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SALT LAKE CITY — For fans of both schools, the stats about Utah's winning reign over BYU is easily recitable — three straight wins, four of the last five, eight of the last 11. But the BYU Cougars are hoping to stop that winning streak by containing Utah's impact players Travis Wilson and Dres Anderson.
"I think (Dres) is faster than all of us," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "He's a good player, but a lot of teams have faster players than we do. I think we'll just do our best."
"They bring a lot of different things to the table. They have a pretty good quarterback, they have a good wide receiver — No. 6," BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. "They have good players on offense. They're going to try to spread you out and go for the big play, I think."
Mendenhall said with Wilson developing a good running game this season, the team has had to prepare for a dual-threat quarterback. However, with BYU quarterback Taysom Hill's ability to run, the Cougars hope to be ready for Wilson's speed from what they've seen in practices against Hill.
I think (Dres) is faster than all of us. He's a good player, but a lot of teams have faster players than we do. I think we'll just do our best.
–Bronco Mendenhall
"The offenses aren't identical, but there are some similarities and Taysom was one of the fastest players on our team," Mendenhall said. "We know that if we can't catch (Taysom) then we probably won't be able to catch Utah's quarterback. It gives us a great point of reference in practice to see what the angles need to look like."
In the two games against Weber State and Oregon State, Wilson rushed for a combined 240 yards and five touchdowns, which is more than his freshman season. But Wilson has also seen great success in the passing game.
This season, Wilson has used the speed of Anderson to get space on his defenders and to get big yards. Already, Wilson has targeting Anderson for a 56-yard pass against Utah State, a 57-yard touchdown pass against Weber State and a 49-yard touchdown pass against Weber State.
- Utah (2-1, 0-1 Pac-12) vs. Brigham Young (1-1)
- Date: Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013
- Time: 8:15 p.m. MDT
- Site: Lavell Edwards Stadium (63,470/Grass)
- TV: ESPN2
- BYU Radio: KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM
- Utah Radio: ESPN700, Sirius 112/XM 190
- Series Record: Utah leads 56-34-4
- Last Meeting: 2012 (Utah 24-21)
- Kickoff Weather: Mostly clear; temps in the low 70s
Utah leads the series with BYU 56- 34-4, although the Cougars don't recognize six games (split equally 3-3) when it was known as the Brigham Young Academy. With or without those six games, this is the second longest rivalry in Utah history. Utah has won eight of the last 11 contests, including the last three. The last time the Utes played in Provo (where they lead the series 18-17-1) was in 2011, when Utah's 54-10 win was its most lopsided victory over BYU in 89 years.
Additionally, Wilson has targeted Jake Murphy for a 30-yard touchdown pass against Utah State, Anthony Denham for a 51-yard pass against Utah State and Sean Fitzgerald for an 80-yard touchdown pass against Weber State.
"I think Utah's offense, for me, spreads it out a little more — a lot of deep field throws, deep crossers — and then they mix that with the screen game and a little quick game," Van Noy said.
In their first three games, Utah is averaging 539 yards in total offense. Of that, the Utes are averaging 248.7 yards in the run game and 290.3 yards in the passing game.
However, BYU is hoping to continue their success in the run game, similar to how they played against Texas with running back Jamaal Williams and quarterback Taysom Hill rushing for a combined 442 yards and three touchdowns. But Utah's front seven has made it difficult to get the run game going for teams — Oregon State managed only 69 yards rushing last Saturday.
"If our run game doesn't work, I like our one-on-ones with guys like Cody (Hoffman) and Mitch (Matthews) and Skyler (Ridley) on the outside," Hill said. "We'll continue to get better in the passing game and be more efficient. And I'm confident that if it comes down to that, we can be successful."
If the run game is not successful, the Cougars hope to exploit Utah's secondary in the passing game to get an early jump.
"We saw against Texas, if you make one guy miss it turns into a big play," Hill said. "Our guys are pretty good up front; they've been playing really well. Utah is going to have to tackle well. If they don't, then we're going to have some big plays."
