Tulsa (8-4) vs. Utah (7-5)
Dec. 23,
8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
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Armed Forces Bowl
Player Profile: Tulsa QB Paul Smith, team bowl history and more
This is more than just a battle of
mid-major also-rans, these are two powers in their respective
conferences with each hoping to end a slightly disappointing season
on a high note.
Utah hasn't quite been able to capitalize on the momentum from 12-0
2004 season, but the team has been decent over the last two years
under head coach Kyle Whittingham and has been amazing in its last
three bowl appearances going 3-0 by a combined score of 90 to 17.
This is a relatively young team that should be one of the favorites
for the 2007 Mountain West title once 2005 starting quarterback
Brian Johnson returns from a knee injury.
|
|
National
Rankings |
|
Tulsa |
Utah |
|
Total Offense |
|
20th 399.75 ypg |
43rd 365.33 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
19th 272.83 ypg |
56th 327.23 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
31st 28.92 ppg |
35th 28.17 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
41st 19.75 ppg |
46th 20.42 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
32nd 167.58 ypg |
56th 138.42 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
57th 135.33 ypg |
26th 107.33 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
30th 232.17 ypg |
36th 226.92 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
6th 152.50 ypg |
86th 220.50 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
a 5th -.0.42 |
16th 0.67 |
|
Tulsa
S. F. Austin W 45-7
at BYU L 49-24
North Texas W 28-3
at Navy W 24-23 OT
So Miss W 20-6
at East Car. W 31-10
at Memphis W 35-14
UTEP W 30-20
at Houston L 27-10
Rice L 41-38 2OT
at SMU L 34-24
Tulane W 38-3 |
Utah
at UCLA L 31-10
No. Arizona W 45-7
at Utah State W 48-0
at SDSU W 38-7
Boise State L 36-3
TCU W 20-7
at Wyoming L 31-15
at New Mex L 34-31
UNLV W 45-23
Colorado St W 35-22
at Air Force W 17-14
BYU L 33-31 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
T |
5
highest
1 lowest |
U |
|
4 |
Quarterbacks |
3.5 |
|
3 |
RBs |
2 |
|
3 |
Receivers |
3.5 |
|
3.5 |
O
Line |
3.5 |
|
3 |
D
Line |
4 |
|
3.5 |
Linebackers |
3 |
|
4 |
Secondary |
3 |
|
3.5 |
Spec
Teams |
4 |
|
4.5 |
Coaching |
3.5 |
|
Tulsa won its
bowl game last year beating Fresno State 31-24 in the Liberty Bowl,
but this has been a different team than the 2005 Conference USA
championship version. Head coach Steve Kragthorpe, after turning
around the once-lousy program, is one of the hot names for several
top coaching vacancies and can become an even hotter property with a
win for the school's second straight nine win season.
After starting out hot with a 7-1 record and apparently cruising for
another Conference USA title, the wheels started to come off in an
unTulsa-like 27-10 loss to Houston sparking a three-game losing
streak before finishing up with a dominant beatdown of Tulane. This
isn't the mistake-free, solid-in-all-areas team of last year, but it
has a balanced, efficient offensive attack and led the league in
defense allowing just 288 yards per game.
Utah was all excited about possibly starting its season off with a
bang hoping for a splashy win over UCLA to get early national
attention. One 31-10 thumping later and the Utes were quickly
forgotten about. After an inconsistent first eight games highlighted
by a dominant win over TCU and hitting bottom with a 36-3
destruction by Boise State, QB Brett Ratliff turned things around to
win three straight before succumbing to BYU in a 33-31, last second
heartbreaker.
This isn't the Ute team that you might remember from a few years ago
with the spread offense using the passing game more than the
coaching staff might like, but it doesn't make a lot of mistakes, is
great at ball security, and is solid on special teams.
Unfortunately, it lacks home-run hitting pop and if the passing game
breaks down, it's not pretty.
These are two interesting, evenly matched teams representing two
conferences desperate for respect. Each is good enough to hang
around with the big boys, and each is good enough to be one of the
early favorites for their respective league titles. If they play up
to their capabilities, this will be entertaining, but if one falls
into the same ugly habit that prevented a trip to a better bowl
(inconsistency in the Utah passing game, turnovers for Tulsa), then
this could be a dog.
Players to watch: You likely haven't seen Utah All-American
Eric Weddle play, so here's your shot before he becomes a
high round draft pick next year. With great speed, linebacker-like
tackling skills, and a nose for the ball, he's the Utes' main weapon
on both sides of the ball being used as a running back, quarterback,
corner, and safety throughout the season. While he's technically a
corner, he's more of a hybrid being used as a strong safety while
occasionally lining up on the opposing team's number one target when
needed. Most famously, he shut down Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson in
last year's Emerald Bowl.
Weddle and the Utah defense's main job will be to keep track of
Tulsa's Idris Moss, who is a jack-of-all-trades for the
offense. Mainly a receiver with 54 catches for 772 yards and a
touchdown highlighted by a 13-catch, 120-yard game against SMU.
He'll be used as a running back, punt returner and kickoff returner
to get the ball in his hands as much as possible.
Getting Moss the ball is Paul Smith, the steady, but
unspectacular, passer who knows the offense back and forth and is
almost always in total control. He had a problem with interceptions
over the second half of the season, throwing a pick in every game
over a five week stretch, but he's normally good at hanging on to
the ball and he's fantastic on third downs.
Smith's counterpart, Brett Ratliff, is everything to the Utah
offense. So bad in the middle of the year that there was talk of
Brian Johnson possibly coming back early from his knee injury to try
to salvage the season, Ratliff turned things around throwing for
more than 200 yards in each of his last five games. He's not the
ideal fit for the Utah offense with no appreciable running skills,
but he's not a statue with 225 yards and a touchdown on the year.
When the coaching staff wants the quarterback to run, it usually
goes with Weddle.
Utah
will win if...
it gets the ball moving on the
ground. Tulsa's pass defense isn't quite as good as its No. 6
national ranking might indicate, but it's good enough to keep the
Utah passing game from rolling for four quarters. It might take
several players and several different options, but Utah has to run
the ball. For the most part, Tulsa lost when the run defense
struggled getting blown out by BYU and Houston after allowing more
than 220 yards, and was 7-0 when allowing 126 rushing yards or
fewer.
Tulsa will win if... it wins the turnover
battle. Oddly enough, the Golden Hurricane has been able to survive
most of its big mistakes, but in an even game like this should be,
the team that commits the fewest errors will likely pull out the
win. Utah doesn't turn it over that often, but when it does, the
results are disastrous getting blown out by UCLA after giving it
away three times, losing to Wyoming after turning it over four
times, and getting annihilated by Boise State after throwing four
interceptions and losing a fumble.
What will happen: This isn't last year's Tulsa team. Utah's
offensive line will give Ratliff all the time in the world to
operate on the Golden Hurricane secondary, while the ground game
will get just enough to give the offense a little bit of balance.
Utah has a bit more overall athleticism, is better at holding on to
the ball, and has a fantastic punting game to get by with a
workmanlike win.
Line: Utah -2 ... CFN Prediction:
Utah 31 ...
Tulsa 20
Armed Forces Bowl
Player Profile: Tulsa QB Paul Smith, team bowl history and more