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Show Monday, October 9, 2006 THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Frog in their throats Injuries enough to derail TCU's conference title hopes TomQuinn The Daily Utah Chronicle Although the Utes are coming off an impressive 20-7 shellacking of reigning MWC champion TCU, it's unlikely that Utah will get the same two-page, full-color spread in Sports Illustrated that BYU received the week before. Here's why: First of all, Utah beat the Horned Frogs in Salt Lake City, and a big home win rarely gets as much press as a big road win. Secondly, there is the matter of offense. The general public likes to see an offense put up impressive numbers en route to a victory. And while the Utah offense was effective, it was hardly gaudy enough to generate national attention. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is the question of injuries. TCU was not at full strength against the Utes, a fact that sports analysts will be talking about for at least the next month. Utah's detractors are quick to point out that some of the Frogs' top players were either playing injured or not playing at all. Senior quarterback Jeff Ballard and sophomore halfback Aaron Brown were the most notable of TCU's walking wounded. While Ballard played a largely ineffective first half before being replaced by freshman Marcus Washington, Brown didn't even bother to suit up. The absence of two key players begs the following question: Just how much did injuries affect the Frogs' game plan? According to TCU head coach Gary Patterson, not very much. "Jeff could not throw the football," Patterson said after the game. "But Marcus would have played the second half anyway. I thought he did a good job of moving the football." Although Patterson's remarks seemed genuine, some fans and reporters were quick to dismiss them as blatant coachspeak. After all, why on earth would any coach bench his starting quarterback in the middle of a key conference game? "I didn't buy that for a second," one beat writer from Fort Worth was heard saying after the game. "Ballard had lost only one game in his whole career. He (Patterson) was just trying to avoid excuses." OK, so maybe someone out there believed Patterson when he said that Ballard's injury was no biggie. But what about the loss of Aaron SOCCER WINS PAIR OF CRUCIAL MWC GAMES continued from Page 7 pass. Letro then launched a shot for the far post, beating BYU keeper Erica Woodbury for the goal. "It was an easy pass to make when you have your team working for you," Crespo said. "Adele made such an aggressive run, I knew exactly what she wanted. She did her job and I did mine, and it clicked." In the second half, the combination of fatigue and poor field conditions caused by rain began to take its toll on the Utes. Utah's defense, however, remained stalwart and prevented the Cougars from scoring the equalizer. "I was just trying to take it one minute at a time," Utah keeper Ashley Mason said. BYU's forwards created numerous opportunities in the second period, but were denied each time. Although Mason and defenders Melissa Wayman and Carisse Winegar performed admirably, it was only by the grace of God that the Cougars failed to score. Two of their shots hit the crossbar, and several others sailed wide. "At one point, they had four forwards playing one-on-one against our four defenders," Mason said. "That made things Brown, the MWC's Freshman of the Year in 2005?,How badly did that hurt the team? "Not much," Patterson said. "The biggest thing was that we didn't have another back to go to once Lonta (Hobbs) started cramping up. It was his first full game back since getting hurt last year." While some sports pundits are quick to accuse the TCU brass of bending the truth to appear supportive of their backups, the statistics seem to buoy the Frogs' argument. Hobbs, after all, had a fairly productive night, gaining tough yards against a stingy Ute defense and scoring TCU's lone touchdown. Washington was also effective; he could have put the Frogs back in the game had three of his drives not ended in turnovers. Now, a group that just 10 days ago looked like a serious MWC title contender, and perhaps even a team capable of running the table, is all but out of the conference race. Losses to two of its biggest competitors for the crown—BYU and now Utah—have made them little more than an MWC afterthought, just like that. t.quinn@chronicle.utah.edu kind of chaotic." Thursday's game against UNLV followed virtually the same script as Saturday's match against the Cougars, as Utah took a i-o lead in the first half and then clamped down defensively to prevent the Rebels from tying it up. Letro once again scored the game's lone goal, this time off a give-and-go from Amanda Feigt in the 36th minute. Feigt's fancy footwork set up the score, and Letro finished it off with a shot into the lower right corner from 10 yards out. "The team played well with good momentum," Letro said. "We played well in the rainy conditions because we have been able to practice in this weather and get used to it." Oh yeah, that. The rain, which started as a light drizzle shortly after kickoff, quickly escalated into something out of a natural disaster movie. Players lost their footing left and right, and passes rare*ly reached their targets. "I'm really proud of the way we grinded it out today," Utah head coach Rich Manning said following the game. "UNLV is a team with a lot of heart and championship experience. We played a tough second half and the defense really came through for us." If the defense continues to play as well as it has during the last two weeks, the Utes will almost certainly be in the mix for the conference title come November. t.quinn@chronicle.utah.edu The Chronicle is looking for writers! Come fill out an application at The Chrony office in Union 236 or email inquiries to m.ratdiffe@chronilce.utah.edu MIKE TERRY/ llu Daih Utah Chronkk Utah's Casey Evans tackles TCU's Lonta Hobbs In Thursday's 20-7 Utah victory at Rice-Eccles Stadium. UTES REBOUND WITH WIN continued from Page 7 1 out in the first half/1 Ratliff said. "The defense kind of stepped up in the second half. I'm very grateful for the win." But this time around, the Utah defense answered the call in a huge way, stifling the Horned Frog offense. The Frogs didn't advance into Ute territory until nearly the seven-minute mark of the fourth quarter—and that drive ended in the team's third straight turnover. "We believe in each other and we bring it to the table," Weddle said. "If we just bring it like we know how to do it, we can play with any- VOLLEYBALL EXTENDS WIN STREAK TO 13 continued from Page 7 game three, but we responded well and maintained our composure," U head coach Beth Launiere said. "I thought there was a lot of value in game three." On Saturday, the Utes surpassed the consecutive win mark with a sweep over TCU. The Horned Frogs (146, 3-4 MWC) came into the match after losing an exhila- body. We showed it tonight. The defense played phenomenal." Takeaways were arguably the biggest key in the second frame. Two of them came in Utah territory, with the Frogs threatening to close the gap and make it a onepossession ballgame. After Ratliff, leading what looked like a sure scoring drive that would have all but put TCU away, was picked off in the end zone—one of his only misguided passes of the day—early in the fourth quarter, Utah's brightest star came through once again. TCU quarterback Marcus Jackson, completed a short pass out in the flats to Lonta Hobbs, but Eric Weddle was right there waiting for the senior tailback. Weddle's hit drove Hobbs to the ground, but the damage was hardly done—while making the tackle, Weddle stripped Hobbs of the ball and pulled it in. It was originally ruled a forced fumble and recovery, but was later changed to an interception—Weddle's sixth of the season. But no matter what the statisticians called it, the play epitomized the performance of the Ute defense Saturday afternoon. "All you can do is work harder in practice. That's what we did," Weddle said. "We corrected our mistakes. We did everything needed to win a game. That's all we can do." The Utes, now 2-0 in conference play, will travel to Wyoming next weekend to take on the Cowboys. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday. c.bellamy@ chronicle.utah.edu rating 3-2 match to BYU on Friday. Game one opened up with more unforced errors, and the Utes found themselves down 9-7 early. Utah worked its way back into the game and took a six-point lead when Kate Robison asserted herself with a pair of aces mered down a kill to end the game. Lovell continued her superb play in game two when she slammed down a pair of blistering kills to give the Utes a 7-4 lead. Salvo later pitched two kills of her own, giving the Utes a 14-8 lead. The Homed Frogs were unable to recover after that, giving the U point after point before finishing the game on a punishing Salvo kill, 30-17. Utah utilized intimidating defense at the net to stifle its opposition at the start of the third game and jump out to a 5-0 lead. The Utes were able to maintain that lead midway through the period with numerous blocks (14-9) and then put the Horned Frogs away with their high-powered offense, winning 30-14. Salvo and Lovell led the Ute offense once again, throwing in 10 kills each in the win. Connie Dangerfield led the Utah defense from the back row, digging 11 balls while Baird led the Utes at the net with six blocks. "That's a very good team. They play with a lot of intensity, but as the match went on, I felt like we started taking things away from them," Launiere said. "We figured out what they were doing and finally started blocking the ball in game three, and that made a big difference." Freshman Sydney Anderson guided the Utes to victory from her setter position with 24 assists. She also picked up 10 digs and five kills while hitting .833. "We weren't really in the flow of things in the first game. After that, we knew we had to step up our game, and I think we did that," Anderson said. The Utes will try to keep their streak alive this Tuesday when they take on UVSC at Crimson Court. c.brunner@ chronicle.utah.edu (21-15). Utah maintained that lea for the majority of the game until the Horned Frogs put together a 4-0 run to close the gap to two at 29-27. 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