Utah Utes football: Not surprised by Pokes

Kyle Whittingham isn't surprised that Dave Christensen has made an immediate impact as head football coach at Wyoming. The Cowboys enter Saturday's game at Utah with a 4-3 record, including a 2-1 mark in Mountain West Conference play.

"I had no doubt that he would do a great job," said Whittingham, who coached with Christensen at Idaho State in 1990-91 and has maintained a friendship with him since that time.

Christensen, who went on to coordinate offenses at Toledo and Missouri, is reviving a Wyoming program that hasn't had a winning season since 2004. That was also the last time the Cowboys went to a bowl game, defeating UCLA 24-21 in Las Vegas.

The next four seasons produced a combined record of 19-28, three losing campaigns and one .500 mark.

It didn't sit well in Laramie. Last November, Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman opted to make a change and the program parted ways with head coach Joe Glenn.

"We had hoped that after six seasons we would be competing for a conference championship," Burman announced. "That has not happened."

Christensen, who directed one of the top offenses in the nation at Missouri, was hired to replace Glenn in December.

"With Dave leading Cowboy football, I believe our program will make dramatic progress in the coming years and return to a position of prominence in the Mountain West Conference," Burman said when Christensen's hiring was announced.

Christensen's' head coaching tenure began with a 29-22 win over Weber State on Sept. 5. Losses to Texas (41-10) and Colorado (24-0) followed before Wyoming reeled off consecutive victories over UNLV (30-27), Florida Atlantic (30-28) and New Mexico (37-13).

In their final tune-up before facing Utah, the Cowboys dropped a hard-fought 10-0 decision at Air Force. A bye week followed.

"They are very fundamentally sound," Whittingham said. "They're disciplined and (are) just playing very good football."

Wyoming linebacker Brian Hendricks led the way against the Falcons, making 23 tackles. He and fellow linebacker Gabe Knapton both average more than 11 stops per game.

Offensively, the Cowboys struggled against Air Force. Quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels got sacked six times and was protected by an offensive line that was penalized several times for false starts.

It remains to be seen if the bye week cured what ailed Wyoming.

"It's all about playing football," said Utah quarterback Terrance Cain. "Obviously, they've had two weeks to prepare. But it all comes down to who shows on game day."

Over the past four meetings in Salt Lake City, though, it's been the Utes. They've outscored Wyoming by a whopping 175-30 margin during that span, including the infamous 50-0 game in 2007 that featured an ill-timed onside kick by Utah.

"I have no clue what's happened in this matchup in the past. It makes no difference. This is a different program. It's a different year. History makes no difference," Christensen said at his weekly press conference. "There's nothing in this game that has anything to do with the past. We're a different program. We're different in everything that we're doing."

Utes on the air

Wyoming (4-3, 2-1 MWC) at No. 19 Utah (6-1, 3-0)

Saturday, 6 p.m.

Rice-Eccles Stadium

TV: The mtn. Radio: 700 AM

e-mail: dirk@desnews.com