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Show Monday, October 2, 2006 MWC Football Colo. St. 35 Fresno St. 23 FOOTBALL SCOREBOARD COMING UP MWC Football Wyoming 34 Syracuse 40 MWC Football New Mexico 7 Air Force 31 Hockey Weber St. 11 Utah 0 36 Soccer Pepperdine 0 Utah 2 Volleyball Utah 3 BYU 1 Rock bottom Utes suffer home blowout to Boise State Chris Bellamy Chronicle Sports Editor It was a Homecoming to forget. The proving grounds proved too much for the U football team once again. Facing their first ranked team of the year in front of their first sellout crowd of the year, the Utes were taken apart by the No. 22 Boise State Broncos Saturday in a 36-3 loss. There was no silver lining—the Utes were dominated in all facets, turning the ball over four times and, on the other end, succumbing to the physicality of the Bronco offense. Eric Weddle said it best: "I don't know if I've ever been beaten like this." But the end result was indisputable, and the Utes' three-game winning streak is over while the Broncos remain undefeated. And now, the doubts that have surrounded the team even during its string of threestraight blowouts will only get louder. As players and coaches begrudgingly attested after the game, Saturday's loss wasn't the product of circumstance or just "not getting the bounces." It was Boise State piling up 398 yards of total offense to the Utes' 178; it was a passing game that managed just 51 yards and eight completions all game long; it was a run defense that finally met its match. "We just got beat today," Weddle said. "They were the better team on this given day, and. you've got to respect that, and you've got to give them credit." What began as a defensive battle turned into a Cakewalk for Boise State by the end of the second quarter. Jared Zabransky's 3-yard scoring KIM PETERSON/ The Daily Utah Chronicle Running back Darryl Poston loses his helmet after colliding with the Boise State defense. toss to Brad Lau on the second play of the second quarter—which capped off an 11play, 80-yard drive—snapped a 3-3 tie and ignited a stretch of 33-straight unanswered points. With the team down 16-3, Ratliff threw his second interception of the afternoon—doubling his output from the first four games of the season combined—with just under four minutes to play, and Colt Brooks made him pay, returning it 12 yards for another Bronco touchdown. "Their defense was great. They came out ready to play. They did a lot of stuff... it seems like everything was covered," Ratliff said. "They were in the right spot every time, and they didn't make very many mistakes." The futility of the passing game was a handicap the Utes couldn't begin to overcome. To be fair, the Broncos made their share of mistakes. Eric Weddle intercepted two passes on the afternoon, and he and Steve Tate forced a second-quarter fumble deep in Ute territory to thwart another scoring chance. But Jared Zabransky, Ian Johnson and Co. did See B L O W O U T Page 10 Ute volleyball upsets archrival Cougars Cody Brunner The Daily Utah Chronicle LENNIE MAHLER/ Tin- Djily Utah Chmnklt Boise State's Legedu Naanee brushes off Utah's Malakai Mokofisi in Saturday's game at RIce-Eccles Stadium. B-C-yes? The sky's the limit for ; Boise State Natalie Dicou The Daily Utah Chronicle Boise State head coach Chris Petersen stepped into the center of a swarm of reporters just following his team's bulldozing of the Utes on their home field, and before anyone could ask a question, he said with a halfsmile, "Don't even ask one question about the BCS. Ask whatever you want else." Petersen is going to have a hard time avoiding that particular question. After vexing the Utes with the Broncos' trademark offensive prowess on its way to a 36-3 rout, Boise State is one game closer to doing what the Utes did two years ago—busting into one of the bigf-money, big' glory bowl games. "I think it's awesome that the program's getting attention and people are looking at our kids and how hard they play, but, again, there's just so much season left/' the first-year coach said. "The bull's-eye keeps going," Petersen continued. "Teams that we play will play us very hard and very. good. We're going to get their best shot." But what teams are left on the. schedule, and are any of them a serious threat? Home games include Louisiana Tech, Fresno State, Utah State and Nevada. Boise State will go on the road to take on New Mexico State, Idaho and San Jose State. Only two of BSU's seven remaining opponents have won more games than they have lost: Nevada (3-2) and San Jose State (3-1). With a schedule that weak, the Broncos will have to plunge into a serious funk if they want to stay out of the BCS, meaning that Boise State seems poised to be the second mid-major in history to dance with the big boys. "I think there's a stigma about us," quarterback Jared Zabransky said, "(that) we may not have the talent that some of the big-time schools have, but if you look at our SeeBCS Page8 The No. 18 U volleyball team escaped Provo with an upset victory last Friday night, downing No. 16 Brigham City, 3-1. The Utes utilized a diverse offensive attack to silence a record-breaking BYU crowd (4,455) and capture their 10th consecutive victory. "We knew coming in there would be quite a few fans. We just concentrated on our little patch of red and tried to block out the sea of blue," U head coach Beth Launiere said. The Utes had trouble adjusting to that "sea of blue" early, as hitting and serving errors plagued them in game one. The Cougars took advantage of those Utah mistakes and jumped out to a 7-4 lead. It didn't take too long for the Utes to find their heads, though, and with a Whitney Webb kill, they tied the game at 12. Later in the game, Kathryn Lovell spurred the Utes on a 3-0 run to give them a 22-20 lead. Utah strengthened that lead with strong defensive play, denying multiple Cougar attempts to pull away, 2621. Utah held that lead behind strong serving and finished the game off on a BYU hitting error, winning 30-24. The Ute defense proved to be the key to success in the first game, holding the Cougars to a blank .000 hitting percentage. Junior libero Connie Dangerfield racked up an impressive eight digs to lead the Utes from the back row. Lovell led the Ute offense in the first, tallying a total of six kills while hitting .214. BYU caught the Utes on their heels early in the second game, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. The Utes battled their way back into the game, though, and with multiple Lori Baird blocks, grabbed a 7-6 lead. Utah held on to that lead until midway through the frame, when sophomore outside hitter Airial Salvo strung together a pair of kills to put the Utes up by three, 17-14. Utah extended that lead to five on the strength of two Whitney Webb kills before the Cougars bounced back, closing the deficit to two behind strong serving. The Utes held that lead until late in the game, when the Cougars put together a 3-0 run to bring the score to 28-26. The deficit nar- SeeXJTES Page8 CHRONICLE HI.E PHOTO/Th.cOiily Utah Chronicle Lori Baird reaches for a swing in last season's away match with BYU. The Utes went 3-1 Friday against BYU in Provo, upsetting the 16-ranked Cougars. Utes wave goodbye to Pepperdine Tom Quinn came into the game ranked No. 20 in the country. "I'm very pleased with our allAfter • a rollercoaster of a pre- around performance," U head coach season in which it struggled to find Rich Manning said. "We stuck with its rhythm, the U women's soccer the game plan and had outstanding team finally played like defending possession of the ball." conference champions for 90 minAlthough the Utes failed to score utes straight, defeating Pepperdine in the first period, the Waves were 2-0 Friday night at Ute Field. fortunate to go into halftime with Second-half goals by Amanda Feigt the score tied 0-0. The Utah attack and Melissa Crespo lifted the No. 23 kept Pepperdine goalie Kayla Stolte Utes over the visiting Waves, who .on her toes by tallying seven shots, The Daily Utah Chronicle several of which required acrobatic saves to stop. "We were very patient in our attack, and by that created good opportunities to score," Manning said. The Waves' weary defense finally broke down in the 62nd minute, allowing Adele Letro to thread the needle between two defenders with a pass to Feigt, who beat Stolte one-on-one for a deceptively SeeFElGWT Page 10 V |