N. Carolina will face a balanced Ute attack

Quinton Ganther is confident Utah's ground game can do a better job than North Carolina State did against North Carolina's defense.

The Wolfpack, who were sacked six times, finished with just 13 yards rushing on 28 carries.

"If these guys hold us to anything under 20 yards we shouldn't play this game," Ganther said. "That's embarrassing. You should find a new hobby if that happens."

Ganther, who leads the Utes with 89 yards rushing per game, expects the real battle Saturday in Chapel Hill to be won in the trenches.

"That's going to be the determining factor," Ganther predicted. "Like I've always said, the game has to be won up front."

Utah enters the contest with a somewhat balanced attack — ranking third in the Mountain West Conference in both passing offense (250.25 ypg) and rushing offense (182.25 ypg).

"There's no way a team can defend just one aspect of what we do," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "I think they have to defend across the board when they play us."

Quarterback Brian Johnson is coming off a career-best performance in Thursday's 38-35 victory over Air Force. He completed 21-of-29 passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for three scores. Senior receiver Travis LaTendresse also played a key role with 10 receptions, the most in his career as a Ute.

"I thought our offense was excellent against Air Force. Brian Johnson rebounded from a subpar performance against TCU to have a great game," Whittingham said. "The play of Travis LaTendresse is evidence that we have several playmakers on offense. If teams try to take way Quinton's run game, we can hurt them in other ways."

INSTANT RELAY: Don't misunderstand. Whittingham likes the color red. He just doesn't see the point of throwing red flags in games.

When asked about the MWC's new replay policy, Whittingham expressed concern about the coaches challenge.

"I think it's unnecessary if the guys up in the box are doing their job," Whittingham said. "They've done a good job so far. I don't see the necessity to have that red flag."

As for replay in general, he considers it "a great addition" to the game and to the league.

BOUNCE BACK: Though Ryan Smith made five tackles in last week's win over Air Force, it wasn't enough to overshadow a subpar performance by the former freshman All-American.

"He didn't have his best game, certainly, to say the least. Maybe his least effective game as a Ute," Whittingham said. "But Ryan is a competitive kid, and he's going to bounce back. Nobody is more disappointed in the way that the game played out than he was."

TRIMMING TIME: Whittingham favors the elimination of clock stoppage after first downs in college football.

"I think if we did that you are going to shorten the games by 10 or 15 minutes," he explained. "To me, that makes the most sense to combat the length of games."

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Utah (3-1) at North Carolina (1-2)

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E-mail: dirk@desnews.com