Ute kicker Louie Sakoda will undoubtedly leave Utah as the most celebrated kicker in school history.
In Saturday night's win over Weber State, Sakoda broke two school records, for career points (238) and field goals (45) and also kicked his 100th career extra point, which ranks third all-time at Utah.
"It's not something a kicker should think about," he said. "But it's definitely cool to have your name down in school history like that."
Sakoda booted three field goals on the night, from 33, 47 and 38 yards out, and also added four extra points.
He surpassed Chris Yergensen (1991-93) in the career field goal category and passed up Andre Guardi (1983-86), who held the previous points mark of 227. Sakoda is 22 short of Guardi's record for career PATs.
NOTHING COOKING: Saturday's game was not put together at the last minute to fill a spot in the Utes' schedule as many folks believe.
The game was actually scheduled back in 2002 when current Weber State athletic director Jerry Graybeal was the WSU coach and Ron McBride was the Utah coach.
Utah athletic director Chris Hill doesn't recall the details of how the game was scheduled, but believes it had something to do with the fact that teams were moving to 12 games a season.
Graybeal says his school welcomes games against Football Bowl Subdivision schools and likes to have at least one on his schedule each year. This year, the Wildcats have two games against FBS teams because FCS teams are allowed 12 games every four years.
Both Hill and Graybeal say they like the idea of playing an in-state school when they play out of their division, but right now there are no plans for a future game between the Utes and Wildcats.
PREVIOUSLY: In two previous meetings against Weber State, the Utes won by comfortable margins of 30-7 in 1978 and 52-16 in 1984.
The Utes have defeated two other Big Sky schools since then, beating Idaho State 51-16 in 1987 and 66-0 in 1994 and Northern Arizona 45-7 in 2006.
JOHNSON ON TARGET: Ute QB Brian Johnson only played three quarters, but his passing percentage for the night turned out to be one of the best in school history.
Johnson completed 18-of-22 passes, which just missed his school record of .857 when he completed 18-of-21 passes against Utah State in 2005. His .818 percentage ranks fourth in school history for a game.
The one negative was that Johnson had an interception for the fifth straight game this year.
Saturday's pick came early in the second half when his arm was hit as he was passing and picked off by Weber State's Scotty Goodloe at the one-yard-line and returned to the WSU 11.
MOVIN' UP, AGAIN: Thanks to a few upsets Saturday, the Utes should find themselves advancing again in the rankings, when they come out today.
They should pass No. 16 Wake Forest, which lost to Navy 24-17 and could even sneak past No. 15 Auburn, which didn't look good in edging Tennessee 14-12.
Four top 10 teams — No. 1 USC, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Florida and No. 9 Wisconsin — each lost this week, but only the Badgers, who lost to Utah's first victim of the season, Michigan, could possibly fall below the Utes.
EXTRA POINTS: Tickets are still available for Thursday's game against Oregon State. ... Scouts from the NFL's New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings attended the game. ... Starting right guard Robert Conley did not play because of a sore knee — ending his streak of 42 consecutive games for the Utes. ... The announced attendance was 45,117, the 12th largest in Rice-Eccles Stadium history. ... Aiona Key saw his first action of the season, catching a 19-yard pass from Corbin Louks in the fourth quarter and also making a crunching tackle on a kickoff return in the second quarter. . . . Former Ute Pate Moleni finished with seven tackles for Weber. Another ex-Ute, Bryce Scanlon, had three tackles.
Contributing: Dirk Facer