*** NCAA Football Preview - Utah ***
From The My Sportsbook
By Gregg Xenakes, College Football Staff Writer
2003 SEASON IN REVIEW: The Utah Utes were the cream of the crop last year in the Mountain West Conference, winning all but two of their games and finishing an impressive 6-1 to win the conference title. Utah was the only school in the league to finish with double-digit wins, the two losses coming against Texas A&M (28-26) in College Station the second week of the campaign, and then a 47-35 offensive display versus New Mexico at the end of October in Salt Lake City. It was an impressive showing for first-year head coach Urban Meyer, who took over a program that won just half as many games a year earlier and boasted of just one conference win in seven tries in 2002. For his efforts, Meyer was named the MWC Coach of the Year, the National Coach of the Year by the Sporting News and was a finalist for the Bear Bryant Coach of the Year Award. The regular season finale for the Utes in 2003, a 3-0 win over BYU in Provo, although a less than compelling offensive event, was the first of back- to-back shutouts for the program as they also clamped down on Southern Miss in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on New Year's Eve, 17-0.
2004 ANALYSIS:
OFFENSE: Quarterback Alex Smith came out of nowhere last season to impress the Utes and the rest of the league. He finished with 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions while completing an impressive 65 percent of his attempts for a total of 2,247 yards. Smith, who was named to the Davey O'Brien Watch List, probably has to have another strong season similar to the one in 2003 to make true believers out of the rest of college football, but there is no doubt that he is well on his way to making that happen. To make the second year as successful, as the first are four returning starters on the front line of the offense. All-American candidate and member of the Outland Trophy Watch List Chris Kemoeatu, along with Makai Aalona, Jesse Boone and Tavo Tupola form the top line in the Mountain West, something that the Utes will sorely need since they need to break in a new running back with the departure of Brandon Warfield. Behind Warfield last season it was Smith who had the most rushing touchdowns with five, but Utah cannot put their top signal-caller in such a position again if it wants to get through the season in one piece. Sophomore Mike Liti (207 yards and three scores) will get the bulk of the carries, but expect the offense to focus more on getting the ball downfield to one of three returning starting receivers in either Travis LaTendresse, Steve Savoy or Paris Warren.
DEFENSE: Although he is not listed as a returning starter because he missed all of 2003 with a shoulder injury, defensive lineman Jason Kaufusi will still get a lot of attention from opposing offensive lines when they create their blocking schemes. As the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year in 2000 and a first-team All-MWC selection at defensive end in both 2001 and 2002, Kaufusi has already proven that he can carry a team on his back. Joining him in the trenches will be Steve Fifita, Marquess Ledbetter and Sione Pouha. A couple of experienced linebackers in Corey Dodds and Spencer Toone are tasked with locking down the middle of the field for the Utes. Toone was fourth on the team in tackles a year ago and Dodds found his way on many a highlight film with his four fumble recoveries and two blocked kicks. Coming up in the secondary are a pair of talented and smart performers in Eric Weddle and Morgan Scalley. Weddle, who tied for the league-lead with four forced fumbles and led the Utes with three picks last year, was named a Freshman All- American, while Scalley is on the Bronko Nagurski Watch List for this season. Both players are not only powerful hitters but also brilliant in their approach to the game.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The kicking game for the Utes is firmly in the hands of Bryan Borreson and Matt Kovacevich. Borreson, who scored the only points in a pressure-cooker affair with BYU last year, knocked through 11-of-14 field-goal attempts in 2003. There's not much flash to Kovacevich, other than he simply gets the job done. As for the kick-return aspect of the special teams, it appears as though Bo Nagahi will get plenty of chances to break a long run after being an All-MWC second-team choice in 2003.
OUTLOOK: The Utes are expected to again be the top team in the conference in 2004, but the first month of the season could dictate just how successful the group will be. With three of the first five games of the season, which includes a Thursday, September 2 kickoff against Texas A&M, it's not going to be an easy task. But in Utah's favor is the second half of the campaign which finds the school at Rice-Eccles Stadium for four of the last six contests. The only road games for the Utes during the stretch are winnable games at San Diego State and Wyoming, so the schedulers of the Mountain West Conference showed some favor to the Utes in that respect. Perhaps eight or nine wins by the end of November will have the Utes searching out hotel accommodations for any one of several bowl sites in December or January.
