Ute Football Team Puts Win Streak On Line At UNLV

Oct. 13, 2003

SALT LAKE CITY -

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Utah (5-1, 2-0 MWC) plays Mountain West Conference foe UNLV (4-2, 0-1 MWC) Saturday in Las Vegas. Game time is noon PDT (1:00 p.m. MDT) in Sam Boyd Stadium.

Utah has won four straight and its 5-1 start is its best since 2001. Utah last went 6-1 to start the 1999 season.

Utah has won the last seven games against UNLV, with its only loss coming in the series opener back in 1979.

Utah received votes in both the Associated Press (92 votes) and ESPN/USA Today (113 votes) rankings, and for the second straight week, remained No. 28 and No. 27, respectively, in the polls.

The Utah-UNLV game will be televised by ESPN+Plus, which is shown locally on KJZZ-14, Utah's flagship station. It will also be televised on ESPN GamePlan.

SMITH SPOTLIGHT

Sophomore quarterback Alex Smith extended his string of games without an interception to six last week against San Diego State. Even more impressively, the first-year starter has thrown 116 consecutive passes without an interception, dating back to last fall. He has thrown 115 passes without a pick this year. Smith's lone career interception came in his first game as a true freshman last year against San Diego State, when he played in two series in the third quarter. He took five total snaps against the Aztecs in that game and was 2-3 passing for 4 yards. Smith also came in for one play against New Mexico in 2002 and threw an incompletion. He relieved then starter Brett Elliott in the first game of this season, taking 18 snaps and completing 5-7 passes for 86 yards and 2 TDs vs. Utah State. In the four games since Elliott was injured against Texas A&M on Sept. 6-a game in which Smith did not play-Smith has taken every snap.

SMITH IS MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

For the second straight week, Utah quarterback Alex Smith has been named Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week. Smith's honor marks the sixth MWC player of the week award for Utah this year. Against San Diego State last Saturday, Smith completed 17-22 (77%) of his pass attempts for 273 yards and 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Smith brought Utah back from a 6-0 halftime deficit, leading the Utes to five straight scoring drives to start the second half.

MARKING MEYER

Urban Meyer is 5-1 at Utah and 22-7 in his third year as a head coach. Widely considered one of the up-and-comers in the college coaching ranks, Meyer, 39, was hired by Utah on Dec. 12, 2002 after leading Bowling Green to a two-year record of 17-6. At BGSU, Meyer went 5-0 against BCS teams, including two wins over ranked opponents, and his team cracked the AP Top 20 after starting the 2002 season with eight straight wins. Named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year as a first-year head coach in 2001, Meyer went 8-3 and 9-3 in his two years at BG. His previous coaching stops included assistantships at Ohio State (graduate assistant), Illinois State, Colorado State and Notre Dame. Meyer is 0-0 against UNLV.

LAST WEEK

Utah's defense held a prolific San Diego State offense to just two field goals and the Ute offense flexed its muscle in the second half in a 27-6 win over the Aztecs in Salt Lake City. Utah's offense was sluggish in the first half, compiling just 84 total yards and failing to score. But a tremendous defensive effort sent Utah to the locker room trailing only 6-0. The second half was a different story, as quarterback Alex Smith teamed up with receivers Ben Moa, Paris Warren and Steve Savoy and kicker Bryan Borreson to score on Utah's first five possessions. Smith completed 17-22 passes for 273 yards and 3 touchdowns, Warren caught 7 passes for 104 yards and a score, Savoy had 4 catches for 92 yards and 1 TD and Brandon Warfield rushed for 133 yards, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. Borreson made field goals of 33 and 26 yards. True freshman defensive back Eric Weddle prevented SDSU from scoring a touchdown in the late going, intercepting a pass in the end zone after the Aztecs had advanced to Utah's 2-yard line. Linebacker Ray Holdcraft led Utah with 12 tackles.

SERIES HISTORY

Utah has won seven straight since UNLV won the season-opener by two points back in 1979. Utah is 4-0 against the Rebels in MWC games. Utah leads 7-1 overall and 3-1 in Las Vegas.

UTAH VS. THE MWC

Although the Mountain West Conference is only in its sixth year, Utah has a long football history against the other seven members, all of whom formerly belonged to the WAC. Utah's overall record against MWC teams is 194-121-10. Here's how Utah has fared against its MWC rivals: Air Force 6-13, Brigham Young 49-31-4, Colorado State 49-21-2, New Mexico 28-14-2, San Diego State 11-11-1, UNLV 7-1 and Wyoming 44-30-1.

THIS GAME LAST YEAR

Utah won its first MWC game of the season, beating UNLV 28-17 in Salt Lake City on Nov. 9, 2002. The Utes jumped to a 21-0 halftime lead and scored an insurance touchdown in the third quarter. Utah could have scored again after advancing to the UNLV 3-yard line in the closing seconds, but quarterback Brett Elliott took a knee twice to run out the clock. Elliott completed 18-30 passes for 172 yards and 3 touchdowns in his first NCAA win. Running back Brandon Warfield (14 rushes, 95 yards) broke loose for a 61-yard TD sprint, though J.R. Peroulis led Utah's rushers with 110 yards. The Ute defense bottled up UNLV to the tune of 283 total yards (just 97 rushing). Sheldon Deckart had 11 tackles.

NOT IN OUR END ZONE

Utah ranks eighth in the nation in defensive touchdowns allowed since 1999. The Utes, who have allowed 13 defensive touchdowns this year, have given up 104 total points in defensive touchdowns since 1999. The top 10 teams since 1999 in defensive touchdowns allowed: 1. Southern Mississippi (81), 2. Oklahoma (90), 3. Miami, Fla. (92), 4. TCU (99), 5. Tennessee (102), 6. Kansas State and Florida State (103), 8. Utah (104), 9. Virginia Tech, Oregon State and Nebraska (105).

BY THE NUMBERS

Utah is second in the MWC and 10th in the nation in turnover margin (+7) ... Utah has scored more points in the fourth quarter (70) than in the first and second quarters combined (59). Utah and its opponents' lowest scoring quarter is the first, when Utah has scored 20 and its foes 29 points ... A 4-4 effort in the red zone against SDSU boosted Utah's red zone scoring percentage to 76%. Utah has 16 TDs inside the 20 (55%). Utah's opponents have scored on 83% of their trips inside the red zone (12-15), but just 4 were touchdowns ... Utah has the ball an average of seven and a half minutes more than its opponents (33:55-26:05).

GRIDBITS

Senior cornerback Arnold Parker is a native of Las Vegas (Cimarron HS) and was the 1998 Nevada Player of the Year as a senior, as well as an all-state linebacker and running back ... Utah, which won its own Homecoming game against SDSU last week, will be UNLV's Homecoming opponent this Saturday ... Saturday's game is Utah's first day game of the year ... Utah is 9-5 all-time in games televised by ESPN+Plus ... Utah was picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference in the preseason media poll ... Utah's all-time record is 541-402-31. The Utes are 339-167-16 at home, 21-10 in Rice-Eccles Stadium (1998-on), 191-221-13 in road games and 11-14-2 in games played at neutral sites.

COACH Urban Meyer SAYS

"I feel like we have a very invested group of players who just don't give up. We are an excellent second half and fourth quarter team, which is usually a sign of good leadership and good physical conditioning. I thought (offensive coordinator) Mike Sanford and the offensive staff made great adjustments at halftime against SDSU. I felt like that first series of the second half, which was scripted, was the most important series we played all year.

"UNLV is a very good team, as evidenced by its victory over the No. 12 ranked team in the nation, Wisconsin. I think UNLV has some of the best talent in the league, along with Colorado State, San Diego State and us."

PACKIN' THE HOUSE

Utah is on target to break its home attendance record, averaging 42,568 fans per game in its four home games this season. The school attendance record is 39,249 set in 1999. Already the 2003 Utes have played before the largest (46,768 vs. California) and sixth-largest (44,676 vs. Oregon) crowds in school history. Rice-Eccles Stadium seats 45,017. Here are Utah's season attendance averages since Rice-Eccles Stadium opened six years ago: 1998-39,060, 1999-39,249, 2000-39,121, 2001-34,458, 2002-35,429.

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