Nov. 15, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY -
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For complete game notes, please download the accompanying PDF.
> No. 5/6 ranked Utah (10-0, 6-0 MWC), which has already clinched its second straight outright Mountain West Conference championship, closes its regular season this Saturday against arch-rival Brigham Young (5-5, 4-2 MWC). The game, which will be televised live by ESPN2, will kick off at 5:00 MST.
> ESPN College Football GameDay with Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Chris Fowler, will broadcast from the University of Utah this weekend. See page 2 for more information.
> Utah Heisman semifinalist Alex Smith remains at or near the top of the statistical charts with the season winding down.
> Utah has moved up two places in both polls this week, checking in at No. 5 in the Associated Press and No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll for the second straight week. Both are school record rankings.
> Utah shot back to No. 6 in the Bowl Championship Series standings after a week at No. 7. The Utes have been No. 6 in the BCS poll for three of the last four weeks.
RANKING WRECKERS
The 2004 Utes have now been ranked in the Top-25 for 12 straight weeks in the A.P. and 13 straight weeks in the coaches' polls, which breaks the old school record set in 1994 for both consecutive and total weeks in the two polls. The 2004 Utes are ranked in the top 10 in both polls for a fifth-straight week--also a school first. For Utah's complete ranking history, please see page 13.
ESPN GAMEDAY COMES TO THE U.
ESPN College Football GameDay is bringing its show to town for the Utah-BYU game this weekend. The public is encouraged to attend all of the live and taped shows and there will be no admission charge. The ESPN team of Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Chris Fowler will begin broadcasting from a site to be determined on the University of Utah campus Friday afternoon starting at 3:00 p.m. Saturday's ESPN live national broadcast of College Football GameDay will run from 8:30-10:00 a.m., but there are segments throughout the day and into the evening. Herbstreit and Corso will break from the set during the game, as they are providing color commentary (Mike Tirico will handle the play by play). This marks the first time that ESPN College Football GameDay has come to Salt Lake City.
SCHOOL RECORD START
Utah's 10-0 start is the best in school history, breaking the previous record of 8-0 set in 1930 and 1994. Utah has finished the season unbeaten and untied three previous times in its history: 1926, 7-0; 1929, 7-0 and 1930, 8-0. The 1928 Utes finished 5-0-2 and the 1941 team finished 6-0-2.
BACK TO BACK CHAMPS
Utah has clinched its second-straight outright MWC championship with one game remaining. Every other MWC school has at least two conference losses while Utah goes into its regular season finale with a 6-0 MWC record. It marks the fourth time in school history that the program has won back-to-back league titles, but the first since the Utes competed in the Skyline Conference, when they were league champs from 1951-53. Utah won three straight Big Seven Conference titles from 1940-42 and captured six straight Rocky Mountain championships from 1928-33. During their stint as a Western Athletic Conference member (1962-98), the Utes never repeated as league champs, winning two total titles.
