Houston (6-1, 3-1) at No. 10 Utah (6-0, 3-0)
- Kickoff: Saturday, 8:15p.m. MDT
- Venue: Rice-Eccles Stadium
- TV: ESPN
- Livestream: ESPN app with participating TV provider
- Radio: ESPN 700 AM/92.1 FM /KZNS 1280
- Series: Houston is undefeated all-time against the Utes with five wins
- Weather: Saturday’s forecast is mid-50s to begin the game, dropping to 50 degrees by the end
The trends
For Utah: The Utes, 6-0 on the season, are now a top 10 team, but a struggle in Colorado left more questions than answers as the squad readies for its first ranked matchup of the season. Beginning the season, Utah looked strong against subpar competition, but against Colorado and Kansas the last two games, the offense and defense have shown some vulnerabilities that will need to be cleaned up before Saturday.
Houston’s visit to Salt Lake City will be the sixth time the schools will meet on the gridiron and just the second time the two schools will meet in Utah, the first time happening in 1977. Major Big 12 implications will be on the line when the teams collide Saturday, as Utah is the last major matchup left on Houston’s schedule, which has only lost to Texas Tech. Utah still has BYU and Arizona back-to-back, and this game could very well act as a tiebreak.
For Houston: The Cougars knocked off a red-hot Oklahoma State team in its last game that vaulted them from No. 20 in the AP Poll to No. 14. If not for a matter of inches against Texas Tech, we could easily be talking about a top 10, undefeated matchup at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
What to watch for
Coming to Salt Lake City, the Houston Cougars will be desperate for a win, since tallying another loss will more than likely eliminate the Cougars from competing for a Big 12 championship game as conference leaders Utah, BYU and Texas Tech remain undefeated.
Coming off a second-half shootout against Oklahoma State, where quarterback Conner Weigman completed 24 passes, the Cougars have boasted a potent scoring attack that could test the Utah secondary once again.
Two games ago, the Utes allowed 333 yards through the air virtually all in the second half when Kansas’ quarterback Isaiah Marshall led his team to a much closer loss than the score indicated. And in Utah’s most recent game, former Ute Isaac Wilson was allowed to throw for 256 yards in a game that came down to the last play when Wilson’s Hail Mary was broken up.
With 283 and 343 yards passing against Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, Weigman will likely look to expose the Ute secondary with his arm. With a healthy run game, Utah has its work cut out in defending Amare Thomas and the Houston receiver corps.
However, facing a weaker defense, Wayshawn Parker and Devon Dampier should be effective in moving the ball. So the country could see a high-scoring showdown.
Player to watch
As Houston rolls into Rice-Eccles on Saturday, it will be important for Utah to establish a run game early.
After a decent but quiet game against Colorado, Parker will need to make his presence felt against the Cougars. If he can break free for some electrifying runs, like the late-game touchdown run against Kansas, the field will open up for his quarterback and receivers to work.
After recording 345 yards on the ground and four touchdowns against Iowa State and Kansas, the running back struggled to replicate both of those games in Boulder. In a potential Saturday-night shootout, expect Parker to play a huge role.
Quotable
“It’s a big weekend for all of the University of Utah as ‘College GameDay’ is coming to host. I believe this is the seventh time (’GameDay’) will be coming to campus; we know that our fans and our students are going to be great in representing. ... Anytime we get to show off our campus and our student body and everything that’s great about Salt Lake City and the University of Utah, I think it’s fantastic for the nation to see.” — Utah coach Morgan Scalley
“We’re going to have another big test coming up against Utah. They’re very well coached. Their new head coach has been there a while, so he knows their system. ... Offensively, they do a bunch of stuff. I mean, a bunch of stuff. They’ll play with two quarterbacks, they’ll play with one quarterback and another one-off. ... I was sitting in our meetings this morning and we’re obviously trying to simplify it as much as we can, but they do a lot of stuff. If you line up right, you got a chance. If you don’t line up right, there’s going to be some problems.” — Houston head coach Willie Fritz
Next up
- Utah: at Cincinnati
- Houston: Bye
Utah schedule
- Sept. 3 — vs. Idaho, W 66-14
- Sept. 12 — vs. Arkansas, W 43-10
- Sept. 19 — vs. Utah State, W 33-0
- Sept. 26 — at Iowa State, W 31-17
- Oct. 10 — vs. Kansas, W 41-24
- Oct. 17 — at Colorado, W 27-24
- Oct. 24 — vs. Houston
- Oct. 31 — at Cincinnati
- Nov. 7 — vs. BYU
- Nov. 14 — at Arizona
- Nov. 21 — at TCU
- Nov. 27 — vs. West Virginia
