Utah Football Team Hosts Utah State Saturday Night

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Sept. 6, 2005

SALT LAKE CITY -
Some notes on this Saturday's Utah-Utah State football game follow. For the complete release, please download the PDF document.

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> Utah (1-0, 0-0 MWC), owner of the nation's second-longest winning streak at 17 games, hosts instate rival Utah State (0-0, 0-0 WAC) Saturday, Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. (MDT) in Rice-Eccles Stadium ... Tickets still remain for the game and may be obtained online at www.utahtickets.com, at the Rice-Eccles Stadium box office, or by phone at 581-UTIX ... KJZZ will televise the game live.

> Utah's current 17-game win streak, the second-longest in the nation behind USC (23 straight), is also the lengthiest in school history. Utah's 27-24 victory over Arizona last Friday before a standing room only crowd of 45,528 broke the old school mark of 16 consecutive victories, set from 1928-1930. Utah's current 17-game win streak dates back to Nov. 1, 2003, when the Utes beat Air Force in triple overtime. Utah's last loss was on Oct. 25, 2003 to New Mexico.

> Utah's win over Arizona in the season-opener was its fourth straight against the Pacific-10. Since 1990, Utah has gone 12-12 vs. Pac-10 opponents.

> Saturday's game marks the 105th meeting between Utah and Utah State, making it the oldest rivalry in school history and the 12th-longest in the nation. Utah leads the series with the Aggies 72-28-4 (see page 2 for more series information).

CROWD PLEASERS

The 45,528 in attendance at last Friday's game vs. Arizona marked the third-largest crowd in school history and the most ever for a home opener. In each of the last eight home games, the crowd has ranked in the top 15 in school history at the time the game was played. The Utes have now played in front of a capacity crowd (45,017) nine times since Rice-Eccles Stadium opened in 1998. One Utah State game figures in that group: Utah and USU played to a crowd of 45,224 in 1999.

LAST WEEK

Sophomore Brian Johnson passed for 220 yards and a touchdown in his first start, and coach Kyle Whittingham won in his Utah head coaching debut as the Utes beat Arizona 27-24 and extended their winning streak to a school-record 17 straight games. Quinton Ganther ran for a career-high 127 yards and took a shovel pass from Johnson 47 yards for Utah's first touchdown of the season. Other TDs came on a dazzling 59-yard run by freshman Brent Casteel, playing in his first college game, and a 24-yard interception return by Eric Weddle. Johnson shook off some first-quarter nerves to lead Utah to 446 yards of total offense split nearly evenly between rushing (226 yards) and passing (220 yards). The Utes led 27-10 after scoring 17 points in the third quarter, but had to fend off a late charge by Arizona. Two big rushing first downs by Ganther took time off the clock and a punt by freshman Louie Sakoda was downed at the Arizona 9-yard-line with 28 seconds remaining. Casey Evans sealed the win for Utah with an interception.

WEDDLE, BEARDALL WIN MWC HONORS

Strong safety Eric Weddle and kicker Dan Beardall were honored as the Mountain West Conference defensive and special teams players of the week for their part in Utah's 27-24 win over Arizona on Sept. 2. It was the first MWC weekly honor for both players. Weddle led Utah with 10 tackles--one shy of his career high--and returned an interception 24 yards for what proved to be the winning touchdown. He also forced a fumble and recorded 1.5 tackles for loss (5 yards). Beardall, making his first start and playing in just his third game as a Ute, was 2-2 in field goals and 3-3 in PATs. The first two attempted and made field goal attempts of his Ute career were from 36 and 45 yards out. The 45-yarder was the longest by Utah since 2002 and was the difference in the three-point victory.

KYLE STYLE

Kyle Whittingham (1-0) made history in his first game as a head coach by extending Utah's win streak to a school record 17. Named head coach on Dec. 8, 2004, Whittingham has been a member of the Ute staff since 1994, when he coached the defensive line for Utah's 10-2 Freedom Bowl champion team. He was promoted to defensive coordinator a year later--a position he held until his promotion to head coach. In his 11 years as a Ute assistant, the program compiled an 86-41 record and played in six bowl games (winning five). He served as co-head coach at the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, helping to lead Utah to a 35-7 victory over Pittsburgh. The Ute defense recorded 14 top-20 statistical rankings during Whittingham's 10 years as the coordinator. Utah led the league in scoring defense in four of the last six years (placing second the other two).

GRIDBITS

Ute safeties' coach Derrick Odum coached the Aggie defensive backs from 2000-02 before leaving for a similar post at Houston. Third-string free safety Steve Tate, who saw time on special teams in the opener, played for USU as a freshman in 2001. After going on an LDS church mission, he walked on at Utah, redshirting last season ... Utah's all-time record in game two is 58-48-3 ... 11 current or former walk-ons played in the first game against Arizona, including starters Travis LaTendresse, Kelly Talavou, Kite Afeaki, Grady Marshall, Malakai Mokofisi, Casey Evans, Louie Sakoda and Dan Beardall ... Utah's first passing touchdown of the season was to a running back (Quinton Ganther) and its first rushing TD came from a receiver (Brent Casteel).

UTAH'S ALL-TIME RECORD

Utah's all-time football record is 559-403-31. The Utes are 347-168-16 at home, 29-11 in Rice-Eccles Stadium (1998-on), 199-221-13 in road games and 13-14-2 in games played at neutral sites.

UTAH VS. THE WESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Utah, a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1962-1998, is 116-65-7 against current WAC schools. Utah has not played a WAC school (USU is in its first year as a WAC member) since the final game of 1999, when the Utes beat Fresno State 17-16 in the Las Vegas Bowl. Utah's series records against the WAC follows: Boise State 2-3, Fresno State 5-4, Idaho 14-12-2, Hawaii 15-12, Nevada 4-5-1, San Jose State 4-1, Utah State 72-28-4.

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