The BYU Cougars and Utah Utes managed to schedule four common opponents for the upcoming football season, and predictions have been made about how one of those four will do against the two teams.
In a game-by-game analysis of the Michigan Wolverines' schedule, Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press guessed that Jim Harbaugh's club will lose to Utah this Thursday in the season opener at Rice-Eccles Stadium and beat BYU Sept. 26 in Ann Arbor.
Snyder called the combination of the Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd, breaking in a new quarterback and other questions on offense a "recipe for disaster" for Michigan.
On the other hand, Snyder cites the loss of Jamaal Williams and the fact that the Wolverines are primed to have a strong secondary as reasons they should beat the Cougars.
"Utah Lions" injury update
Elsewhere at the Detroit Free Press, it was reported by Dave Birkett on Monday that a bevy of Lions players with connections to the Beehive State have seen improvement in their health.
Former BYU teammates Ziggy Ansah and Kyle Van Noy were back on the practice field after an absence, while former Highland High School star Haloti Ngata came off the nonfootball injury list.
Van Noy said Saturday he is "week-to-week" with a still undisclosed injury, while Ngata isn't expected to play in Detroit's exhibition finale on Thursday against the Buffalo Bills.
Ex-Aggie Cooley sounds off on RGIII
In the wake of Monday's announcement by Washington Redskins' head coach Jay Gruden that former Offensive Rookie of the Year Robert Griffin III won't be his starting quarterback this season, former Utah State Aggie and Washington tight end Chris Cooley discussed the situation on the Dan Patrick Show.
"I don't think the news is a surprise to anybody," the now-radio host said. "It wasn't a surprise to me. I thought that Kirk (Cousins) played his way into the starting role. More realistically, Dan, Robert played his way out of the starting role as we progressed through training camp."
Ryan McDonald is a sports reporter at DeseretNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanwmcdonald.