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Show Game Guide Page 3- Friday, September 8,2006 THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE • I ' . , No reason to panic.yet • i; I JP Quarterback ne '&SSS '^ honeymoon officially ended for Brett Ratliff last **^^. weekend, as he and the Ute offense stumbled against UCLA, scoring just ro points and the senior signal-caller managed to complete just 13 of 31 passes. Meanwhile, Jiis talented backup Tommy Grady'Was in for one series, tossing an interception that was returned for a score and turned the momentum .permanently in the Bruins' favor. But while NAU's Jason Murrietta had a solid performance against ASU last weekend, he has been erratic throughout his career—and RatUff still has his two starts last year as plenty of evidence of what he can do. -. Edge: Utah ~ Running Backs A Mike Liti and Darryl Poston will probably both'get Jmore carries than they did last week, as head coach Kyle /vyhittingham and his offensive staff look to take advan"tage of a strong offensive Hne and a running game that was successful in limited action last week. NAU, meanwhile, is still searching for its running game, managing T>dust 53 yards on the ground last weekend, as the passing game did most of the work, '^^^^^^^^?>yz{; L Edge: Utah ^ i j r ' v ^ ' y v ^ - ^ v ^ ^ ^Receivers As if last week's disappointing performance wasn't bad Enough, the Utes' receiving corps also lost the services "oY preseason all-MWC wideout Brian Hernandez, whose deep quad contusion will keep him out of Saturday's ballgame. Without him, Bradon Godfrey—who turned heads during camp this season—will likely get the start as the U passing game looks to get hack on track. Northern Arizona, on the other hand, already knows what its passing game is like—just get the ball to Luke Watson. The 5-footl 'fd junior wideout was a Sun Devil killer last week, regis11 catches for 206 yards. Edge: Tony Pizza The Daily Utah Chronicle Before the season began, the second game on the Utah football schedule looked like the perfect home opener. Even if the Utes happened to lose to UCLA, the Division I-AA Northern Arizona Lumberjacks would be a great chance for the Utes to put up a lot of points by showcasing their offense and to get the fans pumped up for another great season of IJte football. As it turns out, this game means quite a bit more than initially intended. The Utes went into the Rose Bowl and experienced their worst loss in 10 years. Frankly, much of this season's hype and expectations were sapped by how the Utes kicked off the season. The result is that Utah's performance against Northern Arizona will be a significant indicator of where the Utes1 season is headed this year. "I think it would be good to score a lot of points on them (Northern Arizona), but it's not 100-percent necessary," sociology major and U rugby team member Andrew Jewkes said. "I would expect over a 20-point win. I think it would be a little bit of a confidence boost to blow them out. At the same time, I'd like to see them get up in the score so they put in their second string in there." Jewkes seems to echo most football fans' sentiments regarding this week's home opener. Jewkes' rugby teammate and accounting major Aaron Metcalf wants the Utes to beat their Division I-AA opponent by a slightly larger margin to be optimistic about the season. "I think we (Utah) need to score over 50 and Northern Arizona score below 20," Metcalf said. More important than the score, Ute fans want to see a better overall performance, especially from the offense. The Utes have a very difficult offensive scheme to defend, but it was obvious that the team needed a tune-up this week after it failed to fire on all cylinders against UCLA. "Mostly, I would just like to see their offense moving the ball, reading each others' routes, and picking up their assignments," Jewkes said. "That's the biggest thing to me, to see the offense get rolling." As expected, U head coach Whittingham's isn't looking past a Division I-AA school. "If there is anybody on this football team who is taking NAU lightly or doesn't understand that a I-AA opponent can come in and get you, then we need to get that completely crystallized in their mind that we need to play our best football this week," Whittingham said. See P R O V E Game Guide 4 Offensive Line to,The U front line was a bright spot last week, protectmg RatUfffor most of the afternoon as he wasn't brought down all day. The line also opened up a few holes for Milce &itL This week, the U linemen will be going up against Northern Arizona's three-man front, a group that gave up ^.5 yards per carry last week. The Lumberjacks' line gave up nine sacks last week and, despite returning four start .ers from2005,has a lot to answer for. ' • •• EdgeiUtah i^hex-Une put much.ju$s$ure on their opposing quarterbacks in their season openers, as. Utah failed to get to the quarterback even once,.while the Lumberjacks regis* ed just one sack. However/ the Utes—led by Kelly Taivou plugging up the middle—did get the job done in the g game. They held the Bruins to just 2.6 yards per and kept Chris Markey—an honorable-mention allerica pick this preseason—from breaking the big one,., ''$'&. .v, ' Edge: Utah inebackers V-'.-V."* With Steve Tate's injury forcing Casey Evans to spend time in the secondary at free safety, impressive sshman Stevenson Sylvester will see a lot more playg tune this weekend. Sylvester shot up the depth chart ring training camp, providing the U coaching staff with plenty of options for how to toggle its lineup should injuries come up. With Kyle Brady now getting healthier, the 9 linebacking corps expect to start to look like the group people expected. The linebackers are also the Lumberstrong suit, led by Chris Hunsaker and DJ, Wade. Edge: Even KAM1L KRZACZYNSKI/ Vte Daily Utah Chronicle Utah running back Mike Lit! clashes with a UCLA defender in the season-opening game at the Rose Bowl Stadium last Saturday. On the Other Sideline econdary oth groups had a weekend to forget last weekend, was dominated by Ben Olson and Co.; likewise for s defensive badks against Rudy Carpenter. Still, the boast the best and most versatile defender in the ference in Eric Weddle—provided the team uses him e best of his abilities. Casey Evans was an all-confere pick at free safety last year and returns to that spot day in lieu of Steve Tate. Edge: Utah r Special Teams Louie Sakoda was one of the few positives the U coachstaff took from last week's loss, and earned MWC SpeTeams Player of the Week for his efforts. His punting fleld^goal kicking have been strong throughout camp, ^d Ben Vroman was more than solid on kickoffs. NAU punter Rhian Madrid .was one of the best in the nation last season, while kicker Robbie Dehaze missed both of hysfield-goaltries against ASU Edge; Utah' ^v^'rSv'l"''^- Coaching blic opinion seems to change from week to week for durpg football season. When the Utes struggled gh their three-game losing streak last year, many e blame at the hands of the coaching staff; but after iries over BYU and Georgia Tech,. Whittingham and ere hailed as geniuses. It was more of the former eek, as an uncreative offensive gameplan and lack itment to the running game made the Utes easier e out for the UCLA defense. For the Lumberjacks, coach Jerome Souers has taken the program in the .direction since taking over the program, in 1998, but "en on hard times as of late^going 7-15 over the last lasons. Perhaps last week's impressive, hard-fought the Sun Devils was propf that NAU is back on the n.. Edge:Everi Chris Bellamy Lumberjacks thinking upset after near miss last week Cody Brunner Vie Daily Utah Chronicle Many would look at a season-opening loss as a negative, but for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, their first game showed they belong with the big boys. Last weekend, the Lumberjacks played No. 24 Arizona State even for three quarters before succumbing to the Devils' wrath, 35-14. Northern Arizona wide receiver Alex Watson kept his team alive, making 11 catches for 206 yards, but Arizona State proved too much for the Division i-AA school, scoring 21 points in the final quarter to stymie an optimistic Northern Arizona team. The Lumberjacks started off the game hot, with quarterback Jason Murrieta connecting with Watson on an 80-yard bomb on Northern Arizona's first possession. Arizona State bounced back with a touchdown of its own in the second quarter, driving down the field methodically and scoring on a 13-yard pass to knot the score at seven. Murrieta countered with his second touchdown pass to Watson midway through the second period, this time converting for 60 yards. The Sun Devils tied the score at 14-14 with a minute left in the half. Murrieta started the fourth quarter sour, tossing his only interception of the game, which was returned for a touchdown. Northern Arizona was unable to mount a comeback after the pick, allowing two more touchdowns before the game concluded. The Lumberjacks will try to use their experience against a rugged Arizona State squad this week when they take on the Utes. Northern Arizona head coach Jerome Souers heads into this season with a wide breadth of talent, returning 17 starters from last year's team. Leading the team at quarterback will be Murrieta, who completed 15 of 20 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns in his first start of the season. Last year, as a junior, Murrieta threw for more than 1,900 yards and 15 touchdowns, but struggled with his completion percentage. The senior should flourish this season under new offensive coordinator Keeth Matheny, who bases his scheme around highpercentage passes. The running back position is a serious concern for Souers this year, with only two returnees coming back from a subpar rushing year. Redshirt junior Alex Henderson carried the ball 14 times for 44 yards last Sa> L U M B E R J A C K S Game Guide 4 |
