With an extra month to prepare, the Utah football team really thought things might be different in Friday night's Copper Bowl game with Wisconsin.
Unfortunately they weren't.The Ute defensive line still didn't have a clue about stopping the run and quarterback Mike Fouts still had problems finding his own receivers - the same things that plagued the Utes throughout a disappointing season.
With Wisconsin freshman sensation Ron Dayne running for 246 yards and Utah's Fouts throwing four interceptions, the Badgers routed the Utes 38-10 before 42,122 fans at Arizona Stadium.
Somewhere, Wyoming fans must be secretly smiling.
It was a disheartening end to what began as such a promising season back in August. The Utes were picked to win the Western Athletic Conference title in the first year of the expanded WAC, but started sluggishly with a shocking loss at Utah State. Along the way they sneaked through in a few games, lost big to Rice and finally concluded the regular season with a 37-17 loss to BYU.
To win Friday, the Utes knew they'd have to slow down Dayne, who set a national freshman record with 1,863 yards, not turn the ball over and sustain a few drives. They couldn't stop Dayne, they threw those four interceptions and while they sustained a few drives, they only resulted in 10 points.
It seemed like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for Utah. They lost their best runner Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala in the first quarter to a sprained ankle, their best defensive player, Robert Love, to a dislocated thumb in the second quarter. Just as they looked ready to score deep in Badger territory, a tipped pass turned into a Wisconsin touchdown, while another interception set up a touchdown and another stopped a possible TD in the final quarter.
"It's tough," said a disappointed Ute coach Ron McBride. "We've had a problem stopping the run all season. Dayne is a great runner and if you give him a crease he's going to hit them."
Defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham said his team was "completely outmanned in the front seven" even though they knew Wisconsin was going to run all night. "What they have 15 yards passing? I'd have rather played the University of Florida."
Offensively the Utes gained plenty of yards, actually outgaining the Badgers 430 yards to 365 and getting 26 first downs to 16. The problem was the turnovers by Fouts, who, during his career, could at times be brilliant and other times abysmal. Despite completing 27 of 49 passes for 327 yards, it was the four interceptions, plus a few key overthrown passes that killed the Utes.
"We knew we could move the ball and we did what we wanted to do," said offensive coordinator Fred Graves. "You just can't have that many turnovers. That turned the game around."
"The quarterback has to make better decisions," said McBride.
Safety Harold Lusk admitted the defense didn't stop Dayne like it should have, but he was frustrated by the inability of the offense to score.
"I'm not saying it was the offense's fault, because we lost as a team," said Lusk. "But if the offense scores, it's a different ball game."
Juan Johnson, who gained 88 yards in relief of Fuamatu-Ma'afala, said, "It's frustrating . . . the turnovers just destroyed us."
After falling behind 31-3 at halftime, despite gaining more yards than the Badgers, the Utes came back with a courageous drive in the third quarter, going 92 yards in 18 plays and nine minutes. But down 28 points, the Utes needed to score a little quicker than nine minutes.
The Badgers turned it into a long touchdown drive to put the game away for good - as if there had been any doubt since the first quarter - going 12 plays in 6:43 with Dayne scoring his third touchdown of the day on a 1-yard run.
Actually Whittingham felt like the Utes still had a chance, if they could have stopped the Badgers early in the drive. On 3rd and 4, at the Wisconsin 27, two Utes missed a tackle on a pass to Demetrius Brown, who dove for the first down to keep the drive alive.
Despite getting three more first downs (13-10) and two more yards (216 to 214), the Utes found themselves trailing 31-3 at the half, thanks to a pair of interceptions and several long runs by Dayne.
The Ute defense stuffed the Badgers on their first series and on their first offensive play, the Utes went for it all as Fouts faked to Fuamatu-Ma'afala up the middle and went long. Rocky Henry was behind the defense, but the pass was short and broken up.
A short punt gave the Badgers great field position at their own 46 and five plays later quarterback Mike Samuel faked off tackle then bootlegged it around the right end for a 38-yard touchdown run.
Utah got its offense in gear on its second series and moved down the field with a steady drive using its "bombers" package with five receivers most of the way. After getting a first down at the 6-yard line, the Utes had to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Daniel Pulsipher.
The Utes had been worried about resting their defense in the game, but it was the offense that got little rest as Wisconsin scored quickly, taking just two plays and less than a minute. First Dayne went 37 yards up the middle, then went around the left side, cut back to the right and outran the Ute defense for a 40-yard touchdown run to make it 14-3.
Utah responded with another long drive, taking 12 plays to get to the Badger 14-yard line.
Then came perhaps the turning point of the game. The Utes tried an inside screen, their bread- and-butter pass play the past two seasons and one they'd used three times already in the first half.
This time it was batted at the line of scrimmage by Tarek Saleh and it deflected right into the hands of cornerback Cyrill Weems, who had nothing but green grass in front of him. Fouts made a dive at midfield and Rocky Henry nearly caught him from behind, but Weems made it to the end zone for an 82-yard touchdown return.
So instead of a possible 14-10 score, it was 21-3 and the Utes were quickly getting demoralized.
A long Wisconsin drive resulted in a 38-yard field goal by John Hall to make it 24-3 and an interception by linebacker Pete Monty set up another touchdown run by Dayne covering three yards made it 31-3 with 42 seconds left.
A 40-yard pass to Kevin Dyson, put Utah in scoring territory, but a 45-yard field goal by Pulsipher in the final seconds was blocked by Saleh.
Saleh was named defensive player of the game, while Dayne was offensive player of the game and MVP.
The consolation prize for playing in the bowl game was the extra three weeks of practice the Utes received, which should give them a jumpstart on next season. They have most of their top offensive players back except Fouts and the the majority of their defensive starters. They open the season Aug. 30 at home against Utah State.