a handful of drivers to avoid the soft tyre altogether for the race

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Utah has put itself on a collision course with Colorado later this month for a possible shot at the Pac-12 South title. The Utes are a game behind the 16th-ranked Buffaloes, so all they need to do is beat two teams with losing conference records to give themselves a shot.The first one, Thursday night in the desert, wont be easy.Arizona State has won just two of its four Pac-12 games, but the Sun Devils will be a tough out with all the pressure they will put on the No. 13 Utes defensively.Theyre by far the most heavily blitzed team weve faced all year, Utah quarterback Troy Williams said. Arizona State really bases their defense upon trying to pressure the quarterback. This will be a good challenge for us.Arizona State (5-4, 2-4 Pac-12) does have one of the conferences most aggressive defenses, sending blitzes in from everywhere.But survive the blitz and opposing teams have found the Sun Devils vulnerable to big plays.Despite dialing back the blitzes a bit this season, Arizona State is last nationally against the pass for the second straight season, allowing 397.6 yards per game. The Sun Devils have been plagued by injuries, but also poor tackling and missed assignments, leading to 12 scoring plays of 50 yards or longer.We have to get better at what were doing, Arizona State coach Todd Graham said. Theres times when we have played very, very well. Weve had too many critical errors, thats the biggest thing.The Utes (7-2, 4-2) have not played since losing to No. 4 Washington on Oct. 29, allowing players to get rested and heal up as they attempt to win in Tempe for the first time since 1976.Utah has numerous players who could return from injuries, including center Lo Falemaka, safety Marcus Williams and receiver Cory Butler-ByrdWe got some guys rested and some players some down time, Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said. Injury-wise, hopefully we get a few guys back.A few more things to look for when Utah plays at Arizona State on Thursday night:WILKINS RETURN?: Arizona State quarterback Manny Wilkins has worked with the first-team offense this week and is expected to return from shoulder and ankle injuries that have plagued him for a month. The sophomore adds a dynamic dimension to the Sun Devils offense, not just with his passing and knowledge of the offense, but his running ability. Arizona State has been a much better team when Wilkins has been healthy enough to run and his return will be a huge boost.UNCERTAIN PREPARATION: Arizona States string of injuries, including Wilkins, has made it tough for the Utes to prepare. The Sun Devils were missing 10 starters in their loss to Oregon last week and have played three different quarterbacks this season. Arizona State could get several players back this week, including running back Demario Richard, cornerback Kadeem Orr and safety Armand Perry. Coach has told us time and time again, we dont know whos going to be playing, which quarterbacks going to start, which backs going to start, Utah defensive tackle Pasoni Tasini said. Were going to get a lot of different looks. We dont know ... wait until game day and see what they come out with.STOPPING WILLIAMS: Utah running back Joe Williams has gone from retired to almost unstoppable. The senior retired from football on Sept. 13, but came back to the Utes after injuries devastated their running back corps. Williams has rushed for at least 170 yards the past three games, including a 172-yard performance against one of the nations top defensive teams, Washington. Stopping him will be priority No. 1 for Arizona States defense. Sony Michel Youth Jersey . Instead of dwelling on the negative, Oates focused on what was good about the clubs recent play. It worked. Kevin Faulk Womens Jersey . Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. 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Kevin Magnussen has praised Renaults mega strategy at the Singapore Grand Prix as a two-stopper helped return him to the points.Magnussen was one of a handful of drivers to avoid the soft tyre altogether for the race, running an ultra-soft, super-soft, super-soft strategy. Only stopping twice helped Magnussen secure the teams first points since his seventh-place finish at Mays Russian Grand Prix but he admitted after the race the team had doubts about the strategy.It was a tough race, Magnussen said. I got a really good start, so thanks to Dave, my engineer, for doing the starts, and from there I did a good first lap, a really good strategy.The team figured out we could do two stints on super-softs, which is mega. We planned to do a soft stint at the end, because we thought it was going to be tight with the two-stop.ddddddddddddA lot of people did three stops, and we were able to do two stops, and even improve the two stops by doing two stints on super-softs. A really good job by the guys, I really think everyone in the team deserves this.Renault has struggled on its return to the grid this season and Magnussen - whose chances of retaining his seat next season have also improved -- thinks the point will be a timely lift for the team.Its been tough this year and I think this should be another small boost for everyone. ' ' '