The Utah Utes are ready for a breakout year. Just don’t tell head coach Urban Meyer that.

After easily dealing with Texas A&M last week, 41-21, No. 17 Utah has grabbed the national spotlight as one of the teams that could emerge from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to grab a berth in a BCS bowl.

Much of that has to do with junior quarterback Alex Smith, who burned the Aggies for 359 yards passing, 76 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

And it is no accident that the emergences of Utah and Smith have occurred at the same time.

Although the Utes finished 10-2 last year, the offense struggled at times with Meyer’s complex system. After receiving his undergraduate degree two years early, Smith spent the off-season studying the offense instead of economics.

Inspired by its quarterback’s dedication, much of the offense took Smith’s lead and stayed after summer practices to work out the problems it had with the system. Now, most of the players that spent last season complaining about Meyer’s offense have mastered it.

‘(Smith) has a command of the offense and it’s a very hard offense,’ Meyer said. ‘He didn’t have that last year. Our offense is something you can’t command with just the 20 hours a week in practice.

‘He’s the first junior I ever allowed to be captain. With a leader like Alex, (the players) work on their own. If you knew Alex Smith, you’d expect it out of him.’

The Utes certainly have come to expect great things out of Smith.

Meyer went as far as to say that without Smith it would be a ‘challenge’ to succeed. Opposing coaches more than agree.

‘He’s a winner,’ said Dennis Franchione, head coach at Texas A&M. ‘He’s very poised, never seems rattled and seems to have a good command of their offense. He’s certainly the catalyst that makes everything go.’

Much of that confidence comes from the hours of practice that Smith puts into mastering the quarterback position. He stays after practice, perfecting things he doesn’t feel comfortable with. Smith knows that what he puts in during practice will be returned during the games.

‘I hear people say that he’s a gamer,’ Meyer said. ‘He’s not a gamer. He’s horrible in a game unless he does well in practice. He’s a thinker. He practices so hard and it gives him confidence. It’s the reason he does so well in games.’

And although his coach doesn’t say it, Smith’s hard work is the reason why so many Utah fans are talking about a BCS bowl.

‘I hear fans talk about it, but we downplay it,’ Meyer said. ‘There’s no discussion of BCS around here. There are 10 to 15 elite teams and 70 to 80 teams (that), if they play well, can win it. I don’t think we can do it. We don’t have the depth to compete.’

But the Utes do have Smith, and most experts say it may be enough to push them over the edge. No matter what coach is talking, the scouting report on Smith is always the same: the guy can play football.

‘Alex Smith is just a fabulous player,’ Arizona head coach Mike Stoops said. ‘I like the way he manages the game, finds the open receiver, understands the concepts so well, their spacing routes, the way he hits people. He just reads everything so well.’

While Meyer goes to great lengths to remain modest, the fans touting Utah’s BCS prospects could be the realists come December.

‘They are one of those teams that are thinking about cracking into the BCS,’ Franchione said. ‘They should be with the talent they have back.’

Hurricane hits FSU, Miami hard

Florida, usually a football-crazy state, is thinking about anything but football now.

Many residents of the Sunshine State had Miami’s much-hyped Atlantic Coast Conference debut against Florida State circled on their calendars. But with Hurricane Frances on Florida’s doorstep, the game was postponed until Friday.

Just when the state thought it could begin to recover from the hurricane, news broke that Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden’s grandson and former son-in-law were killed. Their car crashed into a utility truck that was trying to restore power.

‘It really puts things in perspective,’ Miami head coach Larry Coker said. ‘It gives all of us a reality check.’

Now that Hurricane Frances is gone, both teams will try to focus on Friday’s game, even with Hurricane Ivan looming.

‘We’re ready to play,’ Coker said. ‘We’re anxious to get started. There’s a concern (about Hurricane Ivan). We’ll get to play on Friday, but there’s still a Category 4 hurricane in the Caribbean.’

Tailgating Tragedy

Two men were charged with murder after shooting two tailgaters in the parking lot of North Carolina State’s Carter-Finley Stadium before Saturday’s game.

Reports said that the victims threw a carton of beer cans at Tony Johnson’s car after Johnson sped through the parking lot full of tailgaters. Johnson and his brother, Timothy, an N.C. State student, allegedly exchanged punches with the victims, then left the scene, only to return later with a gun.

Johnson located the victims, reports said, shooting one dead in the parking lot and injuring the other. The second man died in the hospital, police said.

Published on September 8, 2004 at 12:00 pm