AUSTIN WARD Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 12:00 am
LARAMIE - Chris Stutzriem isn't blowing anybody away with his speed.
The Wyoming freshman has had his weight publicly questioned by coach Joe Glenn.
And he might even throw the worst looking ball of any of the four quarterbacks the Cowboys have tried this season.
But after breaking UW's interminable touchdown drought in conference play in his last outing against Utah, Stutzriem at least erased one doubt about his athleticism.
Whether it was fueled purely by adrenaline or not, the new backup under center proved he's got some hops with a high-flying celebration - though the actual vertical leap is up for debate.
"I think it was close to 40 inches," Stutzriem said. "I mean, that was exciting.
"It was a lot of fun, Greg (Bolling) made a heck of a catch, and it was exciting. When I'm out there I like to show emotion about the good things, forget the bad. It was fun to finally score, and it was better right there than any time else. We've got a long way to go, but I think we're taking great strides."
No matter which quarterback ends up on the field against No. 15 TCU on Saturday, the strides had better be quick.
The Horned Frogs have one of the most athletic, hardest-hitting defenses in the nation, and whether it's starter Karsten Sween or one of UW's other options taking snaps, odds are his ability to escape the pass rush will be critical.
That clearly isn't Stutzriem's strength, but he makes up for it in enough other areas to possibly see an expanded role this weekend.
"He does what he always does," offensive coordinator Bob Cole said. "He prepares, he's ready to go and he's done a great job of moving the team.
"If you judged who came the longest from the start of spring ball, he's head and shoulders ahead of everybody in terms of improvement. I just think it's the work ethic that he has, nose to the grindstone, blue-collar, he's just going to work his butt off every day. I mean, (having him as the second option) is kind of the plan right now."
Like it's been every week, Cole would prefer not to have to worry about using more than one quarterback.
The continuing struggles in the passing game against teams far less talented than TCU make that scenario unlikely, though Sween already has a win in his career over the Horned Frogs.
Stutzriem definitely isn't pulling against the junior so he can get another shot at the job, but he's not afraid of the opportunity should it arise.
"I believe I can do it," he said. "Myself and Karsten are taking reps with the ones, and I feel good about it. I know the backup quarterback has to be ready just like the first-string quarterback.
"You never know what's going to happen. Coach Glenn and Coach Cole and whoever else sits down will decide what's best for the team, and whoever it is I'm going to back them just like they would for me."
And after breaking through with his first career touchdown - and one long overdue for UW - Stutzriem at least has a confidence-builder to point to.
Not to mention an answer for the doubts about his athleticism.
NEW SHOES: Meet the new Cinderella, same as the old one.
At least for the time being, the Mountain West Conference's BCS slipper is back on Utah's foot - picking up the torch dropped by BYU after last week's loss at TCU.
The three-way round robin at the top of the league could end up keeping all three of them out of the big-money bowls, but for now the Utes are comfortably leading the pack that's trying to break down the door.
And thanks to their bye week, coach Kyle Whittingham had a chance to keep it that way with a trip Bristol, Conn., to appear live on ESPN and possibly generate more interest in the Utes.
"I'm here trying to represent the program and just let people find out who we are, not really hard-selling anything but the program," Whittingham said during the league's Tuesday teleconference. "Great opportunity for us to get some national attention for our program, and that's the long and short of it.
"I'm not on a campaign to drum up BCS votes or anything of that nature."
THIRD AND LONG: The injuries are mounting, the touchdowns are piling up against them and San Diego State's Chuck Long might need to do a different sort of campaigning after last week's disastrous 70-7 loss at New Mexico.
Long isn't alone in having his job questioned as the season hits its stretch run, but he's perhaps given the most impassioned defenses for keeping it.
"We're going through a tough time right now," Long said. "We've got close to 20 guys out with injury, lost nine possible starters for the year. We have a lot of youth fighting and scratching around, and they don't know everything yet. They're not ready to play.
"That's life and football. My goal is to get these guys fresh and ready to play Saturday (against Colorado State)."
BACK TO WORK: Considering how much emphasis the Cowboys placed on fundamentals during their bye week, Tuesday's second practice in preparation for the Horned Frogs wasn't exactly encouraging.
UW fumbled snaps and handoffs, dropped at least a dozen passes, threw an incomplete lateral that mirrored one that went for a touchdown against BYU and had all sorts of accuracy issues at quarterback.
Coach Joe Glenn excused some of Karsten Sween's struggles since it was his first session of the week, but the whole staff was visibly upset at some point or another.
"Well, we've got a lot of different things we're looking at, and most of (the problems) weren't with the ones," Glenn said. "You try to get your twos ready, but everywhere I've ever been, the twos are what they are - the twos.
"But our quarterback has to be a lot sharper, I don't think he played as good (Tuesday) as he can, and he didn't get to practice Monday night so this was his first night with what we're doing. But he's got to throw the ball in the center of the bull's-eye."
BUMPS AND BRUISES: Wide receiver David Leonard had a boot on his injured left ankle and nose guard Fred Givens was held out of practice with a similar injury.
"Leonard is a question mark," Glenn said. "I've got to go check out Givens, I wasn't down with the defense, but that's not good (if they can't go). Either one of those guys, we need help.
"But they've got quite awhile yet, and I feel like we're getting close because we've had two real work days but we're still a day further out. Long way to the game, hopefully they can get ready."
Contact sports reporter Austin Ward at (307) 266-0634 or austin.ward@trib.com.
MWC Tracker
ONE TO WATCH: New Mexico at Air Force, Thursday, 6 p.m.
This isn't just because it's in high-definition - though that helps. Neither team can be all that pleased with their starts, but the Falcons could clinch bowl eligibility with a win and the Lobos have already engineered a nice turnaround.
ONE TO AVOID: Colorado State at San Diego State, Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
For comedy's sake, it'd be better to fire up the tape of the Aztecs' humiliation last week than sit through another home loss.
LAST WEEK'S STAR: It's not hard to figure out what went wrong for BYU.
TCU star Jerry Hughes was in the backfield almost as much as Max Hall. The junior defensive end piled up four sacks and forced two fumbles in the stunningly easy win over the Cougars.
THIS WEEK'S STAR: Don't be surprised if Hughes doubles up against UW's struggling offense.