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It was fitting that DeVonte Christopher and Brian Blechen received recognition in the first week of the football season. Christopher, the Mountain West offensive player of the week, caught 8 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown on a 61 yard hookup with Jordan Wynn. Brian Blechen, the true freshman safety made possibly the season saving play in the first game with the interception of Tino Sunseri on the first play of overtime.
The new college football rankings came out Tuesday and the Utes moved up to 20th in both the AP and the Coach's poll. Utah is right where they need to be. If the Utes want to do anything this season, they will need Pittsburgh to win. Pitt has a nice schedule this year. In a couple of weeks they host the Miami Hurricanes and then on October 9th, they are at Notre Dame. That will be an interesting game to watch as a Utah fan.
As Jeremiah Jensen so often does, he sends out emails to all in our office with important stats and notes, here are some notes on Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham.
After Thursday's victory over Pittsburgh, Kyle Whittingham his now 11-4 vs. BCS schools as head coach at Utah. Since 2008 he is 6-1. He is also 13-2 when he has two weeks or more to prepare for an opponent. Only losses were UCLA in 2006 and Oregon State in 2007. Also Kyle's record since a 27-0 loss to UNLV on September 22nd, 2007 is 31-4.
Kyle Whittingham vs. BCS Schools
2010
Pittsburgh W 27-24
2009
Cal W 37-27
Louisville W 30-14
Oregon L 31-24
2008
Alabama W 31-17
Oregon State W 31-28
Michigan W 25-23
2007
Louisville W 44-35
UCLA W 44-6
Oregon State L 24-7
2006
UCLA L 31-10
2005
Georgia Tech W 38-10
North Carolina L 31-17
Arizona W 27-24
2004
Pittsburgh W 35-7
In contrast, Boise State is 6-6 against BCS opponents since 2003, but 5-1 since 2006 (including the win against Virginia Tech on Monday).
