Can BYU protect home turf, will Cam Rising really return? Subplots aplenty heading into Week 7

Can No. 14 BYU remain undefeated and climb in the rankings? Will Cam Rising get back on the field and recharge No. 16 Utah after a home loss to Arizona? Will Utah State be able to slow down UNLV in Logan?

The challenges are dramatic and the outcomes are key, especially for BYU and Utah as they focus on the meat of their Big 12 conference schedules.

Both BYU and Utah are favored to win, while Utah State will be hard-pressed to slow down upstart UNLV, a school that is rolling toward a showdown with Boise State for the Mountain West Conference title.

The Cam Rising drama has been drawn out going on two years now. The injury-plagued Ute leader was week-to-week on the probable-doubtful list a year ago. This year, after injuring a finger on a hit out-of-bounds into a sideline water cooler table, he’s been back on that theater puzzle. On Thursday news broke that Rising will start against the Sun Devils, but time will tell.

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham didn’t intend to make a pun in this quote from last week:

“I can tell you that, and it’s still early in the week, but we’re crossing our fingers and hoping for the best, as is Cam,” said the veteran coach.

You’ve got to feel for Whittingham. He’s forced to put true freshman Isaac Wilson in the fire, fast-tracking his development while not leaving him shell-shocked with dented confidence. But he has no choice if Rising fails to rise and return as the undisputed go-to guy everyone counted on before the injury in the Baylor game.

Utah’s defense will have a challenge in stopping ASU bowling ball running back Cam Skattebo, who has been averaging 5.5 yards per carry and has gained 615 yards with six touchdowns on the season. Skattebo’s 182 yards in Week 5 was the second-highest rush effort in Division I.

Equally tough is QB Sam Leavitt , a talented passer who can make plays with his legs.

Utah will be able to contain Skattebo and Leavitt, but as in the loss to Arizona, they’ll need to have some scoreboard support from the offense — no matter if it’s Wilson or Rising — to avoid an upset in the desert.

Arizona beat Utah because the Utes’ offense struggled, allowing Noah Fifita to hit some home runs, and it only took a couple of them to do Utah in. Leavitt is capable of doing the same as a 59% passer, who has 1,012 yards and seven touchdown passes on the season. He’s most dangerous when extending plays with his legs.

ASU is not as talented or deep as Utah, but then again, neither was Arizona.

BYU will get reinforcements for its run game with the return of LJ Martin and Sione Moa. This will enable the Cougars to give QB Jake Retzlaff more flexibility, not only with RPO but play-action passes.

BYU must force Arizona’s defense and offense to absorb some physicality in this game. Putting pressure on Fifita is a must. He isn’t tall, but he’s a master at getting rid of the ball extremely fast, thus, neutralizing pressure.

Retzlaff’s pass efficiency is 150, a very good bump higher than Fifita at 131, who came into the season as the Big 12 darling after leading the Wildcats to a sterling 10-win season that finished on a seven-game win streak and third-place finish in the Pac-12.

This game will feature the nation’s No. 5 receiver in Tetairoa McMillan for Arizona. It will be interesting to see how BYU’s defensive coordinator approaches his defense to account for the 6-foot-5 speedster.

This is a game where Kalani Sitake needs to break a kind of jinx coming off bye weeks with poor results. His Cougar teams in the past were 3-4 after a week off. The losses were to TCU last year, USF in 2019, a 7-6 loss at Northern Illinois in 2018, and a loss at Utah State in 2017.

Arizona is better than any of those seven opponents the Cougars faced coming back from time off, but one could say this BYU team is a much better football team than any of those that lost those four times.

In Logan? A hot UNLV rolls.

This week’s picks

• UNLV 33, Utah State 14 (Friday)
• Utah 24, Arizona State 17 (Friday)
• Alabama 38, South Carolina 10
• Iowa 21, Washington 18
• Rutgers 27, Wisconsin 24
• Texas 37, Oklahoma 27
• Notre Dame 33 Stanford 14
• Pittsburgh 21, California 17
• Illinois 31, Purdue 21
• Tennessee 37, Florida 28
• Washington State 34, Fresno State 21
• Ohio State 34, Oregon 31
• Iowa State 27, West Virginia 24
• Kansas State 24, Colorado 21
• UCF 27, Cincinnati 21
• BYU 31, Arizona 24

Last week: 14-4; overall 78-23 (.772)