Utes will win, BYU will lose

The Utes and Cougars enter college football's mystery today.

How will Utah's offense respond to the absence of QB Brian Johnson and RB Matt Asiata?

Is BYU's defense as good as it looked against Arizona, or were the Wildcats just that pathetic on offense in LaVell Edwards Stadium? Can Utah generate enough defensive stops — remedying tackling issues exposed at Oregon State?

How will Max Hall handle UCLA's blitzes, which will certainly come from all over Bruin Nation today?

Is this a Utah game where Louis Sakoda will simply be the MVP?

With a possible run at a BCS berth on the line, is BYU capable of pulling off an upset on the road in Pac-10 territory against a team that has generally owned the Cougars in the series, 6-1?

Is UCLA overrated? Is Air Force underrated?

Is Tommy Grady capable of completing a series of passes in a row?

First, the Utes.

Kyle Whittingham's detractors are growing by the month. But one thing Whittingham has shown in his time as Utah's coach is that when the chips are against him and his team, he has motivated them to deliver a win.

He'll do that today.

Grady has a monumental task of replacing Johnson in an offense designed for Johnson. He'll surely be programmed to throw a lot of passes based on pre-snap reads instead of drop back, survey and fire-type action.

Running the option and keeping the ball is not on his plate.

All Grady has to do is keep drives alive for Sakoda. His biggest task is to get the ball in the hands of Brent Castell and Co. and let the receivers work. A year ago, didn't Eric Weddle basically beat the Air Force with key plays, extending drives for touchdowns?

No Weddle this time.

In Pasadena, the Cougars must disrupt UCLA's comfort passing game. To do this, they'll have to lay the wood to QB Ben Olson and force him to throw precise passes — or keep him guessing with pressure. At the same time, they cannot allow UCLA's home-run backs to get their mojo going.

And the Cougars will have to have Max Hall deliver a veteran-like game under intense pressure.

BYU can do part of it and might do all of it in this game, which will be an all-out, hard-fought war.