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Show 6 Wednesday November 9, 2011 SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicle.com THE UNIVERSITY I ■ ■ ••• ■ •• • UTAH FOOTBALL PHOTOS COURTESY RACHEL BARNES Megan Bettilyon and Rachel Barnes are in the MUSS and have been traveling to all the away games to support the football team. Utes pair not fair-weather fans DEDICATION From USC to Pittsburgh, two MUSS members don't let the score stop them from attending every football game Jory Carroll STAFF WRITER Compared to a pair of undefeated campaigns in the past decade, this year's football season hasn't had quite as much to offer in the thrill department. For starters, starting quarterback Jordan Wynn is out for the season, and the Utes sit at 2-4 in conference play. The team's overall record of 5-4 puts it miles away from a Top 25 national ranking. Yet, despite all of these factors, a pair of die- hards will be at every single game, cheering on their team. Rachel Barnes and Megan Bettilyon are two of the few MUSS members traveling to every Ute football game this season. Barnes, a senior in biology and political science, said the experience is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. By saving money, she uses her "fun budget" to cover the costs of each road trip. The Utes haven't been dominating Pac12 competition, but Barnes said she is going to be at every game, regardless of Utah's record. Barnes and Bettilyon were rewarded this weekend for their loyalty as the Utes notched their first conference road victory at Arizona on Saturday. "No matter how the team is doing, I still enjoy going to the games," Barnes said. "It's the inaugural Pac-12 season, so we want to look back on this year and say that we went to all of them." Bettilyon, a sophomore in English, made a deal with Barnes to be her partner on the road—the two agreed last year to trek across the country to watch the Utes play every game. The two have driven to each road game so far, except for the Pittsburgh game when the took a plane. The pair joined more than ioo Utah students on the MUSS Bus trips to both the USC and California games. Students paid about $250 for each of the trips, with food and hotel costs included in the package. Although driving to California and back means spending a large amount of time on the road, Bettilyon said the atmosphere on the MUSS Bus made the trip a blast and was one of the highlights of the season so far. "I'm one of those people who likes going on road trips, and I think it's fun to hang out on a bus for 12 hours," Bettilyon said. The task is not for the faint of heart, as the trips require dedicating the entire weekend to driving for a game that lasts just a couple of hours. For Saturday's trip to Arizona, Barnes and Bettilyon stayed in Las Vegas on Friday night, finished the drive to Tucson on Saturday, and then came back to Salt Lake City on Sunday. Each city offers a different experience, and even though the Utes lost to the Trojans and Golden Bears, Barnes said both trips to California were highlights of the year. "San Francisco was really cool, even though the game kind of blew and there wasn't a great turnout," Barnes said. "Going to the Coliseum for the USC game was also See FANS Page 10 FOOTBALL Hays is out for a killing QB grinds through disappointments to his new role Bubba Brown STAFF WRITER • a • ammo JEFF MCGRATH/The Daily Utah Chronicle After a month of struggles, quarterback Jon Hays is finding his groove on offense. After Utah's 34-10 defeat at the hands of California in which Jon Hays threw three interceptions, the Utah quarterback took the loss especially hard, considering his significant role in the lopsided score. Since then, there hasn't been much of a reason for the juco transfer to be disappointed. In the two games since the Cal disaster, Hays has thrown zero interceptions to four touchdowns and has helped lead the Utes to consecutive wins. "I'm just more comfortable," Hays said of his continuing transition. "Getting all the reps in practice and getting game experience. There's nothing like playing in a game and the things you can learn from watching that film. It's just come with repetition, really." Hays' newfound comfort level was evident Saturday in Utah's 34-21 win over Arizona. The junior tied his career-high with 199 passing yards, rifled two touchdown passes and completed just less than 6o percent of his throws. His quarterback rating of 168.2 for the game was the highest of his career by a wide margin and illustrates his improvement since taking over the offense when Jordan Wynn went down at halftime of the Washington game. Hays had struggled mightily before the Oregon State victory two weeks ago, throwing six interceptions and two touchdowns in the three games leading up to that point. Hays never felt like quarterbacking the Utes was too much to handle during that stretch, but playing poorly did take its toll on his psyche. "It hasn't felt overwhelming," Hays said. "There's definitely been some frustrating moments, but nobody's going to feel sorry for you, so you've got to keep grinding." Hays says laboring through the tough times to find success has given him confidence, which in turn has energized his teammates. "The confidence just keeps building," Hays said. "When my confidence builds, the other players around me, their confidence in me is going to build." Hays has benefitted from improved decision making, said head coach Kyle Whittingham. Rather than trying to squeeze in dangerous throws, which has resulted in interceptions in several of Utah's losses, in recent weeks Hays has demonstrated a recognition of when to play it safe. As a result, he hasn't turned the ball over in the past two games. "There's been some bumps in the road and some steps back, but most weeks we've had Jon take his game to a higher level," Whittingham said. Entrusting Hays to throw 21 times against Arizona might come as a surprise to some. After Hays threw just 14 times against Oregon State, Whittingham said the offense would focus heavily See HAYS Page 10 UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS THURSDAY: Swimming & Diving Utah @ Air Force 6 p.m. USAFA, Colo. FRIDAY: Swimming & Diving Utah @ Colorado School of Mines 5 p.m. Golden, Colo. Women's Volleyball Utah @ Arizona 7 p.m. Tucson, Ariz. SATURDAY: Football Utah vs. UCLA 4:30 p.m. Rice-Eccles Stadium Cross Country NCAA Regional Championships TBA Provo PAC-12 FINAL STANDINGS WOMEN'S SOCCER Team Conf. Record Overall record Stanford 11-0-0 19-0-1 UCLA 8-1-2 15-1-3 Oregon St. 7-3-1 13-5-2 Washington St. 6-3-2 12-6-3 Utah 6-5-0 10-9-1 California 5-4-2 12-6-2 Washington 3-5-3 7-8-5 Arizona St. 4-7-0 8-11-0 USC 4-7-0 7-13-0 Oregon 3-6-2 8-9-3 Colorado 1-9-1 4-13-2 Arizona 1-9-1 1-16-2 |