(Sports Network) - Seeking revenge for an ugly loss last
year, the 22nd-ranked Utah Utes hit the field in Rice-Eccles Stadium this
weekend against Mountain West Conference foe UNLV.

Last season, the Utes opened with back-to-back losses against Oregon State and
Air Force but then clobbered nationally-ranked UCLA. However, a week later
Utah was stunned by the Rebels in a 27-0 decision in the desert. The setback
served as a wake-up call for head coach Kyle Whittingham and his troops
because they then ran off seven consecutive wins. Whittingham, who admitted
the game should not have been as close as it was but accepted the fact that
his team could play poorly at times and still earn a monumental victory on the
road, is now 5-3 versus BCS programs since taking over in Salt Lake City. This
time around the Utes are again coming off a huge victory, beating Michigan in
the opener at the Big House by a score of 25-23.

As for the Rebels, a group that has won just two games each of the last three
years, they managed to secure their first win of 2008 for head coach Mike
Sanford right out of the gate with a 27-17 triumph over Utah State in Nevada.

The victory for the Rebels over the Utes last season was just the second in 13
meetings between the two teams.

Omar Clayton took the majority of the snaps for the Rebels on Saturday night
and responded by hitting 17-of-29 attempts for 192 yards and three touchdowns.
More importantly, Clayton didn't throw a single interception and avoided
getting sacked. All-conference receiver Ryan Wolfe picked up where he left off
last season as he reeled in seven passes for 103 yards and two scores. Frank
Summers, the leading rusher for the team a year ago, stepped up with 87 yards
on 14 carries. "Frank Summers is the majority of their run game," the coach of
Utah has recognized. "They have two good receivers, Ryan Wolfe and Casey
Flair.

There are a lot of new faces on defense, but beyond a new quarterback, most of
their offense is the same cast of characters as last year. Frank did a lot of
damage last year." The 27 points by the Rebels was a welcomed change from what
the team suffered through in 2007 when they averaged a mere 18.2 ppg to rank
not only last in the Mountain West Conference but also 111th in the nation
overall. Six times the program was limited to just two touchdowns or less
mainly due to the fact that the squad's pass efficiency rating was only
109.52, ranking them eighth in the conference and 98th in the country. It also
didn't help that the front line surrendered 2.7 sacks per game, again second-
to-worst in the MWC and 97th in the nation.

If the team thought it was having a hard time getting into the opponent's
backfield last season, it started off even worse this time around. In 2007 the
Rebels averaged just 4.4 tackles for loss which was not only ninth in the
country, it ranked ahead of only Toledo and Marshall among the 119 programs in
the Football Bowl Subdivision. Versus the Aggies, UNLV managed a mere two
tackles for loss and could not get deep enough and apply the proper amount of
pressure to record even one sack. Starr Fuimaono finished with a team-best 14
tackles, followed by Ronnie Paulo who was credited with 12 stops, but had just
one solo takedown.

Against the Utes a season ago, UNLV surrendered just 300 yards of total
offense, their second-best effort of the campaign and far better than the
386.8 ypg allowed on the average by the Rebels over the course of 12 contests.

Quarterback Brian Johnson looked unstoppable in the first half against
Michigan on Saturday afternoon, yet his ineffective play in the second half
nearly cost the Utes a monster win on the road against one of the most storied
programs in all of college football. "The pace we set in first half was
blistering," was how coach Whittingham described the effort. "In the second
half, it was a combination of them (Michigan) making adjustments and our level
of execution dropping off. That all led to a dismal second half."

Nevertheless Johnson, who was named the MWC Offensive Player of the Week,
still managed to connect on 21-of-33 for 305 yards and a score. However, the
signal-caller's six sacks gave life to an otherwise stagnant Wolverine squad.
Matt Asiata, seeing his first action since missing almost all of last season,
provided a crucial change of pace for Utah, taking some snaps directly from
center to roll up his team-best 77 yards on 13 carries. Although he had just a
single rushing attempt, Corbin Louks made the most of it by rolling into the
end zone from eight yards out. The return of receiver Brent Casteel (five
receptions, 49 yards) also gave the unit a huge lift, one that ranked just
seventh in the MWC and 81st in the nation last season with 202.2 ypg through
the air.

Utah had the country's top-ranked pass efficiency defense a year ago, posting
a 96.5 mark, and looked just that much stronger for most of the game on
Saturday. However in the fourth quarter, spanning just a few minutes in fact,
the secondary looked lost as the Wolverines stormed back and drew to within
two points. Michigan's spread offense was stalling and was in need of a boost
and the quarterbacks responded with 203 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but
thankfully the Utes applied just enough pressure during a two-point conversion
to secure the hard-fought victory.

Paul Kruger logged a team-best nine tackles for the Utes, tying Nai Fotu
(seven tackles, one sack) for the team high with 2.5 TFLs. Koa Misi (five
tackles) posted 1.5 sacks and Sean Smith broke up a pair of passes and
returned an interception 20 yards to solidify the program's efforts. For a
team that gave up 10 points or less in five games a season ago and averaged
16.9 ppg allowed (fifth in the nation), they had to be pleased with their
performance in a hostile environment.



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