It's not like the Utes had a lot to worry about. Wyoming has just two wins on the season, one over Ohio, the other against small fry North Dakota State. The Cowboys have lost their last four games by a score of 153-23 and their four MWC games by a combined score of 131-10.

Utah has defeated Wyoming in nine of the last 10 games.

And you thought Wyomingite Dick Cheney has taken a thrashing over the years.

Yet in a way, Utah's flaws this year gave the Cowboys hope. The two teams have the most turnovers and have given up the most sacks in the MWC. Besides, last time Utah was in Laramie, the Cowboys walked off with a win.

Thus, until kickoff, Saturday's game held more interest than it should have. Last year, Utah tried an onside kick with a 43-0 lead. That led Cowboy coach Joe Glenn to send Utah coach Kyle Whittingham a one-fingered howdy-do. Glenn, of course, started it all by guaranteeing a win the previous week.

In Glenn's defense, he said it to a small group of boosters. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, it was soon in the public domain.

This year was more civil, but not a whole lot closer. The Cowboys didn't score until the deficit had grown to 34-0. Meanwhile, the "grudge match" never really materialized. Utah had subs coming in by the early fourth quarter. Besides, with Wyoming struggling as it has, there wasn't much energy for settling scores.

Like anything in life, it's hard to be mad when you're struggling to stay alive.

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E-mail: rock@desnews.com