The first game was the pillow fight of the year in UNLV coming from behind to beat Utah State on the road by outscoring the Aggies 20-6 in the second half en route to a 23-16. Travis Dixon played pretty well in his first start throwing for 141 yards while rushing for 129 and a score. This is much improvement over Rocky Hinds who could not run the ball at all. Also give it up for kicker Sergio Aguayo who mad 3 field goals and 2 extra points. One interesting stat from this game is that the time of possession was 30:00 minutes exactly for each team, kinda odd.
The Utah/Oregon State game could not have gone worse for Utah not only losing but losing their 2 key components for a great season. First Matt Asiata who was bruising the Beaver defense and then in the first quarter went down which happened to be a broken right leg, which is the opposite leg he hurt in fall camp. With Asiata out it showed that the Utes had minimal running game, but with Johnson still at QB the offense still scored first on a long pass to Brent Casteel to go up 7-0. Then late in the second quarter Brian Johnson went down got up and played one more play to complete a pass, but came out for the half. During the half it was discovered that Johnson has a separated shoulder and Grady entered. Boy did it show when Grady entered the Utes could not pass at all, and to be honest I think Grady is not even capable of being a Div I starter at this level of play. He has a rocket of an arm but no accuracy and the fact he can not run the option. Add in the fact that Ray Stowers could not get any yards, and now the Utes have to burn the redshirt of Darrell Mack plus did anyone notice Darryl Poston got no carries. I assume Asiata will apply and get a medical redshirt. Oh and for the game the Beavers won 24-7, but there are so many side notes here. I think this is not as damaging for the Utes record wise, because I feel Grady is good enough to beat Air Force, Utah State, and UNLV. The UCLA game I felt the Utes had a chance with Johnson, but now with Grady I give the Utes maybe a 15% chance to win that game, so the record might be the same with Johnson or Grady starting. The real concern is no running game and the fact the Ute front line could not stop the run.
Oh also I thought the coverage of the game was terrible, I know its Fox NW but it seemed like Fox Sports Oregon State with all the homer interviews, and the fact that it was way too much pro OSU for a regional game, oh well.