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Utah (4-2, 1-2) vs. TCU (3-3, 1-2)

• Start: Saturday, 8:30 p.m. MDT
• Venue: Rice-Eccles Stadium
• TV: ESPN
• Live stream: espn.com/watch
• Radio: ESPN 700 AM/92.1 FM
• Series: Utah leads 5-3
• Weather: Sure with temperatures around 50°C at kick-off, which dropped to mid 40°C by the end of the game.

The trends

For Utah: The Utes have lost two straight games, losing 23-10 to Arizona in Salt Lake City before losing 27-19 to Arizona State in Tempe last week.

For TCU: The Horned Frogs have lost three of their last four games, 66-42 at rival SMU, then against Kansas 38-27, before losing 30-19 to Houston, bottom of the Big 12, last week. The Cougars entered the game having scored zero points in their previous two games, but broke that streak against TCU.

What you should pay attention to

This week, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham announced that starting quarterback Cam Rising, who suffered a leg injury early in his return against Arizona State, is out for the season.

That means true freshman Isaac Wilson will be the Utes’ starter for the remainder of the season.

It’s not a foreign position for Wilson, who has started three games in Rising’s absence this year, but this upcoming start feels different. No more dueling game plans in practice in case Rising can play, no more looking over your shoulder to see if Rising is coming back this week.

Utah is finally putting together a game plan specifically for Wilson, and the team got behind him this week.

Wilson has had his problems – too many interceptions (seven on the year) and not enough red zone trips converted into touchdowns – and will still make freshman mistakes, but he has shown potential and has generally moved the ball well between the 20s .

If the Utes can convert in the red zone this week, things will look up.

It will be interesting to see how Wilson performs with a week of game planning tailored to his strengths. He has shown a penchant for running and TCU has struggled to contain rushing quarterbacks. Could we see more designed quarterback runs in Utah’s playbook this week?

Key players

Josh Hoover, TCU quarterback: Without a reliable rushing game, Hoover was tasked with producing the majority of TCU’s offensive yards, and he delivered.

TCU coach Sonny Dykes has always favored the passing game, and he has a good quarterback under center to lead his offense. Hoover threw for 2,007 yards and 16 touchdowns with 69% accuracy, with his favorite target being wide receiver Jack Bech, who threw 39 balls for seven scores and 702 yards.

TCU isn’t struggling with other weapons either, as three other receivers have rushed for over 300 yards this season. All of that has led to the fifth-best passing offense in the country, averaging 342.8 yards and 35.3 points per game.

The offense’s weakness was turning the ball over too often. The Horned Frogs had given the ball away 14 times this season – Hoover threw six interceptions and TCU fumbled the ball eight times.

The Utes will have their hands full with one of the best quarterbacks they have faced this year.

Quotable

“What really impresses me is the conversion down rate. Almost 50% on third down, almost 75% on fourth down and in the red zone the touchdown efficiency is over 80%. So offensively they do really well and are really hard to stop.” – Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

“I think the fact that he’s got all week to prepare for that, that I think there’s some clarity in that position probably helps them, just because I suspect there’s been split reps and things like that , as Cam tries to get better. I don’t know how much different it will be for us in terms of preparation, but it will be a little bit.” – TCU coach Sonny Dykes

Next

• Utah: in Houston
• TCU: vs. Texas Tech

Utah schedule

• August 29: Utah 49, Southern Utah 0
• September 7: Utah 23, Baylor 12
• September 14: Utah 38, Utah State 21
• September 21: Utah 22, Oklahoma State 19
• September 28: Arizona 23, Utah 10.
• Oct. 5: Bye
• Oct. 11: Arizona State 27, Utah 19.
• Oct. 19: TCU (8:30 p.m., ESPN)
• Oct. 26: in Houston
• November 2nd: Bye
• November 9: BYU
• November 16: in Colorado
• November 23: Iowa State
• November 29: at UCF (6 p.m., Fox)

All times Mountain time zone.