SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn isn’t getting much time to adjust.
One week after his first college start, the freshman goes from facing one of the worst defenses to one of the best when the No. 16 Utes play at No. 4 TCU on Saturday.
“This is the biggest game of my life, but I’m looking forward to it,” said Wynn, whose college experience consists of a whopping two games.
The first was the second half in a win over Wyoming two weeks ago, when Wynn made his debut and helped rally the Utes to the 22-10 victory.
The second was last week in his first start against New Mexico. Wynn played well, passing for two touchdowns and almost 300 yards in the first three quarters, but the winless Lobos are hardly the Horned Frogs.
e among the best. TCU is No. 3 nationally in total defense, allowing just 240.5 yards per game and fifth in scoring defense at 11.2 points.
The Frogs have a defense that can keep up with the fastest offenses and have held their last four opponents to a total of 25 points.
“They’re fast – everywhere. They’re full of athletes. From the D-end spot, to the linebacker spot to the DBs,” Wynn said. “I’ve just got to take care of the football and hopefully we’ll be there at the end.”
The Utes (8-1, 5-0) are 5-1 all-time against TCU (9-0, 5-0), but the Frogs are favored by 20-points to take over sole possession of first place in the Mountain West on Saturday night and remain in contention for TCU’s first Bowl Championship Series berth.
The Frogs had BCS visions a year ago until Utah rallied for a 13-10 win on a touchdown with 48 seconds remaining.
Wynn was a high school senior watching the game from his home outside San Diego. He said he had just reconsidered a verbal commitment he made to Colorado and planned to go to Utah instead.
“It made my decision look good,” Wynn said with a slight grin. “I kind of already had it in my mind that I was going to change my mind, but that definitely reassured me.”
TCU coach Gary Patterson knows what Wynn has accomplished in his brief career, but also expects the Utes to throw in their usual wrinkles.
ter play the vertical game, you better understand that somebody beside the quarterback’s going to line up in the backfield and run the football,” Patterson said. “They’re gong to make plays. They do. That’s how they’ve won the amount of ballgames they do.”
Wynn graduated high school early so he could enroll at Utah in January and participate in spring practice.
Coach Kyle Whittingham said Wynn adapted and learned quickly, but at the end of fall camp the coaches decided to go with junior college transfer Terrance Cain in the season opener. Cain led the Utes to a 6-1 start, but the offense was sputtering and Whittingham brought Wynn off the bench with Utah trailing Wyoming 10-3 after the first half.
“He obviously had a lot of positives going for him or he wouldn’t have been in the mix,” Whittingham said. “It was a close call with Terrance, who just edged him out.”
Whittingham said the coaches noticed how Wynn accepted the decision to start Cain and didn’t pout about it, instead playing hard in practice and showing the coaches what Whittingham describes as a high football IQ.
Whittingham compares Wynn to another San Diego native who had smarts and ended up starring at Utah – Alex Smith, a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2004 and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft.
ver California. Smith had a rushing touchdown in that game, but didn’t throw for a score until Utah’s win over Oregon in his third start.
Wynn completed 18 of 28 passes last week in his starting debut, finishing with 297 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.
Before Utah fans get carried away with the comparisons, there are significant differences. Coach Urban Meyer ran a scaled-back offense when Smith became the starter after Brett Elliott broke his wrist and didn’t open it up until the Oregon game, when Smith passed for 340 yards and two touchdowns.
While Wynn appears off to a promising start, this week will be a much better indicator of his potential.
“I’m just going into it like any other game,” Wynn said. “They’re a great team. I’ve started breaking it down on film and they’re great on defense. But you know what? We’ve got scholarship guys, they’ve got scholarship guys. It’s just the game of football.”
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