It started off as a small announcement in the middle of page 3 of this week's WAC football release, but by the middle of the week, a lot of people in Utah were talking about the Nov. 23 Utah-BYU game being picked up by ESPN and switched to a 10:30 a.m. start.
Some folks (BYU fans) think it's strange that earlier this year University of Utah athletic director Chris Hill turned down a chance to play BYU on Thanksgiving Day in an ESPN-televised game because he wanted to be loyal to the Ute affiliate KJZZ, yet agreed last week to allow the Nov. 23 game to be televised on ESPN.Other people (Utah fans) see it as a shrewd gamble on Hill's behalf that paid off nicely. His team still gets the national television exposure on ESPN, but gets to keep the original date, albeit 90 minutes earlier. The Utes are allowed to keep their schedule advantage of Nov. 23 over Nov. 28 (they have a bye on Nov. 16, while BYU must recover from a trip to Hawaii that week).
Hill acknowledges the schedule advantage the Utes enjoy with the Nov. 23 date was one factor in turning down the Thanksgiving date. But he said several factors went into his original decision, including having to play the game on the Thanksgiving holiday and playing a night game in late November, which is what ESPN required. He also was looking out for KJZZ, which obviously wanted to televise the biggest game of the year, but won't get to anyway, now.
In this case, Hill didn't have a choice in turning down the game because it wasn't being changed to another date and the WAC was happy to accept the offer from ESPN. Even though he feels bad for KJZZ and acknowledges the university likely loses money with the switch, Hill is thrilled for the national exposure the ESPN game will provide the Ute program.
"This is the first time I can remember we've had a national game - it's a big deal," he said. "This is a great day to play it because of the national interest with all the rivalries being played. We're pretty excited about that."
BYU folks may not be that excited about it because it's old hat to them. The Cougars have played in 27 ESPN games since 1980, while the Utes have played in none (they did play on ESPN2 earlier this year against Kansas). Utah played in four regionally televised games on ABC since '80, including a 10 a.m. game against Wyoming in 1983.
Cougar fans also may not like the 10:30 kickoff time for an away game, but they must remember that their game with Texas A&M this year started at 10 a.m. because TV dictated it.
BACON'S SACRIFICE: When it was determined last week that Chris Fuamatu- Ma'afala had to undergo surgery on his knee, the Utes immediately took running back Omar Bacon off his redshirt year to play the rest of the season.
To many folks it seemed like a selfish decision on the part of the Utes to sacrifice a year of eligibility of a player who has patiently been sitting out all season as a redshirt. Don't the Utes have somebody on their 100-man roster, who could fill in while F-M is out? Apparently not.
"It was a very hard decision, but we had no choice," said Ute coach Ron McBride. "You can't fill in with just a guy. You have to get your best guy."
Even McBride's wife, Vicki, tried to talk him out of it, yelling at him while he was in the shower one day not to do it. "She kept saying, 'No you're not,' but she was dealing from an emotional standpoint," said the coach.
Bacon has put on the "good soldier" face and said he's happy to make the sacrifice for the good of the team. He's been taking reps all season in the eventuality something like the injury to Fuamatu-Ma'afala might happen. He came through with 82 yards last week.
"I talked to (Omar) and his parents before I did it," said McBride. "I feel really bad for him and his long-range plans. But we're in the hunt for the WAC championship and we have to play our best players."
UTE NOTES: The Utes have had another game changed for TV's sake. The Nov. 9 game at New Mexico will now begin at 8 p.m. instead of 1 p.m and will be seen on ESPN2 . . . Thanks to last week's game when he averaged more than 30 yards per completion, quarterback Mike Fouts moved up to No. 6 in the country in passing efficiency at 155.18 . . . With his 5th interception of the year last week, Harold Lusk continues to lead the WAC in interceptions and is tied for 4th nationally . . . Clarence Lawson leads the WAC in passes broken up with 10 . . . Despite being ranked 19th and 20th in the polls this week, the Utes are only No. 35 in Jeff Sagarin's computer rankings in USA Today.