Nov. 15, 2000

By JIM BURTON
Standard-Examiner staff

SALT LAKE CITY - Even before the Utes arrived in Laramie, Wyo., last weekend, coach Ron McBride tried to prepare his players for the bitter cold weather conditions that lay ahead.

Utah hadn't played at the University of Wyoming's War Memorial Stadium since early October 1998, when the weather was cool and windy, but still relatively pleasant.

That trip was nothing like the one the Utes took last Saturday, when a November cold snap and a 4 p.m. kickoff made for one of the coldest games in school history.

"I kept telling the players, 'This is great, you guys are going to love this. This is going to be fun,'" McBride said. "Our kids played really well. I watched the film and they did a great job. When a team's not as good as you are, that's what you need to do, you need put them away."

At kickoff, the temperature at kickoff was around 8 degrees. When the sun went down at the 7,000-foot elevation, the Utes were playing on an ice rink in sub-zero weather.

But in the end, it turned out that neither the cold, nor the ice nor the Cowboys themselves could keep the Utes from picking up their fourth win of the season and their first conference shutout since the mid-1970s.

Led by redshirt freshman quarterback Lance Rice, the Utah offense scored on five or its first seven possessions. Rice, who made only his second start in a Ute uniform, completed 7 of 16 passes for 146 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.

The Utes took a 27-0 lead into halftime thanks to a pair of short TD runs from tailback Adam Tate, a 33-yard scoring strike from Rice to Josh Lyman and field goals from Ryan Kaneshiro and Golden Whetman.

Utah defensive back Andre Dyson added the only score of the second half when he returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown with 3:52 left to play.

The bitter cold and terrible field conditions weren't conducive to great offensive production, but, thanks to a rapidly-improving offensive line, the Utes offense put up good numbers: 16 first downs, 375 yards of total offense, 41 rushes and 183 yard, 146 yard through the air.

"It was almost like playing on a skating rink," said Rice of the frozen-solid turf at Laramie's War Memorial Stadium.

Utah was aided by generally poor play from the injury-ravaged Cowboys (1-9, 0-6), who suffered their seventh consecutive loss.

With senior quarterback Jay Stoner nursing a badly sprained ankle, the Cowboys were forced to use freshman Casey Bramlet and sophomore Brandon Neill. Bramlet completed 15 of 33 passes for 186 yards and an interception.

Utah's defense, rank came in ranked No. 1 in the country against the pass and No. 11 in total defense, allowed just 261 yards of offense.

With the defense playing that well -- and the weather getting colder by the minute -- the Utes were able to play a much more conservative game in the second half, especially with a 27-0 halftime lead.

After halftime, the Utes' gameplan was to, basically, run out the clock and continue to play tough on defense.

"If you're winning, you don't even notice the cold," said McBride. Kicking in the cold After starting the season 1-for-10 in field goal attempts and losing his job to Ryan Kaneshiro, Golden Whetman probably wasn't expecting many highlights from the rest of his 2000 season. But with just 19 seconds left in the first half and 24-0 lead already on the board, the Utes sent Whetman out to attempt a 55-yard field goal.

Whetman said he wasn't even think about an attempt, instead believing the Utes would probably just try to run out the clock. But that's when the coaches told him to get on the field.

The freezing weather and a football that must have felt like a rock weren't exactly helping Whetman's confidence.

"I wasn't too thrilled when they told me to kick it,"' said Whetman.

Nevertheless, the former junior college all-America gave it a shot, approaching the ball more like a kickoff than a place kick. With a hop and a powerful swing of his leg, Whetman cleared the uprights, making the second-longest field goal in school history. Cold talk "It was like hell had just frozen over. I don't know how a field can get that hard and that slippery, but it was just unbelievable. It was exactly like concrete. It was probably harder than concrete with all the lumps and everything." Utah safety Brandon Dart on the frozen field at War Memorial Stadium.

Jim Burton covers Utah football for the Standard-Examiner. He can be reached at 625-4265 or jburton@standard.net.