Sports briefs

The Utah men's basketball team finalized its 2008-09 schedule today when the Mountain West Conference office released the league pairings.

The MWC schedule has Utah playing its conference games on Wednesday and Saturday, with two exceptions: The home game with BYU is slated for Tuesday, Jan. 27, and the Utes will play at New Mexico on Tuesday, March 3.

Twenty-one Utah games will be broadcast by either VERSUS, CBS C or The mtn. The broadcasts include all of Utah's MWC games other than its league-opener against Wyoming in Salt Lake City on Jan. 3.

Boise State, Tulsa to start home-and-home

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Former conference rivals Tulsa and Boise State plan to reignite their rivalry with a pair of games that will be played in 2009 and 2011.

The Golden Hurricane, who now play in Conference USA, will host the first game of the series next season at the renovated Chapman Stadium on Oct. 3, 2009, and will visit the blue turf in Boise on Sept. 24, 2011.

Cowboys name Crum their starter at QB

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Sophomore transfer Dax Crum was named the starting quarterback for Wyoming on Friday, beating out returning starter Karsten Sween.

Starting quarterback has been the main question mark of the Cowboys offense, which ranked 107th nationally in scoring in 2007.

"It has been a battle, and we feel we have two very good quarterbacks," head coach Joe Glenn said in a statement. "But at this point, we have to get one guy ready for the opener against Ohio. Dax will get the start, but Karsten needs to stay sharp and I know he will. We feel good about both of them."

The 6-foot-4, 228-pound Crum transferred to Laramie from Mesa Community College in Arizona where he played one year after leaving the Arizona State team.

Crum earned honorable mention National Junior College Athletic Association All-America honors at Mesa. He was named the NJCAA Co-Region I Offensive Player of the Year, and also was selected First Team All-Western States Football League in his first and only year at Mesa Community College.

"I'm so blessed and so lucky to be the starter for this team, and hopefully I can do something with it and I'm going to try to do my best to take this team to the next level," Crum said in a telephone interview.

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BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — Nobody could touch Brian Vickers on Friday in NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying at Michigan International Speedway.