Utah Utes Season Preview

After years of dominating the Mountain West the Utes take their Salt Lake City fanbase to the new and improved Pac-12. Kyle Willingham has done a hell of a job taking over for Urban Meyer and it certainly helped that Whittingham, who is now in his seventh season as the head coach, spent eleven years prior as the Defensive Coordinator for Meyer’s squad.

Whittingham is one of the most underrated ball coaches in the nation as his beyond ridiculous 57-20 record includes a 13-0 and No. 2 AP Poll finish after knocking off Alabama in the 2009 BCS Sugar Bowl 31-17. 

After Urban Meyer and Alex Smith moved on, Whittingham and his quarterback Brian Johnson took the reins and never looked back. Taking over the limelight now is junior quarterback Jordan Wynn (6’1”, 195-pounds) who has been spectacular despite getting dinged up last year (missed the beatdown against Boise in the Las Vegas Bowl and the finale against BYU). If he can stay healthy and if he is fully recovered from off-season shoulder surgery, this Utes offense will be among the best in the conference. 

Talented Skill Position Players

The Utes have zero depth or experience behind Wynn if he does not recover from his off-season shoulder surgery, as no other players on the team have completed a pass! The same goes for the backfield: Utah is the only team in the FBS without any returning players with any collegiate carries!

Thank god their receiving core is very talented and is arguably just as good as it was the two years they went BCS hunting (’04 & ‘08).

DeVonte Christopher (39 catches for 660 yards & 6 TD) and Luke Matthews (18 catches for 289 yards & 3 TD) are two very capable receivers who can stretch the field and find ways of getting open for Norm Chow’s offense. Speaking of the wizard, he has now been an assistant with five different schools (BYU, NCST, USC, UCLA).

The offensive line will be paving the way as they are always undersized, quick, and athletic enough to block and form a wall on the edges for their quarterbacks to thread the needle on quick slants.

Center Tevita Stevens is All-Pac12 worthy, as are tackles Tony Bergstrom and John Cullen.  Cullen limited Pitt Panther stud Greg Romeus in the 2010 opener allowing zero sacks and nearly no pressure all night.  

Rugby Runner?

Last season's rushing attack was fairly strong with the three headed monster of Eddie Wide, Matt Asiata, and Sausan Shakerin. They combined for over 1,400 yards and 21 TDs!

This year the three headed monster will be between rugby standout Thretton Palamo (yes RUGBY), true freshmen Harvey Langi, and junior college recruit John White. Your guess is as good as mine on who is the true number one entering the opener against Montana State. I have a lean towards the better talent which is clearly true frosh Langi at 6’1”, 221-pounds. These players have a ton of experience from junior colleges, but have zero as far as FBS experience. 

62nd in the nation averaging 153 yards per game is solid, but far from where they should have been a season ago. They are still a passing offense, but will certainly need to find a way to match last year’s production on the ground.

Defenders Galore

The defense has only five starters returning overall, but half of their front four are back in linemen Derrick Shelby and James Aiono.

Shelby can play end or tackle and has plenty of help behind him at linebacker. Former safety and now outside linebacker Brian Belchen is their senior leader, and watch out for middle linebacker Chaz Walker. Walker was the leading tackler a season ago at 113 and with the addition of Belchen this linebacker corps will only improve.

The secondary has zero experience, but still has a decent amount of talent. Ryan Lacy has 4.3 speed and Conroy Black was a solid junior college recruit two years ago. The safeties may be the weak link, though Keith McGill is no slouch.

Drama's Forecast

The schedule is not kind non-conference wise, as they travel to Provo and Pittsburgh to take on two solid squads in the Cougars and Panthers. However, the Pac-12 schedule for the Utes does not include Oregon or Stanford. Outside of trips to the LA Coliseum and AT&T Park (Cal has all home games where SF Giants play) the road trips should not be difficult. 

Even in a year where Utah and Whittingham lack the elite players needed to contend in the Pac-12, they will do just that because their coaching staff is tremendous and their solid offense that will give them an edge in the majority of their games.

Predicted Finish: 10-4, 8-2

Predicted Bowl: Alamo Bowl 

Predicted order of finish in Pac-12:  First in South, Second in Pac-12