Utah Utes football: Frogs, Patterson wary of The MUSS

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's 21-game winning streak at Rice-Eccles Stadium faces a stiff challenge from TCU. The Horned Frogs have won nine straight road contests and have prevailed in 22 straight regular-season games.

Even so, they aren't taking anything for granted on Saturday. TCU coach Gary Patterson knows what the Frogs are going to face up on the hill.

"It's awful loud. The MUSS, the student section, is unbelievable," he said. "They keep count of how many times they get the opposing team to jump offsides and do the things they need to do."

Patterson, thus, has a plan to counter the situation.

"We have to come in as a focused football team," he explained. "We've got to be able to close all that out."

However, it's a task, the coach acknowledged, that may be easier said than done.

"You know that you're not just playing 11 guys on the field," Patterson noted. "You've got a full house and that's why they've been so good there."

Utah's lengthy string of victories at home is five shy of a school record (26) and trails only Oklahoma (35) and Boise State (29) nationally.

"We've got a lot of TCU fans coming," Patterson said. "But there won't be a lot of people there cheering for us."

Saturday's game is a complete sellout, including standing-room only tickets.

EXTRA POINTS: This is Utah's annual "blackout" game. Fans are encouraged to wear the color and the Utes will sport dark jerseys with camouflage trim as part of Under Armour's support of the Wounded Warrior Project ... TCU is 0-3 in games played at Utah ... ESPN's College Football GameDay program will be broadcast live from 7-10 a.m., in the west parking lot of the stadium. Admission is free.

e-mail: dirk@desnews.com