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The University of Utah Athletics
No. 9 Utes Host No. 11 TCU in Thursday Game
11/3/2008 12:00 AM | Football
Nov. 3, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
> No. 9/10 Utah (9-0, 5-0 MWC) hosts No. 11/11 TCU (9-1, 6-0 MWC) in a battle of league unbeatens on Thursday, Nov. 6. Kickoff is 6:00 p.m. MST in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The game, which is sold out, will be televised live nationally on CBS College Sports. The theme is a "Blackout" and fans are encouraged to wear black.
> Utah is ranked No. 9 in the USA Today Coaches' and the Harris polls and is No. 8 in the new BCS Standings. The Utes are No. 10 in the Associated Press poll. It marks Utah's best BCS standing since the 2004 Utes clinched a No. 6 position.
> Utah is 9-0 for just the second time in school history. The 2004 Utes finished the season at 12-0. Dating back to last year's Poinsettia Bowl victory, Utah has won 10 straight games, which is tied for the second-longest winning streak in the country.
> Utah is 4-0 all-time in games in which both the Utes and their foe were ranked in the top 25. See page 18 for more on Utah's ranking history.
> Thursday's game features two of the nation's best defenses. TCU (214.5 ypg) and Utah (266.2 ypg) are ranked No. 2 and No. 7 in the nation, respectively, and are 1-2 in the MWC. TCU is No. 3 nationally in scoring defense (10.8) while Utah ranks 18th (17.7).
> Utah leads the series with TCU 4-1 and is 2-0 against the Horned Frogs in Salt Lake City (see page 2 for more).
> Senior Brian Johnson has set the school record-holder for wins by a starting quarterback. Johnson, 22-7 as the starter, passed Alex Smith, who went 21-1 from 2003-04.
DID YOU KNOW?
The first loss of Kyle Whittingham's head coaching career was in overtime to TCU (23-20) in 2005. The loss snapped a school-record 18-game Utah win streak that dated back to 2003. Whittingham has won the last two games against TCU ... Whittingham is 2-2 against ranked teams as Utah's head coach. Since he joined the Ute staff as an assistant in 1994, Utah is 9-6 against ranked teams.
BLACKOUT
Fans attending the sold-out game against TCU this Thursday are encouraged to wear black attire. Approximately 35,000 black rally towels will be distributed as fans enter the stadium. The `Blackout' is sponsored by Under Armour, Coke Zero and FrogZog. The 2008-09 men's basketball team will be introduced at halftime by head coach Jim Boylen.
KING LOUIE
Senior All-America punter/kicker Louie Sakoda became the most decorated weekly performer in MWC history when he was named MWC Special Teams Player of the Week for the 11th time on Nov. 3. Sakoda broke the old mark of 10 held by BYU quarterback John Beck. It is the fourth weekly citation this year for Sakoda. Last week, Sakoda was named a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete and a Draddy Trophy finalist, which comes with an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. Sakoda, also a top-10 finalist for the Lowe's Senior Class Award, is a top-10 semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award (nation's top punter) and a top-20 semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award (nation's top placekicker). He was also chosen as the 2008 Midseason All-America placekicker by CBSSports.com, The Sporting News Today and Rivals.com.
LAST WEEK
Utah ran its record to 9-0 for just the second time in school history with a 13-10 victory over New Mexico. Brian Johnson became Utah's all-time winningest quarterback by completing 72-percent of his pass attempts (23-32) for 195 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 41 yards. Louie Sakoda scored seven of Utah's 13 points, making field goals of 43 and 38 yards and converting his lone PAT of the game. He also dropped four punts inside the 20-yard line, including a huge play with 1:58 remaining when he pinned the Lobos on their own 1-yard line. Koa Misi and Robert Johnson each had eight tackles to spearhead a Ute defense that shut out the Lobos in the first and fourth quarters. Utah held New Mexico to 100 yards below its season rushing average and limited league-leading rusher Rodney Ferguson to 34 yards--his lowest output of the season.
KYLE STYLE
Fourth-year Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham is 33-14 overall and 3-0 in bowl games. He is 6-3 against BCS schools. Since he joined the staff as a Ute assistant in 1994, Utah has won nearly 70-percent of its games (119-55). Utah has played in nine bowl games during Whittingham's tenure--winning eight. Prior to becoming Utah's head coach in 2005, he spent one season as the defensive line coach and 10 years as the defensive coordinator.
OUTSIDE THE LINES
Utah's remaining home games against TCU (Nov. 6) and Brigham Young (Nov. 22) are sold out, which guarantees the 2008 Utes will set a school season attendance record. Only one game this season was not a sellout (Colorado State) and Utah's attendance average after four home games is 45,274--which exceeds the capacity of 45,017-seat Rice-Eccles Stadium. The previous season attendance record was 44,112 set in 2004.
Players Mentioned
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