by By Lya Wodraska The Salt Lake Tribune , The Salt Lake Tribune

The Utes sold out of their 800 allotment of tickets TCU gave them. In addition, the Utes have 12 players with ties to Texas on their roster, including starters receiver Jereme Brooks , corner Brandon Burton , safety Joe Dale and defensive end Derrick Shelby .

Many of those players have been hitting up their teammates for extra tickets to fill requests. Players are given four tickets each to away games.

"This is basically a home game for me this year," said Brooks, who is from League City, Texas, which is about 300 miles from Fort Worth. "I'm going to have a lot of friends and family there so it will be fun."

Burton also has several family members making the trip from Houston. While it's nice to know he has support in the stands, he said he doesn't mind playing in hostile environments.

The Utes expect Saturday's game will be much like their visit to Oregon where 58,017 fans filled Autzen Stadium to see the Utes lose 31-24. Utah sold 2,500 tickets for that game.

"I like going to games and hearing boos," he said. "It motivates me more and it will fire up our players on the defensive side."

?

On the list

Utah offensive lineman Zane Beadles is one of 12 finalists for the Wuerffel Trophy and has been invited to the East-West Shrine game where he'll play for the West team. The Wuerffel Trophy goes to the football player who best combines community service with academic and athletic achievement.

?

Johnson's advice

Brian Johnson , the Utes' winningest quarterback in school history, has been hanging out at practice this week like he has much of the season.

What is Johnson's advice for Jordan Wynn who will get his second start of his collegiate career at TCU?

"For him the biggest thing is to go in there as confident as he has been and know going in it is going to be a rowdy atmosphere, but you have to do what you can do," Johnson said. "I think he'll be ready for this moment and I know he is excited about it, but at the same time excitement only gets you so far. You have to put the work and the preparation in and that is the biggest key for him to be successful individually and the offense, how they prepare throughout the week."

?

On the sidelines

Journalist John P. Wise , who is traveling around the country writing a book about college football called "One Great Season," is in Fort Worth for the Utah-TCU game.

His impressions of the game will be included in the book, along with the season's other big matchups such as USC at Ohio State, Florida at LSU and Ohio State at Penn State.

?

Give blood and win

A blood drive starting today through Monday at the Salt Lake City, Ogden and Draper AAA branch offices will pit Utah and BYU fans against each other. Once you donate blood you can "vote" for your favorite team by dropping your entry form into your team's bowl.

Once the winner of the game is decided a winning entry will be drawn from that team's bowl.

Call the AAA offices for more information on the drives, being held from 1-5 p.m.

lwodraska@sltrib.com

Copyright 2009 The Salt Lake Tribune All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.