Ute Sports

 The Utes have been taking some of their Monday practices light in recent weeks, but that wasn't the case on Monday. The Utes had a fairly aggressive practice, probably with the idea of knocking out the last of the doldrums of the TCU loss.

 Offensive lineman Zane Beadles said it was a good, intense day.

 "We learned from the film what we did wrong, that's something we have to do with losses like that, learn from it, see our mistakes and put it behind us," he said. "We have to learn from it and move on to the next game and we did a good job of that today."

 Helping the Utes' offense get re-focused on the Aztecs is knowing former New Mexico coach Rocky Long is their defensive coordinator so the Utes must prepare for his 3-3-5 defense.

  "It's definitely a difficult defense to play, you never know where blitzes are coming from and you don't know what they're going to line up in," Beadles said. "It's a watered down version of New Mexico. Rocky is a great coach and has always played us tough. It's a good challenge for us."

 More on the Mike Sanford firing at UNLV in the Las Vegas Sun, with his reaction in which he doesn't take full responsibility for UNLV's woes. Two guys with local connections mentioned in the Review Journal as possible replacements are former Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, who holds the same position at Cal, and BYU offensive coordinator Robert Anae.

 The knee injury to Utah defensive end Derrick Shelby didn't appear to be that bad Saturday since he was limping around with his team after the TCU game. However, looks were apparently deceiving.

 Shelby is done for the season with an ACL tear, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said Monday. Junior Nai Fotu will start in his place.

 "He was a consistent player for us all year long," Whittingham said of Shelby.

 Victor Spikes, a backup safety, is out for a couple of weeks with a hand injury, which means it's unlikely he'll return before the bowl game.

 In keeping with the injury theme, Whittingham said he was optimistic defensive lineman Kenape Eliapo might return for the bowl game.

 Also, he hopes to hear in a day or so if running back Matt Asiata is going to ask for a medical hardship that would give him another year of eligibility.

 Whittingham has made it clear he wants Asiata to return, but said again on Monday it is ultimately Asiata's decision to make.

 "We have gotten positive feedback from our compliance office and they feel it's a very, very strong case if he decides to come back," Whittingham said.

 As for TCU, the Utes are definitely still feeling the effects of the big loss, even as they said they must refocus on San Diego State.

 The worst of it all was giving up 55 points.

 "We did too many things that put us in bad situations," Whittingham said.

 Defensive tackle Lei Talamaivao said the defense was humbled after giving up 549 yards, including 342 on the ground.

 "I'll keep it to next year," he said of the disappointment. "It's so disappointing to work so hard in the summer and spring to win the MWC championship and to play in those kinds of games and to come away with a loss, especially like that one, is disappointing."

 Whittingham said preparing for San Diego State and its 3-3-5 defense is similar to the switch the Utes' defense must make to prepare for Air Force.

  "It's a different animal and you have to use different tactics of the game plan and strategies," he said.

 TCU linebacker Tank Carder was named the MWC Defensive Player of the Week after returning an interception for a touchdown and getting nine tackles against the Utes.

 Column for you on the firing of Mike Sanford from UNLV, an expected move given the Rebels' season. 

 Whittingham was asked what his reaction was and his reply was, "No reaction."

 Two very strong messages came out of the Utes' locker room tonight after the 55-28 loss to TCU. The Utes knew they'd have to play a perfect game to have a chance to win and they failed to do that and TCU is very, very good.

 The Utes' blocked punt, interception returned for a touchdown, fumbled return and penalties (to a total of 14 for 110 yards) helped kill the Utes' upset bid.

 Course, a lot of those mistakes were caused by the Horned Frogs. They have to get credit for their aggressive play. They get credit too for being one of the top teams in the nation, the Utes said.

 "No question this is the best team we've played this year, without a doubt," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "Their personnel is outstanding."

 So good that the Utes were left grasping at anything to make themselves feel better about the smackdown.

 "We put up the most points someone has put up on them this year, that's somewhat of a consolation," Whittingham said.

 Doubt anyone will remember much of the points the Utes scored. This game was all about TCU's strength and its show of power to gain national attention.

 "In the nation, if this wasn't enough style points, I don't know what is," TCU coach Gary Patterson said. 

 Consider all the praise and attention earned. The Frogs beat the Utes in a variety of ways, using numerous offensive weapons, solid defense and a steady quarterback to get the job done.

 The Utes, on the other hand, had a bunch of mistakes they simply couldn't afford to make.

 "We killed ourselves a lot," linebacker Stevenson Sylvester said. "We wanted the win but we just made mistakes and going against one of the Top 10, Top 5 teams, that will come out and pay big dividends in the end."

 Quarterback Jordan Wynn was 16-of-32 for 219 yards and a touchdown but was sacked twice. Whittingham was proud of the way he kept battling back. Wynn still looked a little dazed after the game.

 "We tried to settle down but never got into a rhythm," he said.

 You can read more on the game here.

 One injury of note, defensive lineman Derrick Shelby left the game in the first half with a knee injury and didn't return. He limped into the locker room afterward on his own body weight so I don't know how serious it is.

 Hello from Fort Worth,

 Co-worker Steve Luhm was gracious enough to cover the Utes' basketball game for me last night, you can read his report here as well as the preview for today's football game.

 Here is coverage from the Star-Telegram too if you want a TCU view on the showdown. Caught part of a local sports broadcast when I arrived last night.

 Folks were camping out so they could get a good spot for College GameDay. The lights were also kept on in the stadium all night to discourage any "issues" according to the report.

 Many businesses in Fort Worth had purplish lights on their buildings Friday, a "Go Purple Day," to help the city get into the TCU spirit.

 Should be a great atmosphere today!

 As far as the game itself goes, Utah defensive lineman Kenape Eliapo didn't make the trip due to his undisclosed illness. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said earlier this week he might be done for the season.

 Freshman Dave Kruger is the likely starter in place of Eliapo.

  For TCU, corner Rafael Priest, who missed the win over San Diego State, practiced this week but no official announcement has been made whether he'll play today. Safety Colin Jones' status isn't known either. Unlike Priest, he didn't practice this week, according to the Star-Telegram.

 As always, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham mentioned earlier this week the Utes' first priority on defense will be to stop TCU's run game, noting TCU's run-pass ratio was 2-to-1.

 "That is their bread and butter, we have to slow that down," he said.

 Earlier in the season the Utes' run defense was spotty, but it has improved in recent games.

 "We've taken steps forward most weeks in the season, some have been not so good," Whittingham said. "But it's solidifying a little bit every week. This is a new challenge."

 Quarterback Jordan Wynn has earned a lot of attention since this will be just his second start. He looked nervous in the opening minutes against New Mexico then settled down, so how nervous will he be today? He said he'll be just fine.

 "It's definitely a big one, but I'm excited about the challenge it's going to bring," he said.

 Offensive lineman Tony Bergstrom, who must keep Jerry Hughes from pounding Wynn into the turf, said knowing Wynn is so inexperienced makes him want to do his job that much harder.

 "We want to take care of everybody," he said. "But Jordan, we want to let him sit back there as long as he wants and take a nap back there if he needs to."

 There are a lot of predictions and projections being made about Saturday's game against TCU. The one aspect that is a sure guarantee is that it is going to be an emotional game. Hard to say which team will have the edge in that area.

 TCU will have the emotion of getting revenge against the Utes for last season's loss and will be backed by their first sellout crowd since 2006 while the Utes can feed off the emotion of a hostile crowd, something they've perfected, and the disrespect they feel from being huge underdogs.

 Utah coach Kyle Whittingham talked about the role of emotion in big football games this week after noting the atmosphere was different around the Utes. He wasn't talking about the rap music that blared over the practice fields Monday during the team's conditioning.

 "You can tell this is something special," he said.

 Perhaps it's the old linebacker urges in him or maybe it's something he learned from his father or Urban Meyer, whatever the reason is Whittingham has become very good at playing to his team's emotions.

 He did it well in weeks leading up to road games at Louisville and Michigan recently as well as the Sugar Bowl.

 "You have to channel their emotions, you want them to peak on game day, not prior to that," Whittingham said. "The guys have done a good job handling that throughout the years and that is what you need."

 TCU is a more seasoned team and has the home-field advantage, but in giving his assessment Whittingham said the Utes have their share of confidence too, something they've gained over the season.

 "Even though we have sputtered in some games this year and haven't played our best there is a certain air of confidence," he said.

 In addition to it being a huge game, linebacker Stevenson Sylvester said the Utes will get an emotional lift from going to Texas, where several players have ties, and because they've done well there in the past.

 "With so many Texas players here it makes it exciting," he said. "Even with the bowl game (Utah's 25-13 win over Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl in 2006) we've played well there. There must be something in the water or something down there."

 The one thing the Utes can't do is allow their emotions to get the better of them and commit a lot of dumb penalties for late hits and so forth. The Utes are one of the most penalized teams in the country, ranking No. 103, averaging 67.3 yards in penalties a game. TCU is 78th, averaging 59.2.

 A story on the Utes' achievements on the road, plus notes and a preview of the basketball game can be found here.

 Also have a column for you from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.