Week 3: Let's have a Holy War!

By Kyle Magin

Nothing gets me stoked for the weekend like a good, old fashioned blood feud. Take it away, state of Utah:

Are you amped for a little LDS–on–gentile violence? I can't wait for the showdown in Provo Saturday, as well as USC's visit to Palo Alto. UCLA is intriguing—is their start flash or something real and sustainable? 

Utah @ BYU -4
The BYU Cougars are looking for a little revenge after two straight losses to the Utes, including last year's 54-10 drubbing at The U in Salt Lake City. They might just get it this year—the Cougars' defense has been outstanding, giving up an average of just 239 yards per game and 19 total points. Granted those stats were accumulated against fairly pedestrian competition—Washington State and Weber State—but the offense has also bordered on the spectacular, averaging 305 passing yards per game behind the sure leadership of Senior QB Riley Nelson. Utah's offense, on the other hand, looked like a mess last week in a bad loss to Utah State. Senior QB Jon Hays was putrid coming in for the injured, and now retired, Jordan Wynn last weekend, completing less than half of his passes while more than a third of the drives he led ended in 3 & outs, and more than half in punts. Now, we can chalk that up to preparedness, but Hays had better be ready to go to the air, because BYU is holding opponents to just 55 yards rushing per game. The Utes slightly undersized o-line may be the difference in this one against an experienced and talented BYU front 7.

USC -8 @ Stanford
Only SC could win 49-29, shut an explosive pass offense out for one half and have that be considered a disappointment, but the Trojans managed the feat. Syracuse is a team SC should have blown the doors off of, and it is a team that maybe exposed the Trojans' pass D just a little bit, but this is still a team averaging 290 passing yards while senior QB Matt Barkley tossed 10 touchdowns in two games. It is a team that managed 258 yards on the ground last week. This week it'll face a Stanford team with a stout defense, giving up just 1.2 yards per rush last week and closing out a surprisingly sloppy performance against San Jose State by holding the Spartans to 3 & outs in four of their last five drives—the fifth drive ending in interception caused by QB pressure. Led by Senior LB Shayne Skov, the Cardinal defense is truly dirty, but the offense led by Junior QB Josh Nunes has been troubled. Just 85th in passing yards and 93rd in rushing yards, I'm not sure Stanford has enough to keep up with the SC attack—even if it stalls.

Houston @ UCLA -17
UCLA's offense is on turbo mode right now—averaging 343 rush yards and more than 300 passing yards per game behind the leadership of true frosh QB Brett Hundley. The only worry is that his reticence to throw and his o-line has led to his being sacked 5 times in two games—and dinged because of it. But, Houston's pass rush has been downright miserable, getting exposed in two straight losses. Houston can score with the best of them—the offense is ranked 4th in the nation right now—but until it can stop someone, that over is looking tasty.