Utah-Oregon State: Thursday Night Lights for Interesting Matchup

Senior Analyst Written on September 29, 2008

Another potentially exciting Thursday night game is scheduled on the Versus network this week.

The Trojan-slaying Oregon State Beavers meet potential BCS Buster No. 15 Utah. Yes, the Utes' mascot is Joe Pesci in an Armani suit.

As much as we all would like to believe that scoreboards answer questions, sometimes they create more. Here are the future questions we will inevitably be discussing after the game.

If Oregon State Wins

1. Will the Beavers be ranked?

The Beavs will have beat No. 1 and No. 15 in consecutive weeks. OSU began the season by losing to Stanford and what we now know is a very good Penn State team. Only Stanford is an embarrassing loss. Wisconsin and Florida have embarrassing losses and are still ranked without any impressive wins.

2. Can you rank a two-loss Pac-10 (or any conference) team this early in the season? Certainly there will be many by the end of the season.

3. Does Utah fall completely out of the top 25?

They really haven't beat anyone of national consequence since sneaking by Michigan opening weekend. Then again, neither have most of the SEC schools.

If Utah Wins

1. Will Utah be ranked ahead of Mountain West Conference rival BYU, assuming they also win against hapless Utah State on Friday?

This would make sense, since the Utes have had non-conference games against presumably better teams. BYU has beaten UCLA and Washington. Utah will have beaten Michigan and Oregon State. In fact, without silly preseason expectations and the huge margins of victory in BYU's last two games, Utah would be ranked higher right now.

2. Have two teams from Utah or even the Mountain West ever been ranked in the top 10 in the same season? I don't even think two teams from the MWC have been ranked in the top 25.

3. Can bowl game host cities make a profit if half the fans don't buy alcohol? As we know from many of the comments here at Bleacher Report, College Football economics and fandom are fueled primarily by booze.

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written on September 29, 2008 Preview/Prediction