It's been three weeks since the Utah Utes played a game at Rice-Eccles Stadium. They defeated Louisville (30-14) that day, but lost starting running back Matt Asiata in the process.
The senior, who was leading the Mountain West Conference in rushing at the time, suffered a season-ending knee injury on a 24-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.
Eddie Wide then stepped into the role as Utah's featured back and responded with 129 yards on 19 carries. Over the next two weeks — road games at Colorado State and UNLV — the junior netted 101 and 111 yards.
It's some serious momentum heading into today's home game against Air Force.
"He has really done a nice job filling in for Matt. We haven't lost a beat, really, in the run game," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said while noting that Wide and Asiata have different running styles. "I could not be more pleased with what he has given us the last three weeks."
Wide, who carries the ball less than the more physical Asiata did, is averaging a whopping 6.3 yards per carry since taking over.
The success isn't surprising to Whittingham.
"He was a tremendous runner in high school," he said. "And he's running now the exact way he did in high school."
The 2006 Nevada Player of the Year ran for 1,743 yards and 23 touchdowns as a senior at Cimarron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas, averaging 8.6 yards per run.
Wide's first two seasons at Utah weren't as impressive. He carried the ball just 49 times for 227 yards. In 2009, before replacing Asiata as the featured back, the junior had just 67 yards rushing after three games.
Now he's on pace to top 1,000 yards on the season — a milestone that has been reached just 10 times in the program's history.
Reaching the mark, though, isn't foremost on Wide's mind.
"Right now, I'm just going to take it one game at a time. We are going to worry about Air Force right now," he said. "I'm not too worried about 1,000. I'm just trying to do my job and hopefully it pays off."
Wide is coming off an important performance last weekend at UNLV. It was a big deal for him to play well in his hometown. Besides his rushing yardage, he capped all scoring with a 37-yard touchdown run.
"It was real special for me — doing it in front of my family and scoring in my hometown," Wide said. "It was a big thing for me."
Complete satisfaction, though, has yet to be accomplished.
"I feel pretty good but there's a lot that I can work on," he said, while noting the importance of pass blocking and protecting the quarterback. "The whole thing comes together as one."
In the meantime, Wide acknowledges he's having a lot of fun.
"It's a good thing for me," he said.
And the Utes.
Utes on the air
Air Force
(4-3, 3-1 MWC)
at No. 19 Utah
(5-1, 2-0)
Today, 2 p.m.
Rice-Eccles Stadium
TV: Versus Radio: 700 AM
e-mail: dirk@desnews.com