SB Nation - Utah Utes

Bowl Games Gameday Thread: December 23rd, 2009

Drew K — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:45:08 -0000

Last nights contest between BYU and Oregon State was pretty one-sided... let's hope to see a more balanced contest tonight. On that note, this evenings game will feature another Pac-10 team versus another MWC team. The Utah Utes finished 3rd in the Mountain West Conference (6-2) but had an overall record of (9-3) and are ranked # 23 in the Nation, while the California Golden Bears finished 6th in the Pac-10 (5-4) with an overall record of (8-4) and are unranked but were at one point in the year ranked # 6 in the Nation. Utah has been to eight straight Bowl Games and this will mark California's 6th straight appearance to a bowl game. Being that alot of folks on NinersNation are Cal fans, I am sure that there will be a bunch of folks watching tonight so we hope to have more participation. Below the jump, we will take a look in to some of the key players, prospects, stats, and other information regarding the game...

# 23 UTAH UTES VS. CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS

SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL PREVIEW

UTES:

Key players to watch for the Utes:

[# 36] Eddie Wide RB 5'10" 195 (Junior):

Wide broke the 1000 yard mark for the first time in his collegiate career. There will need to be plenty of balance between run and pass for the Utes to come out of this game with the W. Look for Wide to get a Wide variety of touches tonight. His 2009 stats are: 182 Carries, 1032 yards, 5.7 yds/att, 12 TD's, and 1 TD receiving.

[# 68] Zane Beadles G 6'4" 305 (Senior):

Very versatile offensive lineman. Beadles knows how to play just about every position on the line. He has played both Tackle and Guard and has played them both very well. Being that the Niners may need a Guard in the upcoming draft, we all should be watching how well he plays against the Bears defensive line this eve before Christmas Eve.

[# 16] David Reed WR 6'0" 190 (Senior):

Reed is probably the most valuable player on this team. I suspect that true freshman QB Jordan Wynn will be zeroing in on Reed a bunch tonight. Reed will most likely be matched up against one of the top rated CB's in the nation tonight in Syd'Quan Thompson. This will be the most intriguing matchup of the evening. Reed's 2009 stats are: 75 receptions, 1085 yards, 14.5 a rec, 5 TD's.

[# 85] Jereme Brooks WR 5'7" 170 (Junior):

Brooks gives Wynn a great second read option. Brooks is a small, shifty, hard to cover small guy. If the Bears aren't careful, they will get burnt by Brooks. His 2009 stats are: 49 rec, 620 yards, 12.7 a rec, 6 TD's.

Led by Coach Kyle Whittingham (5th year, 46-17)

GOLDEN BEARS:

Key players to watch for the Bears:

[# 13] Kevin Riley QB 6'2" 221 (Junior):

I believe that Riley will have to be a factor in this game to give Cal any hopes of walking away from this bowl game with a win. I think he will more than likely return for his senior year to try and make a name for himself in the 2011 Draft. His 2009 stats are: 54.6% comp rate, 2636 yards, 7.6 per pass completed, 17 TD's, 6 INT's.

[# 34] Shane Vereen RB 5'10" 198 (Sophomore):

Vereen will be one to watch for the future. The Golden Bears have produced some pretty decent running backs within the last few years. With Jahvid Best still out in the this one with the severe concussion and back injury, Vereen will be the feature back. He actually will have finished the season with just 30 yards less than Best, although Best has played in 3 less games due to injury. Here are Vereen's 2009 stats: 163 attempts, 830 yards, 5.1 an attempt, 10 TD's.

[# 1] Marvin Jones WR 6'2" 190 (Sophomore):

Another guy that won't be coming out this year but has the potential to be a draft pick in 2011 or 2012 should he stay his Senior season. Jones has been the number one target as far as receivers are concerned this year; things should stay the same for this game as well. Here are his 2009 stats: 38 receptions, 607 yards, 16.0 a reception, 6 TD's.

Syd'Quan Thompson CB 5'9" 187 (Senior):

Thompson will probably be a 2nd round to 3rd round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft this year. He more than likely will shadow WR David Reed this evening. Thompson will need to be very effective against both the pass and run tonight. He has a very good opportunity to shine tonight and make himself a solid 2nd round pick candidate. Thompson will also be doing some returns tonight too...he is very exciting and electric when he has the ball. He has 250 career tackles which is a lot, 1 fumble forced, and 7 INT's (the majority of those coming in 2008).

Led by Coach Jeff Tedford (8th year, 67-34)

WHEN: 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PST

WHERE: QUALCOMM STADIUM, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

TV: ESPN & ESPN-HD, ESPN 360

SATELLITE: SIRIUS, XM

Poinsettia Bowl Open Thread: #23 Utah Utes vs. Cal Golden Bears

Jeremy Mauss — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:15:09 -0000

The Mountain West is looking to go 3-0 in their bowl season so far, and tonight features Utah who has done a great job in a rebuilding year while Cal is an up and down team that realistically beat Utah by 15 or lose by 15 just depends who shows up.

#23 Utah vs. Cal 8PM EST

Scouts, Inc. gives a slight edge to Utah in this game, but not sure how the linebacker spot is better on Cal then Utah, but what do I really know. They also have the Utes winning 23-17 which would extend their bowl winning streak to nine.

Utah vs. California Matchups
QB	RB	WR	OL	DL	LB	DB	ST	Coach

Let's hear what you think. Register for a free account here on the site and leave your comments, predictions and other game day chatter below in the comments section.

I have now integrated twitter to the open thread. So, within your message you need to put #mwc in the tweet and it will show up and send it to @mwcconnection. Also, if your not following me my twitter name is @mwcconnection

Bowl Preview: SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl

cocknfire — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:14:54 -0000

More photos » by Colin E. Braley - AP

If it's a game against mid-tier Mountain West Conference, it must have been a Utah win.

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San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
No. 25 Utah vs. California

The bowl with the longest name in the postseason returns with worse teams but at least one more marquee name this year. Last year was the showdown between undefeated Boise State and one-loss TCU. Both of these teams had trouble winning against most of the better teams on their schedule but won enough games to get here.

WHY YOU CARE / Because both teams tend to play well in postseason games and have bowl winning streaks coming into this one. They're pretty evenly matched teams, which gives you as good an indication as we can have that the game should be good. Then again, bowl games are odd things.

UTAH (9-3) / Ranked because there are no better choices in the minds of many voters. The Utes lost to every good team they played (Oregon, TCU, BYU) and defeated only two decent teams (Air Force, Wyoming). Utah also defeated Colorado State by a touchdown. I say that as an insult to the Utes; every other team in the Mountain West also won against Colorado State, who went 3-9 this year.

CAL (8-4) / If this were not 2009, the Golden Bears would be the most confusing team in the NCAA. They won three games to begin the season -- including two against teams from BCS leagues -- before getting waxed by Oregon and Southern Cal. They won three more games -- then lost to Oregon State by 17. Then they defeated Arizona and Stanford -- only to get shellacked by Washington. Washington!

WHO WILL WIN / UTAH, because they have a slightly better defense, and we all know the old cliche: Defense wins San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl championships.

OMG it's game day!

JazzyUte — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:15:26 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

1 day ago: Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, left, and California coach Jeff Tedford share their thoughts prior to a press conference where they discussed their Poinsettia Bowl NCAA college football game Tuesday Dec. 22, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

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Took forever, didn't it? But we're only a few hours away from the last game of the season. So, that means you better soak it all up because football ends around 9:30 tonight and won't return for a very, very long time.

Because of that, this better be a damn good game or it's going to be difficult getting through the next few months knowing how this season ended (back-to-back losses, a loss to BYU, no real good wins, blah). Luckily, the Utes have a legitimate shot at winning their ninth straight bowl game and it seems a good portion of the media is actually buying the Utes' hype this time around (which didn't happen during the Oregon/TCU/BYU games).

Whether that means anything, though, hinges on just how good the Utes play tonight. They can't struggle through long stretches like they did in all three of their losses. I believe if they are going to win, they either need to jump on Cal early or keep the game close throughout. A comeback, especially if they fall behind by two-scores, could be asking for too much.

Specifically what they need to do after the jump.

For starters, the offense has to find some consistency. They were getting things done early against BYU in their last game and then Jordan Wynn got his bell rung and wasn't the same the rest of the game. I also think play calling has to improve, as well, because it was pretty awful at times last month.

If you're going to run the wildcat, please shake things up. Put Terrance Cain in to do it because he at least poses a threat to pass. But the current makeup of it is just not getting it done.

Beyond that, though, the defense needs to keep Cal's running game in check. Utah's run defense has struggled at times this season with athletic running backs and fortunately, Jahvid Best, the more athletic back compared to Shane Vereen, is out with injury. Well I shouldn't say fortunately, but you get the point. Best is the type of player who can feast on the Utes' defense. Vereen, though, I haven't seen and I'm not sure if his style exploits their weakness.

It's also important special teams comes to play. They have played a role in every one of Utah's losses this season and if they're bad again, the Utes won't win this game. This probably concerns me more than Wynn or the defense stepping up and stopping Vereen. Because from what I've seen, Utah just is not capable of overcoming special teams deficiencies in games against good opponents. And while Cal might not be ranked, they're a pretty good team capable of beating the Utes - Best or not.

Ultimately, the Utes can't slack off here. Cal might be one of the better opponents Utah has faced in a bowl game as of late (not counting Alabama, obviously) and that means they'll need to step up with their best effort of the season. Just keeping it close might not be good enough because they've kept it close in two of three defeats and it did absolutely nothing to help them down the stretch.

But if they do keep it close, it will come down to a few plays here and there and that's where the Utes need to take advantage of each Cal mistake and try to not make any of their own. Because, in a close game, all it takes is one or two mistakes to cost you the game.

Now let's hope they go out and win this one and finish a rebuilding year with a fairly respectable 10-3 record and top-25 finish. It might not be exactly what we had hoped for, but a win here would salvage this ho-hum season.

Get it done, Utah.

Utah RB Matt Asiata to Return to the Team for 2010 Season

Jeremy Mauss — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:23:50 -0000

More photos » by Greg Wahl-Stephens - AP

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Utah running back Matt Asiata tore his ACL back in mid September after scoring a touchdown against Louisville i s returning to the team for the 2010 season. There was speculation that he might just take his chances by moving on to the NFL since his stock may not increase too much, he has three kids, and this would be his sixth year of college once you include is stay at Snow College.

Off the cuff this is good news because Asiata was a stud last year and this year before he got hurt and there was condern that the Utes would not have much of a running game with the smaller and speedy back Eddie Wide. That was not the case as Wide had a 1,000 yard season.

While it is never a bad idea to have too many good backs the problem will be trying to keep all of them happy with touches. The running situation will be more of a split between Wide and Asiata next year with Sausan Shakerin who is supposedly a star in the making seeing limited touches.

This should be a good thing for the Utes, because it will give them two completely different backs that are very effective. Wide is a speed back while Asiata is a bruiser and will wear down opposing defense. Both are also efficient enough to do the others role.

Poinsettia Bowl Press Conference

Berkelium97 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:00:21 -0000

Yesterday I had the great privilege to attend the Cal-Utah press conference as well as the Poinsettia Bowl Luncheon. I'll cover the press conference here and post luncheon photos and Poinsettia Bowl gameday events sometime in the near future. And keep your eyes on the CGB twitter this afternoon and evening. I'll provide updates from the press box as well as from the post-game press conference.

(Click each image for a larger version)

After the jump we'll get down to business, with various photos and comments from Utah coach Kyle Wittingham as well as Tedford's comments.

I arrived at San Diego's Omni Hotel around 8:30am and picked up my golden ticket:

I wandered around in some miserable wind for a while before deciding it would be a better idea to wait around in the press room until the conference started.

Not surprisingly, there were Poinsettias everywhere.

Are those red things leaves or petals? They look like leaves to me.

Over on a table (with some Poinsettias, of course) were the Cal and Utah media guides.

Utah had some high-quality brochures

Cal's brochures looked similarly impressive, definitely a step up from the stapled sheets of copy paper they gave out at Pac-10 media day.

Unfortunately, once you open it up, it's the same old copy paper. Why budget cuts, whyyyy?

Each team had a nice, shiny helmet on its respective table.

Shiny

Anyway, enough with the helmets, brochures, and poinsettias. But hey, it's what I had to do to fill my time as I waited around in the room before the press conference started. Various writers slowly trickled in. Ted Lee of BearInsider.com noticed my credentials and complimented CGB. He said we have a high-quality site. We chatted for a bit. Before that I was talking to an entertaining photographer for AP. He was afraid that if Tedford and Wittingham (and everyone else) didn't show up on time, I'd have to go up there and put on a helmet and give some sound bites. No one would know the difference anyway, right?

The press conference began with Poinsettia Bowl Executive Director Mark Neville telling us the bowl is expecting about 30-33k to turn out...in a stadium that holds 71k.

Next up were the coaches. In addition to recapping my own notes, I've added in some quotes recorded by Ted Lee.

Kyle Wittingham was given the chance to speak first. He said his team has been practicing since the week after they played BYU (aka a LONG time ago) and is excited to be hitting someone besides their own teammates this week. He especially praised his freshman qb Jordan Wynn, whose maturity he says is beyond his years. A native of Oceanside, CA (just up the road from San Diego), Wynn is excited to play in front of friends and family. He has played in the Q several times before during various high school championship games, so the big stage will not be intimidating for him. Comparing Wynn to Masoli (whom Utah played against earlier in the season), Wittingham says Wynn is more of a drop-back passer than Masoli. Though Utah and Oregon employ similar schemes out of the spread, the 190 lb Wynn doesn't yet have the build for running the ball.

Asked how he has prepared his team to take on the inconsistent Cal, Wittingham says he prepared his team for the offensive and defensive schemes Cal utilizes. Whether Cal plays well or poorly, Utah will at least be prepared for what Cal is going to do.

Wittingham says his teams' key to success in bowl games (evidenced by the 8-game winning streak) is the players' mentality. He prepares them mentally as well as physically and emphasizes a 25-75 rule. 25% of performance is what you do and 75% is how you do it. Ultimately, it appears that hard work is behind Wittingham's teams' solid bowl performances.

"At the same time, it's an opportunity to win another football game. They handle that very well, their mentality, their work habits, their practice, their focus, their film study is all very good. That more than anything else, we don't have some secret way to practice there's no secret model. It's our guys' mentality and way they've committed themselves to working hard."

Tedford was up next and immediately talked about how pleased he and the team are to be back in San Diego for a bowl (third time in six years). He said the team had some struggles with balancing finals and practice, but he is pleased with the team's preparation for the game.

Tedford said his main concerns heading into this game are the usual concerns: winning the turnover battle, converting third downs, and preventing Utah from gaining good field position. He emphasized the kicking game, calling it a key to Cal's performance.

At this point, the press conference ended, but the coaches remained available to questions. I headed over to the crowd around Tedford and absorbed some more tidbits of information.

He said the team is motivated to play together one last time and said he and some of the seniors get a little sentimental this time of year.

"You look at these guys every day and they've been here for a long time and you care about them and they've done a lot for the program. There's no question there's a lot of being sentimental when you see some of the last things that they do. I think they feel good about playing together as a team I think they're gong to take a lot of pride in playing together one more time as this year's team."

After the faceplant against Oregon's spread offense, Tedford does not believe the same thing will happen against Utah's offense. What particularly caught Tedford and Gregory by surprise is that Oregon used a lateral running game in its first three games, but focused heavily on downhill running against Cal. This, obviously, was a tough scheme to adjust to.

"Oregon played differently against us then they had been playing," said Tedford. "They were a lateral run team and they came and ran downhill against us. I don't know we were prepared for that scheme that day. Another thing was that Masoli got hot, hopefully we can keep this quarterback from getting hot. Masoli can do a lot of things. He can run and throw. He adds a dimension that's very different, same as Locker he gets rolling and he 's thorwing and running the ball. I'm not sure who's going to play quarterback for Utah but the key is to contain that guy and not let him make plays."

In injury news, Tedford said MSG will be out, but that Brian Schwenke will get some playing time tomorrow. Tedford had plenty of praise for Schwenke, saying he has a great future ahead of him. Tedford is very happy with how Schwenke has played. Tedford said Syd is still day-to-day, but seemed cautiously optimistic that he'll be able to play. When I saw Syd throughout the day, he didn't seem to have any sort of limp or any noticeable impairment. We'll see how he does on the field today, however.

In an amusing note, Tedford said Riley was bragging about being the fastest QB in yesterday's go-kart races.

One final note that really stood out to me was Tedford's emphasis of the experience of participating in the entire bowl week beyond the bowl game itself. Tedford says he likes the team to maintain a balance of fun and work during the bowl week. He embraces the opportunity for the team to have fun at a variety of events (at a zoo, a race track, and an aircraft carrier, for example). Though having his starting QB race around a track a 45mph might make him a little nervous, he really seems to enjoy letting the guys have some fun.

"If you do a good job of creating some balance where they can have some fun, they can enjoy themselves, and have a great experience but then focusing on when its time to work and practice and have meetings. I feel like our kids have been able to do that during bowl preparations."

That about wraps up the press conference. After this I headed over to the USS Midway where I attended the luncheon and took some pictures of the battle of the bands event and the players' self-guided tours around the Midway. Tune in later this week for that.

Poinsettia Bowl Preview: No. 23 Utah vs Cal

Michael Rueckert — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:52:16 -0000

More photos » by Colin E. Braley - AP

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Next Game

Utah Utes
@ California Golden Bears

Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009, 5:00 PM PST
San Diego County Poinsettia Bowl - Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA

Q+A about Poinsettia Bowl

posted by Jeremy Mauss 2 days ago

2 comments | 0 recs

Poinsettia Bowl Q&A with California Golden Blogs

posted by Jeremy Mauss 2 days ago

0 comments | 0 recs

Cal's RB Jahvid Best Out for Poinsettia Bowl

posted by Jeremy Mauss 5 days ago

0 comments | 0 recs

Complete Coverage >

When it comes to bowl games, the Utes are as good as it gets. Utah will be looking to extend the nations longest bowl game win streak Wednesday night as they face the (8-4) California Golden Bears. The Utes have won 8 straight bowl games, which has included wins over Alabama, USC, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh. The (9-3) Utes will also be looking to reach the 10 win mark on the season.

Utah will be going up against their former offensive coordinator, Andy Ludwig. Being the Utes offensive coordinator last season, he knows their team well. The defensive minded Kyle Whittingham however, knows his style of play well too. We will have to see how much that plays into the game.

Cal will be without their best player, Jahvid Best who is still recovering from his fall against Oregon State. His replacement, Shane Vereen, is very good though so Cal shouldn't have too much of a drop off. He is slower than Best, but is a bit more elusive. Utah struggled defending the run against Oregon and TCU but did a good job against BYU.

The biggest question for Cal is what team will show up to this game? Will the Cal squad that beat Stanford and Arizona play, or the one that was crushed by Washington? The Utes are hoping that it is the latter. Cal can be a dangerous team, who entered the season hoping to win the Pac-10.

In a statistical comparison between the two teams that we did, it was determined that Cal is a better offensive team while Utah is the better defensive team. The margin of victory for Cal offensively was very slim however. Statistically it appears that Utah has the edge. Utah is a 3 point underdog however.

Look for Jordan Wynn to have a big game passing the ball. Cal has a weak secondary which allows 260.1 yards over the air. Wynn will be in familiar territory playing his third game in Qualcomm Stadium where he was (2-0) as the quarterback of Oceanside High School.

The Mountain West is having a great start to the bowl season with a (2-0) record thus far. Utah is looking to continue the statement by giving them a third win. This is another big MWC vs Pac 10 matchup who are developing a great and competitive rivalry.

I'm expecting a great and close game, but I think Utah wins. The Utes are just too good in bowl games for me to doubt them. Both teams should come out inspired, looking to end their season with a win, rather than a 2 game losing streak.

It's the bear necessities - question and answer period with Berkeley's finest

JazzyUte — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:00:01 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

Uh...I think we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

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I love the internets. Twenty years ago, it actually took effort to round up some resident know-it-all to get answers about a topic you're not entirely familiar with. And truth be told, I don't know much about Cal football. Except their coach before Jeff Tedford is currently the athletic director down in Provo. Oh and their offensive coordinator is some guy named Andrew Ludwig.

Whoever that is.

So, knowing I had Cal Berkeley connections a mouse click away, I caught a cyber wave on over to the best damn Pac Ten blog known to man (early-90s internet lingo FTW!) and asked them a few questions about today's game and how in the hell California went from sixth nationally to losing by a billion points to one of the Washington schools.

In fact, I actually answered some questions of my own. If you're interested in what I had to say (doubtful) go check it out and ignore the obvious confusion in copying and pasting my answers to the appropriate questions. Apparently the university can produce the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, yet their students still haven't figured out how to properly align answers to the corresponding questions.

I keed!

Anyway, the good stuff is after the jump!

1. Cal was quietly floated around as the team to dethrone SC in the Pac Ten. Didn't happen. Why?

Cal was over-hyped in the preseason. By everyone. The media gave Cal too much benefit of the doubt and focused too much on Jahvid Best and nobody else. Cal had huge question marks regarding its offensive line, its QB, and WRs. On defense, there were huge question marks regarding the linebackers. All those units have not performed well at various times during this season and can probably be described as just average. Football is a team game and you need talent at all the other positions too to win games. I think the mass media forgot about that. They focused solely on our Heisman candidate Jahvid Best, and kept saying he could carry the team. Not true. But many Cal fans bought that sell, and are now horribly disappointed with our season and our fall from the top 10.

2. Most Ute fans were apathetic to Andy Ludwig's leaving for Kansas State (before turning the car around and heading back out west). What's the general consensus among Cal fans regarding his first season? And yes, I'm asking you to speak for most your Golden Brethren.

Honestly, with most college football fans in general, few of us are qualified to truly and accurate critique offensive playcalling. Nevertheless, the consensus with Cal fans is that he's done a pretty good job. There have been a few games where Cal fans have been left scratching their head and puzzled, but for the most part, the playcalling has seemed to be productive and strategic. He obviously hasn't wowed us all but we're also not wishing he wasn't here.

3. While at Utah, Ludwig ran more a spread option-style offense in the mold of what we see from Urban Meyer teams. Obviously that isn't the case now. What's Cal's style?

Cal's style now is what I could consider a sort of hybrid power running and spread passing attack. I say "hybrid" because the offense doesn't incorporate all elements of a solely pro-style offense and nor does it incorporate all elements of a solely spread offense. For example, Cal doesn't really pass out of your traditional professional I-formation formations. And nor do they really run out of the spread formations. What Ludwig has done, is really adopt an offense that has two styles. When Cal wants to pass, it goes into a spread offense. When Cal wants to run, it goes into a more traditional professional I-formation power type of offense. So depending on the gameplan or the game situation, you can see the Cal offense vary considerably in their looks and formations. It's probably even fair to say that Cal really doesn't have a strong offensive style because the formations and tactics seem to change so much.

4. With Jahvid Best out, who will the offense fall back on? Does this concern you or can they plug in someone to feel the role?

Cal's second runningback is Shane Vereen. Although not having Jahvid Best does suck, I'm not sure that it will really hurt. Shane Vereen is a very talented runningback despite his different running style. I would describe his style as more of a power type of runningback. I don't mean that in the sense that he's going to run everyone over like Jerome Bettis, but he's going to grind out that yardage despite poor blocking. He may not hurt you with his speed, but he will hurt you with his ability to just squeeze out that extra yard or two when he has no business getting that extra yardage.

5. How's Cal's defense? They seem just as inconsistent as your offense. True?

Sort of. Cal's defense is consistently good against the run, and consistently inconsistent against the pass. Cal has always been a stop-the-run-first defense. Even the best rush offenses rarely rush for more than 100 yards and greater than a 3 yard average on our defense. However, when it comes to passing, that's where the defense fails. Aside from Syd'Quan Thompson, our All-American cornerback, opposing QBs have usually been able to have pretty good games against us more often than not. Our zone defense has been picked apart fairly methodically by many mediocre offenses. The cause for this weakness is presumed to be from lack of talent and experience.

6. Would you support the Pac Ten expanding to Utah & Colorado or Utah & BYU?

If the Pac-10 were to expand, I think either of those options would be fine ones. Colorado probably fits in with the Pac-10 schools a bit better, while bringing in Utah/BYU would preserve the conference's 'pod' scheduling. Honestly, though, I'm not terribly enamored with the idea of expansion. I know many Cal fans are, for all the same reasons that the ACC expanded recently. Still, there's no one of Miami's caliber for the Pac-10 to go and grab out West (Utah, BYU and Colorado might all fit in with the Pac-10, but they would only serve to make the conference bigger, not better), and I look at the ACC as more of a cautionary tale than anything. Their title game has mostly been a sparsely-attended dud, and not only did the increased conference size mess up their football round-robin (something I'm quite fond of in the Pac-10), but it also messed up their basketball double-round-robin too. Expansion might help the Pac-10 in terms of income, but I think it would ultimately dilute the product on the field, and until I see evidence to the contrary, I can't support expansion.

7. I noticed a mixed reaction to the news you guys were playing the Utes due to the location and the fact the game is on a Wednesday. Has that changed at all? Or are we going to hear, like what we heard after the Sugar Bowl earlier this year, that you guys didn't really want to be there?

It won't happen. The alternative to San Diego was El Paso, and unless our players have a little of the Ron Mexico in them, no one was really enthusiastic at the prospect of the Sun Bowl. No, if Utah beats us, it'll be the same thing that's happened in every one of our losses--total dysfunction in every significant aspect of the game. Oh, and Utah being better than us. Which would suck, but wouldn't surprise me at all.

8. Don't you just hate BYU?

Seven dollars is more valuable to me than a degree from BYU.

9. Prediction!

Well, if the Cal team that played against Stanfurd shows up for the bowl game, I think Cal has a great shot at winning quite solidly. On the other hand, if the Cal team that showed up against Oregon, USC, Oregon State, or Washington (the teams that beat Cal by a combined score of approximately 150-30), then Cal is screwed. I think the Cal players are disappointed that they're not in the Sun Bowl playing Oklahoma. The last time Cal went bowling and were disappointed about where they were bowling was in 2004 when we played Texas Tech in the Holiday Bowl. We lost that game in a worse fashion than the score suggests. So, I'm not thinking Cal is really going to show up for this game. I wouldn't be surprised if Cal loses. I'm going to guess that it's going to be a Cal loss, 27-31.

10. How many times has Ludwig tried the reverse on a third and short this season?

Actually, this hasn't happened at all this season. I don't think there has been a tendency this year that most Cal fans have really hated.

Fin

I'd like to thank California Golden Blogs for the information. Now hopefully they spend tomorrow crying in their tea-cups (they drink a lot of tea in Berkeley, right?).

Inside The Numbers: Utah Edition

TwistNHook — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:08:57 -0000

More photos » by Colin E. Braley - AP

about 1 month ago: Utah defensive back Lamar Chapman (21) scrambles after the ball fumbled by San Diego State wide receiver Roberto Wallace (18) during the third quarter of an NCAA college football game at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, in Salt Lake City. San Diego State recovered the fumble. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

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(Slight delay with Hydro's posts. They'll be coming either this afternoon or tomorrow, hang tight.)

Whew! One last day of Cal football. It's upcoming and it might not excite some of you, but remember this:

This is the last Cal football game we'll see for the next 9 months.

Yes. Kinda puts things into perspective, don't it. So, time to get up Bears! Time to get pumped and ready to go! To that end, Avinash and I decided to take a tour through the magical mystery that is Utah football stats. After the jump, follow us as we weave our way through their numbers and see what it portends for the Poinsettia Bowl, the most important Southern California Flower-Related Bowl you'll see all year! GO BEARS!

TwistNHook: Ok, first lets take a look at the Passing Stats thanks to cfbstats.com:

Situation	G	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Int	TD	Rating	Long	1st	15+	25+
All Plays	12	368	219	59.5	2642	8	16	129.81	90	105	54	22
1st Half	12	202	122	60.4	1559	5	8	133.35	69	62	36	15
2nd Half/OT	12	166	97	58.4	1083	3	8	125.52	90	43	18	7
1st Quarter	12	86	63	73.3	873	2	5	173.07	69	34	19	9
2nd Quarter	12	116	59	50.9	686	3	3	103.90	50	28	17	6
3rd Quarter	12	87	51	58.6	553	1	4	124.88	90	22	9	3
4th Quarter	12	73	43	58.9	510	2	4	130.18	51	20	9	4
Overtime	2	6	3	50.0	20	0	0	78.00	8	1	0	0

Oy, these look pretty good. Nearly 60% completion rate. We'd kill for that. Twice as many TD than Interceptions. Rating of about 130 is not great, but not particularly bad either. And they start off with a 173 rating, so that is very good. Oddly enough, though, they have their largest attempts in the 2nd quarter. Not sure why. 116 attempts compared to not more than 87 in the other quarters. Why would that be?

In that quarter, their numbers are the worst, too. 51ish% completion rate with 3 int to 3 TD and a 104 QB rating. Hopefully, Cal can get Utah to play at that level as compared to their overall level!

Avinash:

Date	Opponent	Surface	Result	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Yards/Att	Int	TD	Rating
09/03/09	Utah St.	Turf	W 35-17	30	20	66.7	286	9.5	1	2	162.08
09/12/09	@ San Jose St.	Grass	W 24-14	32	18	56.3	248	7.8	0	1	131.66
09/19/09	@ 7 Oregon	Turf	L 24-31	42	20	47.6	178	4.2	2	1	81.56
09/26/09	Louisville	Turf	W 30-14	22	17	77.3	202	9.2	1	2	175.31
10/10/09	@ Colorado St.	Turf	W 24-17	32	24	75.0	248	7.8	1	2	154.48
10/17/09	@ UNLV	Turf	W 35-15	24	17	70.8	174	7.3	0	2	159.23
10/24/09	Air Force	Turf	W 23-16	21	11	52.4	167	8.0	0	1	134.89
10/31/09	Wyoming	Turf	W 22-10	28	20	71.4	211	7.5	0	1	146.51
11/07/09	New Mexico	Turf	W 45-14	31	19	61.3	306	9.9	1	2	159.05
11/14/09	@ 3 TCU	Grass	L 28-55	32	16	50.0	219	6.8	1	1	111.55
11/21/09	San Diego St.	Turf	W 38-7	29	15	51.7	202	7.0	0	1	121.61
11/28/09	@ 15 Brigham Young	Grass	L 23-26	45	22	48.9	201	4.5	1	0	81.97

Simple to figure out: Bad against good teams...good against bad teams. I remember watching the Oregon-Utah game and wondering, "Wow, these guys can't throw the ball." Against most of the MWC bottom-dwellers though they romped it up. However, Terrence Cain went down around Halloween, forcing true freshman Jordan Wynn into the starting spot against TCU and BYU. Tough spot for the young one to be in.

That being said, Cal's pass defense has yet to play real well this season (they've had moments, but good games? It's been awhile), so I doubt Wynn will have trouble getting his looks. A lot will depend on how well the Utes can run the ball and get that going.

TwistNHook: Ok, now lets take a look at the rushing stats.

- Show quoted text -

Situation	G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Long	1st	10+	20+
All Plays	12	450	2033	4.52	23	46	109	68	17
1st Half	12	211	799	3.79	11	44	46	28	4
2nd Half/OT	12	239	1234	5.16	12	46	63	40	13
1st Quarter	12	103	450	4.37	7	44	20	13	4
2nd Quarter	12	108	349	3.23	4	16	26	15	0
3rd Quarter	12	110	605	5.50	4	35	33	20	6
4th Quarter	12	121	611	5.05	7	46	28	20	7
Overtime	2	8	18	2.25	1	9	2	0	0

What do we have here? 23 TDs, pretty good. 4.52 yards a carry. Not all that bad, but if you look at the first half numbers, it is quite a bit different from the second half numbers. 3.79 compared to 5.16. 2nd half doesn't have *that* many more carries than first half (especially when divided over 12 games) than first. So, what is the reason for the increased success as the game continues? Do they have a lot of OLine depth? Do they cheat? Or are they generally dominant and rushing a lot in blowouts?

Let's look at their sked;

2009 Schedule/Results

DATE	OPPONENT	W-L (CONF)	RESULT
9/03	Utah State	1-0 (0-0)	W 35-17
9/12	@ San Jose State	2-0 (0-0)	W 24-14
9/19	@ Oregon	2-1 (0-0)	L 31-24
9/26	Louisville	3-1 (0-0)	W 30-14
10/10	@ Colorado State	4-1 (1-0)	W 24-17
10/17	@ UNLV	5-1 (2-0)	W 35-15
10/24	Air Force	6-1 (3-0)	W 23-16 OT
10/31	Wyoming	7-1 (4-0)	W 22-10
11/07	New Mexico	8-1 (5-0)	W 45-14
11/14	@ No. 4 TCU	8-2 (5-1)	L 55-28
11/21	San Diego State	9-2 (6-1)	W 38-7
11/28	@ No. 19 Brigham Young	9-3 (6-2)	L 26-23 OT
12/23	vs. California		8:00 PM

Well, they went 9-3. 9 wins. Of those 9 wins, 7 were by 10 points or more and 6 were by 14 points or more. So, they might have been running a decent amount in the second half where the opposing team didn't really have a chance. Hopefully, that means that the increased second half numbers are not necessarily indicative of great OL depth, but just a contextual situation that HOPEFULLY won't occur on the 23rd!!!!! Hopefully.

Avinash: 17 sacks allowed, 33rd in the country.

51 tackles for loss allowed, 12th in the country

At first glance the offensive line looks really good. Again it looks like it'll come down to how well we stick down on the run...we can't have Utah clicking on both cylinders. If the running game is stopped that'll force their true frosh to throw more...and given how we've done against Nick Foles and Andrew Luck (redshirts, but whatever), and he doesn't seem as capable as those two, we might have some success.

Eddie Wide is their primary ball-carrier, and he's been tearing it up as of late...

Date Opponent Surface Result Att Yards Avg. TD

09/03/09 Utah St. Turf W 35-17 6 30 5.00 0

09/12/09 @ San Jose St. Grass W 24-14 8 40 5.00 1

09/19/09 @ 7 Oregon Turf L 24-31 2 -3 -1.50 0

09/26/09 Louisville Turf W 30-14 19 129 6.79 0

10/10/09 @ Colorado St. Turf W 24-17 17 102 6.00 1

10/17/09 @ UNLV Turf W 35-15 17 111 6.53 1

10/24/09 Air Force Turf W 23-16 17 121 7.12 2

10/31/09 Wyoming Turf W 22-10 24 135 5.63 1

11/07/09 New Mexico Turf W 45-14 20 145 7.25 2

11/14/09 @ 3 TCU Grass L 28-55 14 25 1.79 1

11/21/09 San Diego St. Turf W 38-7 16 84 5.25 2

11/28/09 @ 15 Brigham Young Grass L 23-26 21 114 5.43 1

Except for the customary stuffing at TCU, he's performed really well: seven 100+ yard games out of 9, with a YPA of at least 5+ in each one. I'm not going to say he's beaten up on the stiffest of competition, but I'd expect we'd want to hold him to 60 or 70 yards. Anything over that and Cal could be in huge trouble defensively.

TwistNHook: Let's take a look at the Passing D.

Situation	G	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Int	TD	Rating	Long	1st	15+	25+
All Plays	12	361	181	50.1	2074	15	11	100.15	59	91	51	17
1st Half	12	187	92	49.2	1202	6	3	102.07	59	51	27	12
2nd Half/OT	12	174	89	51.1	872	9	8	98.07	36	40	24	5
1st Quarter	11	83	42	50.6	648	1	2	121.72	59	27	15	6
2nd Quarter	12	104	50	48.1	554	5	1	86.38	42	24	12	6
3rd Quarter	12	82	38	46.3	386	2	3	93.07	36	18	12	3
4th Quarter	12	89	49	55.1	457	7	4	97.29	28	20	11	1
Overtime	2	3	2	66.7	29	0	1	257.87	25	2	1	1

Oy! 50% against. 100 rating against. More Ints than TDs. Those are gooooooooooooooood numbers. Unless we get them to overtime, where they are giving up a QB rating of 257! 257! Now, *that's* a number I can work with. The numbers also seem fairly steady across the board. The highest QB rating against is 121, which is very solid.

This is a very solid passing Defense and Cal is going to need to bring solid blocking to give Riley a chance to make the good throws. Hopefully, we see the Kevin Riley that played in the Big Game, making great throws at the perfect times.

Avinash:

Date	Opponent	Surface	Result	Att	Comp	Pct.	Yards	Yards/Att	Int	TD	Rating
09/03/09	Utah St.	Turf	W 35-17	26	10	38.5	121	4.7	1	0	69.86
09/12/09	@ San Jose St.	Grass	W 24-14	34	21	61.8	242	7.1	1	1	125.39
09/19/09	@ 7 Oregon	Turf	L 24-31	16	4	25.0	95	5.9	1	0	62.38
09/26/09	Louisville	Turf	W 30-14	33	15	45.5	181	5.5	1	1	95.47
10/10/09	@ Colorado St.	Turf	W 24-17	24	12	50.0	184	7.7	3	1	103.15
10/17/09	@ UNLV	Turf	W 35-15	47	25	53.2	236	5.0	2	1	93.88
10/24/09	Air Force	Turf	W 23-16	10	7	70.0	64	6.4	0	0	123.76
10/31/09	Wyoming	Turf	W 22-10	31	20	64.5	151	4.9	1	1	109.64
11/07/09	New Mexico	Turf	W 45-14	42	21	50.0	252	6.0	2	2	106.59
11/14/09	@ 3 TCU	Grass	L 28-55	29	17	58.6	207	7.1	1	1	123.06
11/21/09	San Diego St.	Turf	W 38-7	37	17	45.9	207	5.6	2	1	91.06
11/28/09	@ 15 Brigham Young	Grass	L 23-26	32	12	37.5	134	4.2	0	2	93.31

Shut down Oregon, very impressive. Shut down Max Hall (37% completion rate???), VERY impressive. TCU had a modest game against them, but for giving up 55 points, the pass D seemed to hold up their end. The only team that's threw on them well was Air Force (on 10 throws?) and Wyoming (WYOMING?)?

Not sure what to make of these guys. I'm guessing we don't want to end up throwing on them that much and rely a lot on Vereen to take us home. Sad that this is what our offense has come down to--staying as far away from the pass game as possible.

TwistNHook: Well, we better hope that their run D kinda sucks, then.

Situation	G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Long	1st	10+	20+
All Plays	12	451	1696	3.76	15	96	91	43	13
1st Half	12	228	849	3.72	10	96	44	20	4
2nd Half/OT	12	223	847	3.80	5	64	47	23	9
1st Quarter	12	120	530	4.42	4	96	23	13	3
2nd Quarter	12	108	319	2.95	6	22	21	7	1
3rd Quarter	12	115	419	3.64	3	45	25	11	3
4th Quarter	12	101	409	4.05	2	64	22	12	6
Overtime	2	7	19	2.71	0	6	0	0	0

GODDAMN IT! 3.76 yard per rush against. Ai! And the 1st half 2nd half splits don't seem to be particularily different. This ain't good.

To compare, ASU's run D, which was known for being rather good (unless they were facing a T Gerhart) gives up 3.39 yards per rush

Cal's rush D, which was fairly stout all year long, is actually at 3.51. So, while we do have a better rush D on a per carry basis, it is not much better.

So, they have a rush D on the same level as ours and a pass D that is much, much better. Their offense doesn't seem to be amazing, so this could be a defensive struggle. I feel as if that could benefit Cal, given our recent offensive woes. Recent as in the last game, where Matt Summers-Gavin did not play. Ai!

Avinash: Eh. This doesn't concern me as much.

09/03/09	Utah St.	Turf	W 35-17	34	221	6.50	2
09/12/09	@ San Jose St.	Grass	W 24-14	22	22	1.00	1
09/19/09	@ 7 Oregon	Turf	L 24-31	51	217	4.25	3
09/26/09	Louisville	Turf	W 30-14	35	80	2.29	1
10/10/09	@ Colorado St.	Turf	W 24-17	31	150	4.84	1
10/17/09	@ UNLV	Turf	W 35-15	33	91	2.76	0
10/24/09	Air Force	Turf	W 23-16	75	254	3.39	1
10/31/09	Wyoming	Turf	W 22-10	25	51	2.04	0
11/07/09	New Mexico	Turf	W 45-14	29	82	2.83	0
11/14/09	@ 3 TCU	Grass	L 28-55	51	342	6.71	5
11/21/09	San Diego St.	Turf	W 38-7	29	55	1.90	0
11/28/09	@ 15 Brigham Young	Grass	L 23-26	36	131	3.64	1
	Totals			451	1696	3.76	15

Short story: They shut down crappy running games (Wyoming 86th, UNLV 87th, Louisville 90th New Mexico 110th, San Diego State 116th, San Jose State 117th) and got torched by good ones (TCU 5th, Oregon 6th, Utah State 22nd). While we're not as potent as TCU or Oregon in the run game, I feel Vereen, and some Debo and Isi can get us around our 175+ average.

The key will be how good Riley and the receivers can keep up their end of the bargain. The O-line might struggle in both areas, but Utah's defense is heavily dependent on how good the opponent they're facing.

Short story: If Good Cal shows up we win, if Bad Cal shows up we lose. How's that for trite?

TwistNHook: What's trite mean?

Avinash: Use the googles.

TwistNHook: THE GOOGLES, THEY DO NOTHING!

Poll

Give it to us good.

Big Cal victory

25 votes

Close Cal victory

81 votes

Close Cal loss

25 votes

Big Cal loss

30 votes

161 votes | Poll has closed

Is the Poinsettia Bowl a must win for Utah?

JazzyUte — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:35:26 -0000

More photos » by Colin E. Braley - AP

Utah needs to beat Cal in the Poinsettia Bowl if they're going to have a successful 2009 season.

Browse more photos »

I haven't used this term all season because I hate to box the Utes into such a subjective statement. If they do actually lose, it's hard to really salvage anything out of that loss if you're putting it all on the line in your mind. With that said, I can't help but think the Poinsettia Bowl is a huge game for varying reasons.

With a victory, the Utes can do something only done once before in program history - record back-to-back ten-win seasons. That happened from 2003 to 2004 and it's often considered the most successful two-year stretch by a Utah team. And though finishing 10-3 in 2009 probably won't hold as much weight as the 10-2 finish in 2003, it still is rather solid for a rebuilding year.

The alternative, unfortunately, is another 9-4 season and most likely a finish outside of the top-25. At first glance, it isn't entirely an awful rebuilding campaign. However, if you dig deeper, you see this season has pretty much been a mile long and an inch deep. Utah has been good at beating the teams they should beat and that's it. They've yet to win a game against a better opponent (Oregon, TCU) or one equal to their stature (BYU).

Cal offers yet another opportunity to record an important and memorable win for the the Ute football program. If they fail in that regard, it will be the first time in a very long time (2000) where the Utes failed to gain one eventful win.

2008 was chalk full of them. 2007 had victories over UCLA (11th nationally), Louisville (a year removed from finishing 6th nationally), TCU and Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl. 2006 was a very similar season to 2009 - yet Utah managed to beat a good Frogs team that finished 11-2 and 21st nationally). While 2005 had wins over BYU and Georgia Tech in the Emerald Bowl.

If the Utes fail to beat Cal Wednesday, this season will probably go down as the most mediocre 9-win campaign in program history. It certainly won't feel like 9-wins and much of the spring and summer will be spent looking back at what could have been instead of expecting to build on what could be a signature win this season.

That point, the part about building on a win in the bowl game, is more meaningful in my mind than anything I mentioned above. It's something that faced the 2007 Utes after they entered the Poinsettia Bowl on the heels of a hard-fought loss to the Cougars down in Provo.

Prior to that game, I pretty much said it was a must-win here on the blog because I believed it could set the foundation for something special in 2008.

For Utah to return to the national stage, it must prove they have sustainability in college football. Losing to Navy would solidify the fact Utah is a regressing program that got lucky during their winning streak. College football is fickle like that and a victory over Navy would continue keeping Utah relevant, while a loss would almost certainly place them amongst college football's most irrelevant programs.

I know it sounds like I'm putting a lot on this game, but I do think there is a big difference between 9-4 and 8-5. Just as there is a huge difference between 10-3 and 9-4, however, that is something Utah failed to attain with a loss to BYU in November. But now they can somewhat make up for it and it all will begin with a victory against Navy.

The Utes gained an important win and used that as a springboard to success in 2008. Now I'm not suggesting 2010 will be similar, but it's never easy regrouping after a loss. Especially when this team has found itself on the losing end of every game they've played against a decent opponent.

That's the big difference between 2007 and 2009. In 2007, Utah managed to win some big games during their win streak. Knocking off a hot Bruins team in Salt Lake the way they did, even if it was followed by a disastrous effort a week later against UNLV, was an important step for this team. As was going on the road and beating the Cardinals, who had yet to fully tank as of that point. Add the victory over the Frogs in Fort Worth and you have a season that probably could have been a lot better than it was if there hadn't been a slew of injuries earlier in the year.

We have similar questions about this year's Utes team. They are a play or two away from being 11-1 right now and most likely a top-ten team. That didn't happen. The difference is that the '07 squad proved themselves at times throughout that season. They bounced back after a horrific loss and built a seven game winning streak when everyone had written them off. This year's Utes had a similar winning streak (six), but it came against no one and with expectations higher than the results on the field.

Because of this, I actually believe there is more to lose in this Poinsettia Bowl than two years ago and I was pretty committed to the idea of a must-win back then. Utah hasn't ended the season with two consecutive losses in over ten years and has a chance to remain ranked in a rebuilding year. That's an important step for a program that fought with keeping itself relevant after the Urban Meyer show left town.

Winning Wednesday establishes that. It guarantees Utah another top-25 finish, ten wins, nine straight bowl wins and momentum heading into the next season. The latter is important because Jordan Wynn most likely will be the Utes' quarterback when football kicks off late next year. For him, it's all about creating the confidence and mental toughness needed to lead Utah through a great season.

What we saw in 2007 was a game where Brian Johnson proved he was a gamer. He led the Utes to a comeback victory over Navy and carried that over into the next year. The possibility for Wynn to do that is there and makes a win all the more important. Because if he loses, that would put him at 0-3 in big games this season. Mentally, it might not have much of an impact - until the next big game comes up and people question whether he has it. Well, I think he does have it. I think Wynn is capable of being a very good quarterback and can ease our doubts by guiding Utah to a victory in a couple of days.

If he fails, if the Utes' bowl winning streak is snapped, Utah not only will have to fight preseason perception that will undoubtedly question their chances, they'll have to fight the mindset that maybe this team isn't built to win the big games. Sure, they'll get by on the cupcakes and pad their win total with easy wins over easy opponents, but if they wilt and falter against the elite, no one will take them seriously. In fact, Utah is only being taken seriously this season because of what they did last season. And as we saw in 2006, a full two seasons after the accomplishments of playing in the BCS, if you can't keep it going, no one will take notice. You won't be relevant anymore.

Winning here would accomplish much of what we wanted from these Utes: ten wins, a bowl victory and finishing the season ranked. There might not be a conference championship or win over BYU - but for a rebuilding year, it's acceptable and most importantly, sustains what was accomplished last year.

Because of this, I can't help but think this game is a must-win.

SB Nation - Utah Utes

Bowl Games Gameday Thread: December 23rd, 2009

Poinsettia Bowl Open Thread: #23 Utah Utes vs. Cal Golden Bears

Twitter #mwc

Bowl Preview: SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl

OMG it's game day!

Utah RB Matt Asiata to Return to the Team for 2010 Season

Poinsettia Bowl Press Conference

Poinsettia Bowl Preview: No. 23 Utah vs Cal

Next Game

Q+A about Poinsettia Bowl

Poinsettia Bowl Q&A with California Golden Blogs

Cal's RB Jahvid Best Out for Poinsettia Bowl

It's the bear necessities - question and answer period with Berkeley's finest

1. Cal was quietly floated around as the team to dethrone SC in the Pac Ten. Didn't happen. Why?

2. Most Ute fans were apathetic to Andy Ludwig's leaving for Kansas State (before turning the car around and heading back out west). What's the general consensus among Cal fans regarding his first season? And yes, I'm asking you to speak for most your Golden Brethren.

3. While at Utah, Ludwig ran more a spread option-style offense in the mold of what we see from Urban Meyer teams. Obviously that isn't the case now. What's Cal's style?

4. With Jahvid Best out, who will the offense fall back on? Does this concern you or can they plug in someone to feel the role?

5. How's Cal's defense? They seem just as inconsistent as your offense. True?

6. Would you support the Pac Ten expanding to Utah & Colorado or Utah & BYU?

7. I noticed a mixed reaction to the news you guys were playing the Utes due to the location and the fact the game is on a Wednesday. Has that changed at all? Or are we going to hear, like what we heard after the Sugar Bowl earlier this year, that you guys didn't really want to be there?

8. Don't you just hate BYU?

9. Prediction!

10. How many times has Ludwig tried the reverse on a third and short this season?

Inside The Numbers: Utah Edition

2009 Schedule/Results

Give it to us good.

Big Cal victory

Close Cal victory

Close Cal loss

Big Cal loss

Is the Poinsettia Bowl a must win for Utah?