No. 19 Ute Football Team Hosts Air Force - The Official Athletic Site of the University of Utah

QUICK HITS

> No. 19/20 Utah (5-1, 2-0 MWC) hosts Air Force (4-3, 3-1 MWC) on Saturday, Oct. 24. Kickoff is 2:00 p.m. MT in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The game will be televised live on VERSUS. Radio is KALL 700 AM (kall700sports.com).

> Utah needs one win to become bowl eligible. The Utes have played in a bowl game in each of the last six seasons, including BCS bowls in the 2004 and 2008 seasons.

> Utah has moved up five places to No. 19 in the Associated Press poll and returns to the USA Today Coaches' poll at No. 20. The Utes are No. 19 in the Harris poll and No. 18 in the first BCS rankings of the season. The 5-1 Utes were ranked as high as 17th this season before dropping out on Sept. 20 after a 31-24 loss to Oregon. The Ducks are currently 12th and 14th, respectively in the A.P. and Coaches' polls.

> Utah reached the 600-win mark last week at UNLV, becoming the 39th school in NCAA FBS history to record 600 victories. Utah's all-time record is 600-418-31.

> Senior free safety Robert Johnson is tied for first in the nation in interceptions (0.83 per game). He is one of five players nationwide to pick off five passes this season.

> While Utah has won five of the last six games against the Academy, Air Force remains the only MWC school with a winning record against the Utes. Utah's record against MWC schools follows: Air Force 11-14, Brigham Young 53-33-4, Colorado State 54-22-2, New Mexico 31-17-2, San Diego State 15-12-1, TCU 5-1, UNLV 13-2, Wyoming 49-31-1. See boxed inset on page 2 for complete details on the Utah-AFA series.

> After playing four of their first six games on the road, the Utes will kick off a three-game home stand this Saturday and will leave the state just one more time during the regular season (TCU on Nov. 14).

UTES ASSIST WITH PROJECT ONE HOPE

The University of Utah Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, the U. Alumni Association and the Polynesian Coaches Association are joining forces in support of "Project One Hope" at this Saturday's Utah-Air Force football game. Members of each group will be stationed outside the stadium gates to collect donations for families affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami that devastated the islands of American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga. "Project One Hope" is of special interest to the Utah football team, which has 30 Polynesian players on its roster and five staff members.

PAINT THE TOWN RED

The Downtown Alliance and the University of Utah athletics department are co-sponsoring a "Paint the Town Red" contest this week, with downtown businesses invited to decorate their businesses or storefronts in red. The contest will run through Oct. 23 and the winners will be recognized at halftime of the Utah-New Mexico football game on Nov. 7. The grand prize is $2,500, four VIP tickets to a Utah football game and two tickets for every employee of the winning business to a Utah men's basketball game.