BYU's Sione Moa scores a touchdown against Stanford in Provo, Utah. (Photo by BYU Athletics)
Utah and BYU show why the road to the Big 12 Championship this year will be on I-15 and go through Provo and Salt Lake City. The Cougars and the Utes showed steady improvement from Week 1. Utah State and the FCS teams found the going a little tougher.
#8 BYU 2-0 (0-0 in the Big 12)
BYU played smashmouth football in their victory over Stanford. The Cougars looked a lot like an old-school team, much like Stanford did about 10 years ago under David Shaw. BYU relied on that formula of running the ball well, not turning it over in the passing game, gaining critical yards and points on special teams, and playing lights-out defense. The Cougars have next week off before traveling to the Atlantic Coast to take on the East Carolina Pirates.
#20 Utah 2-0 (0-0 in the Big 12)
Utah continued to showcase their new offense under offensive coordinator Jason Beck and quarterback Devon Dampier. The Utes defeated Cal Poly 63-9, and Dampier again showcased what he can do. He had 192 passing yards and three touchdowns before he was pulled to save him for the rest of the season. Utah hits I-80 East to go play an old Mountain West and WAC foe, the Wyoming Cowboys in Laramie.
Utah State 1-1 (0-0 in the Mountain West)
The Battle of the Aggies took place down in College Station, Texas. The Mountain West Aggies visited the SEC Aggies. While a Utah State win would have been huge, USU had to keep fighting no matter what, and despite being down 30-6 at halftime, they did. Utah State still fell, 44-22, but they kept fighting, and they’ll need that resilience when they open Mountain West play next week against Air Force in Logan.
Weber State 0-2 (0-0 in the Big Sky)
Week 2 was as rough as Week 1 for Weber State. They traveled south to Tucson, Arizona, to take on Arizona in a Battle of the Wildcats. Weber managed to avoid the shutout, but that’s about all the good you can take away from another loss in which their defense gave up 45 points. Weber will be glad to travel to Louisiana to take on a fellow FCS team in McNeese.
Utah Tech 0-2 (0-0 in the United Athletic Conference)
The Trailblazers found themselves in another battle against another top 20 team. UT hit the road and went to Flagstaff, Arizona, to play Northern Arizona. Like last week against UC Davis, the upset-minded Trailblazers gave the favorites all they could handle, but again fell short, 38-31. Next week, UT goes north to play another ranked team, the Idaho Vandals.
Southern Utah 1-1 (0-0 in the United Athletic Conference)
The Thunderbirds took a road trip down I-15 from Cedar City to San Diego to take on the #24 San Diego Toreros. A big game from quarterback Bronson Barron was enough for SUU to take San Diego to overtime with a score of 24-24. Barron had 292 passing yards and threw three touchdown passes. However, the Thunderbirds stalled in overtime, settling for a field goal. SD, on the other hand, answered with a touchdown, ultimately winning the game. Next week, SUU will take on Northern Arizona and see if they can succeed where their fellow Utah team and fellow UAC conference team, Utah Tech, could not.
Writer’s Note: All FBS team rankings referenced are from the College Football Power Rankings here at TheForkball.com. All FCS rankings are from the FCS STATS poll.
