Coach Whittingham held his weekly press conference Monday where he discussed the San Diego State game and the Utes upcoming battle with Boise State.
"Eric Weddle was obviously the storyline - three interceptions and it could have been four. He very unselfishly knocked that ball down like he's supposed to in the Hail Mary situation. He was just outstanding. Eric's been kind of quiet the first three weeks of the season due to no fault of his own. They (opponents) just haven't been going his way. So they (SDSU) decided to go his way a little bit in this game and had one little bit of success early. After that, it was Eric Weddle taking over."
Here's hoping Boise State throws Weddle's way and Utah gets an interception early to set the defensive tone. The Utes defense has been pretty damn impressive this season and if continues playing this well, they'll give a lot of team fits.
Last season the Utes' offensive line cost Utah games against Colorado State and New Mexico, it's good to see that they've improved this season. If Utah can go another game without giving up a sack to Boise State, they'll be in great position to win. Boise State has averaged 3 sacks per game this season, but I don't expect that to continue Saturday. The Utes line is just too solid to allow that many sacks in a game.
This was my biggest fear heading into the game because the Aztecs have been successful over the Utes recently. Prior to the game last Saturday there were only two conference teams Utah did not have a winning record over, them and Air Force. With this win, it's now only Air Force.
Whittingham then discussed the big game against Boise State.
Utah has an ax to grind after losing to the Broncos twice in the late-90s and they also can show the nation that the UCLA game was a fluke. Whittingham isn't downplaying the Broncos and overlooking them to the TCU game and that's good. A win here builds even more momentum heading into the TCU contest and of course puts Utah closer to the top-25.
On whether Utah is looking toward their game against TCU:
The importance of this game can't be downplayed and I think Whittingham understands the importance of this game. This is a home game and no reason why the Utes can't win.
On whether this game will gauge the Utes' season
Yup, couldn't have said it any better myself. This game will tell us if Utah is for real or not.