Marsden not afraid of top competition

You can call Utah gymnastics coach Greg Marsden a glory hog, an egomaniac or maybe even an obsessive-compulsive. He probably won't mind. Just don't call him a coward. That would be insulting.

Not to mention inaccurate.

Tonight, the No. 4-rated Utes meet No. 2-ranked Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens. That would be the same Georgia Bulldogs that have won six straight head-to-head meetings against Utah. Later this season the Utes face No. 9 Michigan, No. 5 Nebraska and No. 1 Florida.

What, they couldn't schedule the armies of Sauron, too?

"If we expect to be a top program, we have to see the best and compete on the same floor with the best to see what it takes at the end of the season to win," said Marsden. "I always felt that an important part of the process is to face as many good teams as possible."

So there it is. Marsden is going into the Valley of Death, throwing caution to the wind. Since when did caution ever have anything to do with Marsden, anyway? This is a guy who had the audacity to believe Utah could become a national power in the first place. Since then, the Utes have won 10 national championships. The main thing that has kept them from winning 10 more is, well, Georgia. The Bulldogs interrupted a string of six Ute titles by winning in 1987. Now they have won seven of their own, including four since Utah last won.

"There's a lot of pride at both programs, we've had a lot of success," said Marsden. "So I think we need to go there. We're not going to live or die on whether we win (today), but we'd like to go and show progress and be competitive with them and really evaluate where we are in comparison. If we don't match up on every event, we can try to figure out what we can do between now and the end of the season."

Yes, of course. The end of the season, when the Utes host the national championship meet April 26-28.

So why not get a preview right now?

Tonight's meet is as good as college gymnastics get. Though inexperience could hamper the Utes, there's no denying the matchup involves two monster programs. You have teams that finished 1-2 in last year's championships and 1-3 the year before. You have two undefeated teams, with Utah at 7-0 and Georgia at 8-0-1. The last two regular-season meets between Utah and Georgia have been decided by a combined 15/100ths of a point. All-time, Utah has a thin 19-18-1 edge against Georgia.

Any closer and you'd need a spatula to separate them.

"Lately, they've been a nemesis for everyone," said Marsden.