (6-2, 239, Jr.), who is playing rover. Deckart has 23 total tackles, 15 which came in a career game against Utah State. He ranks second in the MWC in tackles. Deckart also has 2 tackles for loss.

> Junior defensive lineman Garrett Smith (6-3, 285) started at tackle last week after starting at base end the week prior. Smith totaled 6 tackles and 2 tackles for loss vs. Oregon.

> Lineman Garrett Smith, a preseason all-MWC pick, leads Utah with 4 tackles for loss. He is one of three Utes with a sack.

> Antwoine Sanders was named the MWC defensive player of the week in his first NCAA game (vs. Utah State, Sept. 1). The juco transfer, who plays free safety for the Utes, had 2 interceptions (returned 56 yards), 3 pass breakups and 4 total tackles against the Aggies.

> Sophomore defensive end Josh Savage (6-4, 267) got his first start ever against Oregon and made the most of it. Savage recorded 7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack and 2 pass breakups.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES

> Senior Ryan Kaneshiro has taken all 6 of Utah's field goal attempts this year and is 4-6. He is 3-3 in PATs. Kaneshiro has a long field goal of 33 yards (vs. Utah State). He is 4-4 from 39 yards and in.

> Brian Lewis booted a 75-yard punt vs. Oregon, which is tied for the sixth-longest punt in school history. It was the second-longest punt ever in Autzen Stadium and in Mountain West Conference history. Lewis has punted 11 times this season for 463 yards, an average of 42.1 ypg. He has dropped two punts inside the 20.

> Brian Lewis doubles as Utah's kickoff man. He has 8 kickoffs and 3 touchbacks. > Freshman Morgan Scalley is averaging 9.6 yards per punt return. He has also joined the No. 1 kick return team with D'Shaun Crockett, after the season-ending knee injury to Desmond Davis.

> Prior to tearing his ACL on a 35-yard return vs. Oregon, Desmond Davis was averaging 28.5 yards per kick return.

RED ZONE REPORT

Utah OffenseTimes at or inside 20: 8Touchdowns: 3Field Goals: 4Scoring percentage: 88%TD percentage: 38%
Utah DefenseTimes opponent at or inside 20: 6Touchdowns: 3Field Goals: 3Scoring percentage: 100%TD percentage: 50%

THIS GAME LAST YEAR

Utah dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play after a 23-14 loss to Air Force on September 23 in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The bright spot was junior running back Adam Tate, who got his first real taste of NCAA Division I playing time and responded with 112 yards a touchdown. Utah came as close as 17-14 in the second quarter when Patrick Dyson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Neither team scored in the third quarter. Air Force extended its lead to the final nine-point margin with a fourth-quarter TD. Defensively, Kimball Christianson had 17 tackles, most in the MWC in 2000. Then-freshman Arnold Parker had 12 tackles, 2 for a loss, and 2 pass breakups.

AFA PREVIEW

1-1, 0-0 MWC ... lost season opener 44-3 to defending national champion and third ranked Oklahoma, then hammered Tennessee Tech by an almost identical score last Saturday (42-0) ... seven consecutive winning seasons dates back to 1994 ... Head Coach Fisher DeBerry is 136-73-1 in his 18th year ... DeBerry is 9-5 against Utah and 4-4 vs. McBride.

MCBRIDE SAYS

"Ideally, you want a 'bye' before you play Air Force, so that you can prepare for the option. Our defensive coaches have done a good job coming up with a game plan against Air Force for the last seven or eight years. We'll stress discipline on defense this week because that's the only way you can successfully defend against the option. Offensively, it's very simple: We need to finish. We moved the ball up and down the field against a very good Oregon team, but we just didn't finish. We had a chance to take that game over in the third quarter, but we let them off the hook after a great drive. When we get into the red zone, we need to score touchdowns, not field goals. I'm not discouraged with where we are right now at all. We played very well against Oregon and showed a great deal of improvement."

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