This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said following Utah's loss to Oregon on Saturday that the Utes didn't feel the need to modify the offense much with Adam Schulz playing instead of Travis Wilson. The lack of much tweaking is a good thing, because it sure sounds like Schulz is going to be the guy for the remainder of the year. Whittingham said the Utes' mentality is that Schulz is the starter and he'll shed more light on the nature of Wilson's head injury on Monday. Unlike other injury situations, Whittingham didn't even offer a glimmer of hope that Wilson would be back on the field. What he did add was that his "thoughts and prayers" are with Wilson, making it sound like Wilson's status is far more complicated than what an average concussion would warrant. So if Schulz is the guy going forward, what are Utah's chances of winning its last two games to go bowling? Schulz isn't as dynamic a quarterback as Wilson, but he showed on Saturday he is capable of doing a decent job of guiding the offense. Having tight end Jake Murphy certainly improves Utah's offense, but what the Utes really need is a better effort out of the run game. Washington State has a horrible run defense, giving up 185 yards a game, so it would serve the Utes well to devise a good run-based plan that would let them control the clock. If the Utes can get past the Cougars, beating Colorado at home should be a relatively easy task. But then, nothing really seems easy for the Utes this year. - Lya Wodraska