Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CORVALLIS, Ore. — The University of Utah football team will be trying for its first conference win of the season as Oregon State travels to Rice-Eccles Stadium this weekend. The two teams have met 15 times since 1931, with Oregon State winning nine times. The last meeting between the two schools was in 2008, with the Utes winning on a last-second field goal by Louie Sakoda.
Oregon State head coach Mike Riley is in his 11th season overall in charge of the Beaver program, after several years away from the program in the late 1990s for stops in the NFL as an assistant. The Beavers will be looking for their first back-to-back wins this season after beating Washington State by 23 points last weekend in Seattle. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Mountain Time and will be broadcast on ROOT Sports and KJZZ.
Riley met with the media earlier this week to discuss the matchup with the Utes. Here is what he had to say.
On whether defensive end Dylan Wynn setting the record for fumble recoveries is a combination of ability or being in the right place:
“That, and I think he hustles. The play I’m thinking about was the kickoff at the end of the half against Arizona that we just punched down there. He went full speed ahead like he does every play, every day. I think when guys hustle like that, good things tend to happen, and that’s Dylan Wynn.”
On OSU’s recent aggressive play-calling:
“That was aggressive play-calling (against Washington State), but what helps that is running the ball. There were not any periods of the game where you really thought that the run was going to be a waste of time. They stopped us sometimes for no gain, but we could come back and make a play. The consistency of the run was a big factor and helped everything. It makes play calling a lot easier and makes your opportunity, if you want to call something on third and short, it makes it real. Maybe you’ll fake somebody out.”
On his initial impressions of Utah:
“We’re going back to Salt Lake City. It’s been a few years since we’ve been there, but last time we were there it was quite a football game with a disappointing ending for the Beavers. But it was a good game. We’re facing a good football program. They’ve been good for a while. They have one of the most physical defenses we have seen. It is very impressive. Offensively, they are also physical. They’re going to run the ball. They’ve had to, because of injury, make a transition at quarterback. They are very physical running the football. Bruce Read, our special teams coach, thinks their coverage teams — punt and kickoff — that they’re as good a group, athletic-looking, as we’ve faced. They’re an impressive-looking team physically.”
On the quarterback change:
“Jon Hays is a good player; he’s running their offense and he brings poise. The way they went back and played against Pittsburgh, to win that game, was very impressive. Also impressive early on was their game against USC. That score went right down to the end; that was impressive. The other game that was very impressive was the 54-10 whipping of BYU, and we know about BYU. This is a very capable football team. It will be all the physical matchup that we will need.”
On the physicality of the Utah defense:
“Their defensive line is a great looking group of guys. Two Krugers — there was one Kruger playing when we played them the last time, a defensive end that was a good player. They have a really interesting defensive tackle, No. 92 (Star Lotulelei), who is very agile for 325 pounds. The other end (Derrick Shelby) has made a ton of plays. They’re all big. They probably average more than any defensive line that we’ve played because their ends are bigger guys. Most ends are in the 250-60 range; these guys are in the 270 and above range. They’re bigger all the way across the board. I love their one linebacker, No. 49 (Trevor Reilly) — he makes a ton of plays. No. 4 (Brian Blechen) is kind of a hybrid safety-linebacker, who is a really a good football player defensively. I like their secondary; I think their corners are good. They look like smart, savvy- type players. They’ll bait you into some throws and intercept the ball. They’re pretty aggressive.”
Landon Walters is a history and political science major currently studying at Salt Lake Community College and is an avid sports fan. He can be reached at mavericksoccer_22@hotmail.com.
