Utah (1-1) at San Diego State (2-0)
- Kickoff: Saturday, 5 p.m. MDT
- Venue: Dignity Health Sports Park (Carson, California, 27,000 capacity)
- TV: CBS Sports Network (Dave Ryan, Aaron Murray commentating, Amanda Guerra on sideline)
- Livestream: CBSSports.com
- Radio: ESPN 700 AM (Utah)
- Series: Utah leads 17-12-1
- Weather: Sunny with temperatures in the high 60s at kickoff.
THE TRENDS
For SDSU … San Diego State has won two consecutive games to open the season, beating New Mexico State 28-10 to open the season and following that up with a 38-14 win at Arizona. The Aztecs have not beaten Utah since 2005.
For Utah … Utah opened the season 1-1, losing to the Cougars for the first time since 2009 after beating Weber State. Utah needs to bounce back after last week’s loss. A win against the Aztecs would end nonconference play on a positive note, but a loss would definitely raise questions about the direction of the team going into Pac-12 play.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
After a lackluster performance against the Cougars in which the Utes did not register a sack or a turnover, the defensive line will try to get back into form and pressure the Aztecs’ quarterback, Lucas Johnson, who is starting in place of the injured Jordon Brookshire. Utah’s run defense will also be tested by Greg Bell, the 6-foot, 200-pound senior who has run for 286 yards and two touchdowns in the first two games of the season.
KEY PLAYER
Micah Bernard, RB, Utah: After running for 146 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown, Bernard will be the No. 1 running back for the Utes to start the game. Tavion Thomas started out as the No. 1 for the BYU game before fumbling, leading to the majority of carries going to Bernard. This will be Bernard’s first game as the clear-cut starter and he figures to get a good chunk of carries.
QUOTABLE
“This San Diego State team is really good. They were up on Arizona 35-7 at the half. The game was over essentially at halftime. They were really impressive on offense in particular. If we don’t find some answers, we’re going to get the same result. So we’ve got to find some answers this week.”
— Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham on SDSU
“We have a tough opponent (on Saturday). We have to play a whole heck of a lot better as football team this week than we did last week. Our improvement from week one to week two was good, not great, but we have got to play better across the board. We know we can’t have eight penalties because that is not smart football and that is not a smart football team. We have a lot of fundamentals we need to correct across the board, and that is what we spent Monday improving on. The opponent (Utah) speaks for themselves. They are a physical football team and (Utah head coach) Kyle (Whittingham) has done a great job. We have to get ready.”
— SDSU head coach Brady Hoke on preparing for Utah
NEXT UP
Utah hosts Washington State on Sept. 25; SDSU hosts Towson on Sept. 25.
UTAH SCHEDULE
Sept. 2 — Utah 40, Weber State 17
Sept. 11 — BYU 26, Utah 17
Sept. 18 — at San Diego State (5 p.m., CBS Sports Network)
Sept. 25 — Washington State (12:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network)
Oct. 2 — BYE
Oct. 9 — at USC
Oct. 16 — Arizona State
Oct. 23 — at Oregon State
Oct. 30 — UCLA
Nov. 5 — at Stanford (8:30 p.m., FS1)
Nov. 13 — at Arizona
Nov. 20 — Oregon
Nov. 26 — Colorado
All times MDT