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Show Rat-liffts Utes to victory Swat! Quarterback has big day in first career NCAA start ?^ Football closed out season with dominating victory over Yellowjackets ,.v_. • / ; ' -.::"rj- :• •--1 JoeBeatty 21 ™PATTY UTAH CHRONICLE T h u r s d a y , A p r i l 27, 2006 ."••'»•,'>. :;> i -': Chronicle Sports Editor V ; ^ K SAN FRANCJSCO—The U football team closed out an up-anddown 2005 season on a high note Dec. 29, as the Utes trounced No. 24 Georgia Tech 38-10 in the Emerald Bowl. '"Did I expect us to play well? Yes, I did," Ute head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "Did I expect us to win 38-10? No, I didn't." Ev,en though the Utes (7-5) came .into the game a seven-point underdog, the outcome was never really in doubt. Georgia Tech (7-5) came in with a vaunted defense, a unit that had shut down then-No. 9 Miami at the Orange Bowl only a few weeks prior. But in his second NCAA start, Ute quarterback Brett Ratliff proved that the strong showing in the U's win over BYU in November was no fluke. The junior tied a school bowl record and set an Emerald Bowl record, throwing four touchdown passes on 381 passing yards. Ratliff completed 30 of his 41 passes, while only throwing one interception. "When the whole offense plays great, it makes me look good," Ratliff said. One player in particular who helped Ratliff look good was the game's Offensive Most Valuable Player, TYavis LaTendresse. The sixth-year senior and Bay Area native, playing in front of nearly 100 family and friends, hauled in an Emerald Bowl-record 16 receptions for 214 yards and four touchdowns, .three of which came in the first 15:30 oifthb game. The four TD grabs tied an NCAA bowl record for touchdown receptions in one game. ",, "(Ute offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig) told me I'd have some opportunities today," LaTendresse said. "All the credit goes to the offensive line and (Ratliff). We were all able to get on the same page." ; The Ratliff-LaTehdresse connection started off in a hurry on the foggy afternoon. After marching down the field ori the opening drive, LaTendresse got open over the middle and hauled in a 14-yard touchdown pass only two and a half minutes into the game. Dan Beardall hit the upright on the point-after attempt, but the Utes still gained the early 6-0 lead. The two teams exchanged punts, and then the Jackets started to get things going offensively. Behind some big runs by senior tailback PJ. Daniels, Tech drove 58 yards down to the Ute 32-yard line. But on a fourth-and-two, quarterback Reggie Ball slipped on the slick natural grass field and turned the ball over to the Utes on downs. The U capitalized and drove right down thefield,capping off the drive on a 23-yard strike from Ratliff to LaTendresse on a nearly carboncopy play as the first TD. Once again, the Jackets moved the ball down the field, but could not capitalize. With the ball spotted at the1 21yard line, Ball dropped back to pass, but did not see Ute safety Steve Tate lurking over the middle. Tate picked off Ball's pass and returned Joe Beatty Chronicle Sports Editor it 45 yards to the Georgia Tech 40. Ratliff and LaTendresse took over from there, quickly getting a 25-yard touchdown and a 20-0 lead only 30 seconds into the second quarter. The Jackets could not do anything to slow down the Ute offensive at- •"• tack, as the U racked up 550 yards of total offense, while throwing many different formations at the Tech defense. "When you play them, you have to get ready for a ton of stuff," Georgia Tech head coach Chan Galley said. "You can't spend a lot of time on any one thing. Sometimes when you don't spend a lot of time on one thing, it gets you. And it got us." Trailing 20-0, the Jackets finally, started to show signs of life after picking off an Eric Weddle pass in the end zone on a busted Ute trick play. Ball drove Tech down the field and got the team on the Scoreboard with a 31-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Cooper. After stopping Utah late in the half, the Jackets got the ball back again on their own 23 with only 16 seconds left. Instead of downing it; and heading into the locker room down 13, Ball heaved a Hail Mary down the sideline in an attempt to snatch all the momentum at the end of the half. It worked, as Damarius, Bilbo got free for a 63-yard reception down to Utah's 12-yard line. Tech kicked a field goal and went into the second half only down 10. "It was a fluke play that never happens to a Utah defense," Weddle said. "(Bilbo) just got behind us." The momentum was short lived for Georgia Tech, which would not score again, as the Utes added a Beardall field goal in the third quarter and touchdowns by LaTendresse and Quinton Ganther in the fourth to seal the program's fifth straight bowl victory. Weddle was named the game's Defensive Most Valuable Player, after keeping All-American receiver Calvin Johnson to a pedestrian 19 yards on two catches. "There were so many positives," Whittingham said. "That was a quality football team we beat today. And we not only beat them, we dominated the football game. This game is a springboard into next season." It was a perfect ending to a season that had its fair share of rough patches. The Utes had their plans of a third-straight Mountain West Conference title derailed by a threegame losing streak in the middle of the year, but battled back to win four out of five, including an overtime win over BYU without thenstarting quarterback. "It's huge to go out this way," Weddle said. "We had that three-game losing streak in the middle of the season, people doubted us and didn't like what we were doing as a football program. To go 7-5, it's still mediocre, but it's better than going 6-6 or not going to a bowl." The Utes will open up the 2006 season Sept. 2 against UCLA in Pasadena. j.beatty@chronicle.utah.edu Brett Ratliff knew he wasn't expected to go into Provo and come out with a win. He knew that Ute fans thought Theo Ratliff would have a better shot at beating the Cougars in front of 65,000 rowdy, blue-clad fans who hadn't seen thensquad beat Utah three years. Look who's laughing now. "Everybody doubted me," Ratliff said, after the 41-34 overtime victory. "But I always like getting the ball. I always felt like I could do a good job." "A good job" might be the understatement of the year. Ratliff's final line was downright Brian Johnson-like, as he produced 352 yards of total offense, four passing touchdowns and a score on the ground. To make matters better, he didn't turn the ball over once in his first NCAA start. "You cannot say enough about that kid," Ute head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "It was a gutsy performance. He ran the offense like he had been doing it all year long." From the U's opening drive, Ratliff proved that he not only belonged on the same field as everyone else, but that he stood above them. Driving 60 yards, Ratliff ran for a first down and capped the drive by hitting Brian Hernandez in the back of the end zone for the first of his quartet of touchdown passes. Not letting off the gas, Ratliff led the Utes to a 24-3 halftime advantage. The Cougars battled back in the second half, but the JUCO transfer finished what he had started, slinging the winning 25-yard touchdown pass to Travis LaTendresse in overtime. BYU could not answer, and Ratliff had his first win as a Ute starter. "I always imagined, but Brian (Johnson) was the quarterback," Ratliff said. "Unfortunately, he got hurt and I had to come in and help the team win tonight. It's just amazing. I'm still in shock right now." What surprised everyone was the supposed "pocket passer's" mobility. Coming into the game, Ratliff was regarded as a lead-footed, strong-armed field general. But like he did in every other facet, he proved everybody wrong, rushing for 112 yards on 19 attempts, an average of 5.9 yards per carry. He also escaped several blitzes, only suffering two sacks on the afternoon. "I've never seen that dude run that fast before," Ute receiver Travis LaTendresse said. "He told me his dad ran a 4.4 forty, but I didn't believe him." LaTendresse and everyone else who watched the Utes knock off the Cougars for the fourth-straight time now find themselves believing in Ratliff. j.beatty @chronicle. utah.edu Staying the course Giacoletti not giving up on master plan Joe Beatty Chronicle Sports Editor Ray Giacoletti is a brave man. The second-year Runnin' Ute head coach's team completed a 14-15 season, the U's first losing campaign since freshman forward Shaun Green was three months shy of his second birthday. But instead of listening to fan grumbling and pushing the panic button, Giacoletti is doing what he set out to do when he was confronted with the post-Andrew Bogut era: stay the course and build from the ground up. "Obviously you always want better, but in the big picture, looking back on things, we were playing three freshmen, two sophomores and a senior the majority of the minutes," Giacoletti said. "I think we got better as we went along. (The season) wasn't what we wanted but I think it will set the tone for the future." The coach points to two close losses in consecutive late-season home games against Colorado State and Air Force as examples of how close they were to finishing the regular season with a flourish, rather than the publicly perceived flop. "We were really a fine line from getting over the hump," Giacoletti said. "We got beat on last-second shots; you win those two games and you really finish as strong as we would have liked." So what now? At first glance it would appear that the Utes are destined for another down season in 2006-2007. The only senior next season will be Ricky Johns—who isn't expected to shoulder a large load. That leaves the burden resting on the youngsters again, which will be an even larger bunch as Giacoletti is bringing in six new freshmen for next season. But don't think for a moment that the coach is playing the pessimist. "We're still going to be young but at least we'll have some people who have been through the wars this past year," Giacoletti said. "They were in situations where there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity for older guys to help them out. They just had to live through it and get better by getting thrown to the wolves, and I think we'll be better for it in the future." With the highly touted recruiting class arriving in the fall—including power forward Daniel Deane, the 2006 Mr. Basketball in the state of Utah—the Senior point guard Tim Drisdom tries to get around the defender during the U's win over Wyoming on Senior Night. TPOD DEAFNESS Are You Going Deaf? • Do you have occasional ringing in your ears? • Do you turn the TV or Radio up loud to hear? • Do you often say "what" or "huh"? Studies show that turning your IPOD up too loud may cause damage to your hearing* Tofindout if you have hearing loss, get your Free Hearing Screening, Just go to THE HEARING ZONE at the North end of the Cottonwood Mall on Saturday, April 29 from 9am to lpm (and bring your IPOD). (The free hearing screening is sponsored and paid for by Robert J* DeBry and Associates. You hare no obligationtopursue legal action.) See GIACOLETTI Page 22 |