Texas Christian @ Utah preview
Rice-Eccles Stadium
Last Meeting ( Nov 14, 2009 ) Utah 28, Texas Christian 55
TCU and Utah have become two of the most prominent BCS party-crashing teams in the country. Even though both play in the Mountain West, a non-BCS conference, each has made it to a BCS bowl game in recent years.
Only one will be left in that position again this year when fourth-ranked TCU (9-0, 5-0 MWC) travels to Salt Lake City to take on sixth-ranked Utah (8-0, 5-0) on Saturday afternoon.
Last year, the Horned Frogs rolled to a surprising 55-28 rout of the Utes at home. TCU knows it won’t be that easy this year.
Still, the Frogs are coming off an impressive 48-6 victory over UNLV last week. In its five Mountain West games this year, TCU has outscored its opponents 189-16.
Against the Rebels, the Frogs were in control from the start. Jeremy Kerley got the scoring fest started with a 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Ed Wesley and Andy Dalton added scoring runs in the second quarter. Colin Jones also had a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter as the Frogs rolled to a 28-6 lead at halftime.
Defensively, TCU had another impressive outing. Jones tied a career high with nine tackles and Tank Carder finished with a team-high 10 tackles.
It won’t be easy going into Utah, though.
The Utes have defended their home field well, winning 21 straight games at Rice-Eccles Stadium going into this week’s showdown. Utah won its last meeting there against TCU, pulling out a 13-10 victory in 2008.
Last week, Utah held off a late charge from Air Force in a 28-23 victory.
Utes running backs Eddie Wide and Matt Asiata led the offense, combining for 177 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Jordan Wynn completed 15 of 23 passes for 148 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
This week, the Utes’ offense could get an added boost from sophomore wide receiver DeVonte Christopher, who missed last week’s game with a knee injury. Christopher is listed as questionable for the TCU game.
Defensively, Utah freshman defensive back Brian Blechen led the defense last week with nine tackles and an interception. Junior linebacker Chaz Walker also had a solid outing, recording six tackles, including a sack.
Aside from the BCS implications, the story lines run deeper for Saturday’s matchup.
The most prominent for TCU is winning for the first time in Salt Lake City in the final meeting between the two schools before Utah moves to the Pac-10 Conference. And Utah, of course, would like to avenge last year’s loss.