Utah Football Team Hosts No. 19 Oregon On Friday

Sept. 29, 2003

SALT LAKE CITY -

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Utah (3-1, 1-0 MWC) hosts Oregon (4-1, 1-1 Pac-10) Friday at 8:00 p.m. in Rice-Eccles Stadium in an ESPN2 televised contest ... Oregon is ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press poll this week and No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll. The Ducks were ranked No. 10 and No. 15, respectively, last week in the polls ... Utah received votes in this week's ESPN/USA Today poll ... The Utes are 2-1 in non-league play this year, beating Utah State and California and losing a close one (28-26) to Texas A&M ... Utah opened its Mountain West Conference season last week with a 28-21 win over defending MWC champion Colorado State ... In addition to the ESPN2 television broadcast, the Utah-Oregon game can be heard live on KALL 700 (AM) radio and over the Internet (www.KALL700.com).

UTES ON ESPN2

Utah is 5-4 all-time in games televised by ESPN2 and 1-3 at home on the Deuce. Utah beat Kansas in 1996 in an ESPN2-televised game from old Rice Stadium before losing to Brigham Young (1998), Wyoming (1999) and Arizona (2000) in Rice-Eccles Stadium. Ute road wins on the Deuce came against New Mexico (1996), TCU (1997) and Air Force (1999). Utah lost to BYU in Provo in 2001. Utah is 1-0 in games televised by ESPN2 at a neutral site, beating Fresno State in the ESPN2-televised Las Vegas Bowl in 1999.

UTAH VS. RANKED TEAMS

Utah is 7-43 all-time against teams ranked in the Associated Press poll, which began in 1936. The highest ranked teams Utah has ever beaten were No. 8 Colorado (in Boulder in 1961) and No. 8 Arizona State (in Salt Lake City in 1973). The highest ranked teams Utah has ever played were No. 3 BYU in 1984 and No. 5 BYU in 1990 (both Utah losses in Salt Lake City), and No. 5 Oklahoma in 1977 (in Norman). The highest ranked Oregon team Utah has ever faced was in 2001, when the Utes lost 24-10 to the No. 7 Ducks in Eugene. The most recent ranked team Utah has played was No. 14 Michigan in 2002, a 10-7 Ute loss in Ann Arbor.

MARKING MEYER

Urban Meyer is 3-1 at Utah and 20-7 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 Oregon.

LAST WEEK

Dave Revill forced a Colorado State fumble on Utah's 21-yard line and Arnold Parker scooped up the bounce and raced 80 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 1:33 remaining in Ft. Collins. Linebacker Corey Dodds, whose fumble recovery in Utah's end zone accounted for the game's first score, intercepted a Bradlee Van Pelt pass with 1:19 left in the game to preserve a 28-21 Utah victory. The two big defensive plays caused the momentum to shift back Utah's way, something it held for three quarters before CSU tied it up at 21-21 in the fourth. Utah scored the first two touchdowns of the game in a 14-point second quarter. After Dodds' fumble recovery, Brandon Warfield slipped into the end zone from 10 yards out. Alex Smith's 1-yard run late in the third quarter put Utah up 21-7, but CSU reeled off two quick touchdowns in the four quarter and was driving for the game-winning score when Revill and Parker teamed up to restore Utah's lead. Smith had another good outing at quarterback, completing 17-21 passes for 158 yards and rushing for a touchdown. Warfield rushed for 78 yards and a score. Morgan Scalley's career-high 11 tackles led the defense, which forced six CSU turnovers.

REVILL IS MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Strong safety Dave Revill was named the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his part in Utah's victory over Colorado State last Saturday. Revill forced the fumble that teammate Arnold Parker picked up and returned for the game-winning touchdown with just 1:33 remaining in the game. Revill also contributed 7 tackles and 2 tackles for loss. It is the second time Revill has been named MWC Player of the Week in his career: He also won the award last year after a 15-tackle game against Michigan.

PARKER SETS RECORD

Arnold Parker's 80-yard fumble return for a TD against CSU set a new school record. The old record was a 67-yard return by Clarence Lawson in 1997.

KAUFUSI WILL REDSHIRT

Utah senior Jason Kaufusi, a two-time first-team all-conference defensive end who was also named to the 2003 preseason all-league team, will not play this season due to a shoulder injury. Kaufusi underwent arthroscopic surgery in July and has not practiced or played since then. He has a redshirt year available to him, which he plans to use next season. Arguably the best defender in the MWC, Kaufusi has played with shoulder problems his entire career. The 2000 MWC Defensive Freshman of the Year as a true freshman is currently ranked second all-time at Utah in career tackles for loss (38.5). His 19 career sacks ranks fifth.

SERIES HISTORY

Utah and Oregon have met 24 times, renewing their rivalry in 1991 after a 15-year break. While Oregon leads the series 17-7, the Ducks have just a 3-2 edge since 1991. Oregon has won the last three (1995, 1997 and 2001). The last time the two played in Salt Lake City was in 1995, with Oregon winning 27-20. Utah's last win was a 34-16 decision on the road in 1994. Utah has not beaten the Ducks at home since 1991 (24-17).

UTAH VS. THE PAC-10

Utah has played all of the Pacific-10 schools and is 46-87-3 against them. Utah is 1-0 against the Pac-10 this year, with a 31-24 win over California in Salt Lake City on Sept. 11. Utah's all-time won-loss breakdown against the Pac-10 schools follows: Arizona 17-15-2, Arizona State 6-16, California 2-4, Oregon 7-17, Oregon State 4-8-1, Southern California 3-6, Stanford 2-3, UCLA 0-7, Washington 0-6, Washington State 5-5.

OREGON TIES

Utah has four players on its roster with Oregon ties. Two are Oregon natives: junior quarterback Brett Elliott (Lake Oswego/Lake Oswego HS) and junior linebacker Tommy Hackenbruck (Bend/Mountain View HS). Before breaking his wrist on the final play of Utah's game against Texas A&M on Sept. 6, Elliott had started eight straight games, including the first two games this season. He is expected to practice on a limited basis this week, but is questionable to play. Hackenbruck began his career as a fullback but moved to linebacker last spring and has played in all three games as the backup rover. Junior receiver Travis LaTendresse attended Linfield College for a year, then transferred to Utah in 2001. He has started part-time for the past two years. Junior receiver Paris Warren played at Oregon as a freshman in 2001. He helped the Ducks defeat Utah that year, taking a lateral from QB Joey Harrington and then throwing a 50-yard pass completion that set up a Duck score. He sat out under NCAA transfer rules last year and now starts for the Utes.

BY THE NUMBERS

Utah has scored 16 times (13 TDs, 3 field goals) in 20 trips inside the red zone ... Utah's best offensive quarter by far is the fourth, when it has scored 49 points. It's worst offensive quarter is the first (21 points). Defensively, the opposite case is true: Foes have scored just 14 points in the first quarter against Utah, while scoring 29 in the fourth.

GRIDBITS

The crowd of 46,768 in attendance in Rice-Eccles Stadium for the Utah-California game on Sept. 11 broke the previous record of 45,634 set against BYU in 1998 in the stadium's first year ... Utah is 2-0 at home this year with wins over Utah State (40-20) and Cal (31-24) ... Utah was picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference in the preseason media poll ... Utah's all-time record is 539-402-31. The Utes are 337-167-16 at home, 19-10 in Rice-Eccles Stadium (1998-on), 191-221-13 in road games and 11-14-2 in games played at neutral sites.

UTAH VS. OREGON-THE LAST DECADE

On Sept. 17, 1994, Utah beat eventual Pac-10 champion Oregon 34-16 in Eugene. Oregon, which finished the season 9-4 and played in the Rose Bowl, managed just six points in the last three quarters against the best team in Utah football history. Utah would finish the season ranked 10th in the nation (No. 8 coaches) and beat Arizona in the Freedom Bowl. On Sept. 1, 1995, a young, untested Ute team threw a scare into the defending Pac-10 champion Ducks by jumping out to a 17-7 first-quarter lead. But the Ducks controlled the second half, 10-0, and won 27-20 in Salt Lake City. On Oct. 18, 1997, Utah led 7-3 after one quarter but saw Oregon roar back with 14-point second and third quarters and win 31-13 in Eugene. On Sept. 8, 2001, the Utes played No. 7 Oregon close for a half in a 24-10 loss in Eugene. Utah tied the game six minutes into the second quarter before Oregon pulled away. The Ducks finished the 2001 season ranked No. 2 in the nation.

COACH Urban Meyer SAYS

"We're very excited about getting another opportunity to showcase our program on national TV. We're playing one of the top teams in the country in Oregon. I saw a lot of positives from our game against Colorado State. Alex Smith is getting better at quarterback and our effort across the board was really good. Colorado State just doesn't lose two in a row at home, so that was a pretty remarkable win for us. It was one of the best team wins I've been a part of.

"The biggest thing this week is staying fresh. We still lack depth and have a lot of guys playing lots of downs. Oregon gives us more wrinkles and more looks on defense than we've seen. They also have some real talented players on offense."

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