The first impulse for the Utah football team, now 4-5 overall, 3-3 in the WAC, is to be grateful that it has a bye week.

Receiver Kevin Dyson, who bruised a lower-back nerve in Saturday's 21-13 loss at Tulsa and spent Saturday night in a Tulsa hospital, should be better by Nov. 15. So should middle linebacker Taulia Lave, who broke a hand at Tulsa. He should be able to play with a cast on the hand when Utah closes out its home season - and the career of the "old" Rice Stadium - by hosting Rice on Nov. 15.So a bye now should be a comfort for a team that's lost four of its last five games.

But what happened the last time the Utes had a bye week?

After their biggest win, 56-3 over UTEP Sept. 20, leaving them 3-1 for 1997, the Utes had 13 days to prepare for Fresno State, but in that nationally televised game, they looked like they'd never seen a blitz. Fresno tied a school record with 12 sacks and sapped the confidence of quarterbacks Jonathan Cross-white and Darnell Arce-neaux.

It was that game at Fresno after a bye week that sent the Ute season into the death spiral that probably hit its lowest point on Saturday when they blew four almost-certain touchdown chances (two at the Tulsa 1-yard line, one at the 4 and one from the 30 on a TU interception at its own 1) against what was statistically the NCAA's second-worst Div. I defense.

Utah's offense made heroes of Tulsa safety Levi Gillen (both interceptions plus recovery of the Roy Allen fumble at the Tulsa 1-yard line) and middle linebacker Rich Young (17 tackles, 14 unassisted).

Utah's defense, which had done so well against the run after having bad stats last year, let Tulsa's Charlie Higgins tie his career best (175 rushing yards, two TDs). "Our offensive line wanted to run the ball," said Tulsa coach Dave Rader.

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When offensive brain cramps surrender the ball on turnovers, downs or penalties, cornerback Clarence Lawson says it's the defense's job "to come back and get a stop, and we didn't. We had penalties against us. Little things that just hurt us. Mental mistakes just killed us. We've got to stop the penalties and just play ball, which is hard to do."

Though Utah's first offensive series went backward, Ute Chris Hunter got off an 80-yard punt on a fourth-and-22 at the U. 9-yard line. It rolled to the Tulsa 11. With quarterback pressure by linebacker Everesst Matagi that made it "an easy interception," said free safety Kimball Christianson, who returned his career-first pick 21 yards to the Tulsa 8. Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, getting his first start since his ankle sprain at Fresno, got the TD with one run, and Utah led 7-0. Utah's defense held Fresno on four plays, and then the Utes picked up a fourth-and-2 conversion.

Things were in Utah's favor but then came an interception at the Tulsa 1, and that led to a 99-yard Tulsa scoring drive, aided by Ute pass interference and offsides. The Utes moved well again, Dyson making three receptions on a drive to become the school's career-catch champ, but Allen fumbled at the goal line with 5:20 left in the first half, and little went right for Utah after that.

"This was a game where the ball bounced our way," said Rader, whose team had six turnovers on its first six drives last week at Colorado State and the WAC's worst turnover ratio. "It is a game of inches," he said.

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