Episode 7 – A big win for Utah and an expected win for BYU. Real Salt Lake is still in the playoff hunt, plus other headlines

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The seventh installment of the Utah Sports Cast is up for your listening pleasure, and the rivalry is already starting to simmer around here. We’re good friends and responsible adults, so there shouldn’t be any bloodshed; but I don’t think either one of us can promise that. My opinion as a Utah fan is that BYU and Utah look very evenly matched. Each team has different strengths, of course, but in the three games where they have played the same opponent (Utah State, TCU and San Diego State) the games have had a very similar feel and the margin of victory in each has been surprisingly close. Zach’s opinion as a BYU fan? He thinks BYU is much better, period.

[Note: He actually has good arguments to support his point, but I am trying the old “if I ignore them, they will go away” trick. I don’t think it’s going to work for me, but I will keep trying, Utah fans.]

Utah’s defense was the story of the game in their 20-7 victory over TCU. The defensive line in particular was strong, led by Kelly Talavou and Paul Soliai. Eric Weddle played another good game, and came away from the week with another takeaway, ruled as an interception a few days later. The offense played well enough to win, and Brent Castille was the man of the hour with two receiving touchdowns, including a circus-type catch after the ball bounced out of the arms of a TCU defender. Louis Sakoda was named the Mountain West Conference special teams player of the week for his excellent play – the field position game was a deciding factor in the game this week.

BYU marched to an impressive victory, even if it was virtually expected. San Diego State is not a very good team this year and came into the game without a single victory. There was some concern about the letdown after BYU’s own big win at TCU, but the Cougars played hard and dominated the Aztecs: 47-17. John Beck was named the Mountain West Conference offensive player of the week (for the third time in four weeks) with a 16-21, 267 yard, four touchdown performance. Curtis Brown looked good with two touchdowns, although BYU lost the game’s leading rusher Fui Vakapuna for the game with an ankle injury. With a bye week coming up, the Cougars will look to take care of some of their nagging injuries.

Real Salt Lake refuses to die, although Colorado is certainly helping their cause. RSL managed only a 1-1 draw against Houston in their last game, but fortunately Colorado choked away a victory and tied with New York by the same score. This leaves a single scenario whereby Salt Lake can make it into the playoffs: They need to win on Sunday, and Colorado needs to lose the day before. Any other permutation of wins, losses, and draws will not do it.

The Utah Jazz kicked off their preseason game against the L.A. Lakers, although the game was in Fresno, CA. I am not sure what the final score was or if anyone played well, as I am writing this while the game is on and it’s not televised. Maybe I will go back and include the score, but as this is only preseason, maybe not. They are looking good in camp, though. On the other hand, I don’t think there is a single NBA team that doesn’t look good in camp, so I’m trying not to get too excited about it. It’s difficult, but I’m trying.

Zach has been designing the crap out of the website, and it looks great. He has a broad streak of perfectionist in him, so he always has a list of things he thinks can be better about it, and there are always new and cool things to see there. That’s just one of the many things that make him such a great co-host and producer for this podcast.

As always, we would like to say a final word of thanks to our sponsor: ShieldZone. We recommend going to the website ShieldZone.com and checking them out. It’s the finest protection for personal electronics you will find anywhere.

posted by Nate and Zach @ 8:08 AM