It’s here again, that rare time when BYU and Utah actually face quality competition during the same week.

In part because the two teams have outclassed the Mountain West, with TCU being the obvious exception, the Utes and Cougars usually trade off beating inferior opponents.

Once in a while, as was the case Sept. 19 when Oregon and Florida State were on the schedules, the two teams play great non-conference games on the same day.

While the Utes and Cougars don’t play on the same day this week, they both have great opponents in California and Oregon State, respectively. Wouldn’t it be nice if they were in the Pac-10 and we could get this more often?

Without expansion, the bowl season will have to do.

Las Vegas Bowl – BYU vs. Oregon State

Aside from TCU, Oregon State will be BYU’s best opponent this season. The Beavers are a great team, with three conference losses coming by an average of five points. The other loss was by 10 points to undefeated Cincinnati.

OSU has a great quarterback (Sean Canfield, who has passed for 3,103 yards and 21 touchdowns), a great running back (Jacquizz Rodgers, who has rushed for 1,377 yards) and a great receiver (James Rodgers, who has caught 87 passes for 1,004 yards and nine touchdowns).

The key for BYU is to get a handle on James’ little brother, Jacquizz. The 5-foot-7 sophomore is the best running back BYU has faced this season.

In OSU’s four losses, Rodgers was held below 100 yards rushing in three of them. The Beavers beat only California in a game in which Rodgers ran for less than 100 yards.

While the Cougars will have a difficult time chasing down Rodgers, they don’t have to worry about Canfield running wild. The senior rarely ventures beyond the line of scrimmage, as his longest run this season has been only 7 yards.

But he is deadly in the pocket, completing a career-high 70 percent of his passes. He’s thrown only six interceptions this season, or one fewer than Max Hall had against Utah last season.

The Cougars should be able to move the ball, as long as Hall cuts loose. Avoiding interceptions at all costs, he was tentative against Utah.

With Hall, tight ends Dennis Pitta and Andrew George all playing in their final college games, I expect BYU to do things we haven’t seen this season. I also would be surprised if this wasn’t Harvey Unga’s last college game.

This game can easily go either way. The Cougars want to be there this season, so there’s no excuse.


BYU 31, OSU 30

Poinsettia Bowl – California vs. Utah

I question Cal’s incentive, considering the Bears went into late September ranked in the top 10. But it fell apart on consecutive weeks, when they lost by a combined 72-6 against Oregon and USC.

Any momentum was squandered when Jahvid Best was lost for the season with a concussion against Oregon State. Even the two November wins against Arizona and Stanford were canceled out with an embarrassing 42-10 loss to close the season against Washington.

As good as Best was, the Bears found a suitable replacement in Shane Vereen. The sophomore stepped in to rush for 830 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Even though the defense yielded an average of 24.5 points a game, I can’t get past Oregon and Washington each posting 42 points. But I’m also not sure to expect much from Utah’s freshman quarterback.

That’s what makes this game great. Anybody can pick a winner when the talent is lopsided.

With all the expansion talk swirling around college football, this game is huge for the Utes. For one night, all of the Pac-10 eyes will be on them.

Utah 24, California 23