#11 Texas Christian (9-1, 6-0 Mountain West) at #10 Utah (9-0, 5-0 Mountain West)
Thursday, November 6 8:00 PM CBS College Sports Network
Rice-Eccles Stadium
Sports.com Line: Texas Christian -2, O/U 43.5

In my write up for last Thursday night’s game between South Florida and Cincinnati, I suggested that if you were looking for a direction to go you “might take a long look at fading South Florida the rest of the season. Why? Just look at 2007.” Then I recalled how the Bulls had self destructed at the end of last year, ending the season unranked after being as high as #2 at one point.

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Of course, after that history lesson what did I do? You got it, I backed South Florida (-2.5).

As you well know now, Cincinnati proceeded to take the Bulls out back for a 24-10 win, ending my four-game winning streak on Thursday nights and putting me at 7-4 (64%) for the season.

Knowing how South Florida had ended 2007, considering the Bulls had dropped two of their last three games and were on the road against a talented Cincinnati team you would have thought it was a pretty easy call to go with the Bearcats. I made the age-old mistake of “over thinking” the game when some obvious signs pointed me which way I should be headed.

I’ve certainly learned that lesson in the past, the problem being it’s hard to tell you’ve made that mistake until the game is over!

While hoping that I don’t make the same mistake twice in a row, let’s turn the page and take a look at this Thursday night.

I’ve been covering the Thursday night college football game for VegasInsider since 2000, and this is the first time I can ever remember writing up a game that wasn’t being shown on one of the ESPN networks. Of course, there is a game being shown on ESPN at 7:45 as Maryland visits Virginia Tech. However, there is a much more interesting game being show on CBS College Sports Network as #11 Texas Christian heads to Salt Lake City to face #10 Utah.

Unfortunately, with only 27 million subscribers out of the roughly 113 million homes with televisions across the country, chances are many of you don’t get CBS College Sports Network, formerly known as CSTV. Furthermore, considering that ESPN is in about 87 percent of all homes, I’m guessing many of you will be stuck watching the Hokies and Terps. But trust me when I say that there will be a much better battle, heavy with BCS implications, being waged in Utah on Thursday night.

TCU and Utah are a combined 18-1, with the lone blemish being the Horned Frogs road loss to Oklahoma. Obviously nothing to be ashamed of there.

Coach Kyle Whittingham has Utah off to its best start since 2004 when the Utes not only won the Mountain West, but became the first team from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to qualify for a BCS bowl. Utah landed in the Fiesta Bowl and crushed Pittsburgh to finish a perfect 12-0. That team was led by QB Alex Smith, who of course went on to be the #1 pick of the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL draft.

As many people remember, the coach of that 2004 Utah team was Urban Meyer who parlayed his success in Salt Lake City into one of the premiere jobs in college football at Florida. Whittingham, who had been Utah's defensive coordinator since 1995, was named the school's 20th head coach when Meyer left for Gainesville at the end of the 2004 season.

As Meyer had in 2004, Whittingham is utilizing another talented QB in his pursuit of a perfect season. Quarterback Brian Johnson has thrown for almost two thousand yards along with 14 touchdowns while keeping defenses honest with his running skills. Johnson, along with RB Matt Asiata and WR Brent Casteel, is part of a dangerous offense that is ranked 20th in the nation by scoring just over 36 points a game.

However, while offense has traditionally gotten all the attention at Utah, it’s the Utes defense that actually has this team in a position to run the table and land in the BCS. Whittingham must love the fact that his team is ranked seventh in the nation in total defense, allowing just a touch over 265 yards a game.

That said, while the offense and defense cover the bulk of the team, Utah’s MVP this season just might be its placekicker and punter Louie Sakoda. The senior has single handily – or single “footily” – won several games over his career at Utah including last week’s contest against New Mexico.  Sakoda nailed both field-goal attempts (43 and 38 yards) and pinned the Lobos deep with four punts inside the 20, three of which were inside the 10.

In a game that could very easily come down to a last second kick, Sakoda is an incredibly valuable weapon to have.

Johnson and the Utes offense could only muster 227 total yards against TCU last year, but the Utes were still were able to walk away with a 27-20 victory. It will be surprising if Johnson can post 27 points against the 2008 TCU defense, a unit that ranks #1 in the nation in rush defense (39 ypg), #2 in total defense (215 ypg) and #3 in scoring defense (10.8 ppg).

Just ask BYU how tough TCU is on defense. The Cougars were averaging 38 points a game when they faced the Horned Frogs on October 16. Final score? 32-7 TCU.

To make a dent against TCU, Utah will have to hope that its ground game will be effective. The Utes have pumped out 520 yards over their last two games, and can loosen up the defensive line to create some time for Johnson to pass the ball down the field.

Of course, to win at Utah, TCU will have to produce some offense of its own. As it often does, the main person responsible for that task will be the quarterback. TCU sophomore QB Andy Dalton will look to forget last season's performance against Utah when he tossed a career-high four interceptions. The good news for TCU fans is that Dalton has been very sharp lately, throwing nine touchdowns and no interceptions in his last three games after missing two weeks due to a (right) knee injury.

The Horned Frogs have won five straight games by an average of nearly 30 points since the aforementioned loss to the Sooners (35-10) in September.

Utah has won nine straight home games, while TCU has lost four of its last five meetings with the Utes.