When Utah meets Tulsa today at noon at Rice Stadium, it will be a good news/bad news situation for the Utes.
The good news is that the Golden Hurricane have been very susceptible to the run this year, ranking 15th in the conference and near the bottom (105th) of the national standings with 238.7 yards allowed per game.The bad news is, the Utes won't have their best runner to exploit the weak Tulsa run defense.
Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, who has led the Utes to three straight victories will miss today's contest after undergoing knee surgery on Thursday.
Still, the Utes are going ahead with their gameplan formulated before the extent of Fuamatu-Ma'afala's injury was known. Both head coach Ron McBride and offensive coordinator Fred Graves are confident that the offense will be fine without Fuamatu-Ma'afala. The key is getting the offense to perform up to its capabilities.
"Obviously we have to do something to solve our offensive problems," said McBride. "It's not from lack of talent because we have talent. The problem is execution."
Ute quarterback Mike Fouts has been in a mini-slump during October and McBride wasn't happy with the QB's decisions against TCU.
"He just made some bad decisions," said McBride. "But he'll be fine. I have complete confidence in him."
With Fuamatu-Ma'afala out, the Utes may go to the air more than they have the last two games when they put up just 50 passes total. The Utes also have plenty of confidence in junior running back Juan Johnson, who is healthy now after suffering nagging injuries earlier in the year. Also, Omar Bacon will make his 1996 debut coming out of his redshirt season.
The Ute defense has played very well the past two games, but the Utes will face a much better offense than they saw against UTEP and TCU. Troy DeGar is a quarterback who is mobile and has a strong arm. Receivers Wes Caswell and Damon Savage have 52 catches between them, while Reggie Williams has rushed for 574 yards.
Tulsa coach Dave Rader felt a little shellshocked after the 55-30 loss to BYU and he expects Utah to be a comparable team.
"Watching Utah on videotape I can see how strong Utah is and understand how they beat BYU three years in a row," said Rader. "They're a fine football team with an intense and agressive defense and a lot of bullets on offense."
After watching TCU slip and slide all over the SportGrass field last week, Rader is concerned, especially with inclement weather forecasted. "I don't much care about that surface except that it can be slippery."
Utah and Tulsa have met just one other time - in 1943 when the Hurricane won 55-0, the fifth-largest loss in Ute history.