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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah will win Thursday against Montana State. Not exactly the longest limb to climb out on, but history is on Utah's side: Under Kyle Whittingham, Utah has never been threatened by an FCS team, going 2-0 against Big Sky teams, winning by an average score of 41-14.
Series SnapshotMost of this series was played in the first half of the 20th century, with the exceptions falling in 1951 and 1982. Utah's 9-0 lead includes six shutouts. Eight of the nine games were played in Salt Lake City, most recently in 1982 (a 30-12 Ute victory). Utah's point advantage in the first nine games was 455-25.Week 1 Game Notes
- Utah (0-0, 0-0 Pac-12) vs Montana State (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky)
- Date: Thursday Sept. 1, 2011
- Time: 6:00 pm (MT)
- Site: Salt Lake City (Rice-Eccles Stadium/45,017)
- TV: KJZZ
- Web: utahutes.com (streamed LIVE)
- Radio: ESPN700
- Series Record: Utah leads 9-0
- Last Meeting: 1982 (Utah 30, Montana State 12)
- Kickoff Weather: Mostly sunny, Temps: near 80
Both Northern Arizona (6-5) and Weber State (10-4) were very competitive within the Big Sky in the years they played Utah; NAU didn't lose a conference game by more than eight points, and Weber made the FCS playoffs.
Montana State might be better than both. The Bobcats are ranked No. 6 in the preseason FCS poll and return one of the better quarterbacks in all of FCS in sophomore DeNarius McGhee, who threw for over 3,100 yards last year.
Which brings us to Key No. 1 for Utah in winning convincingly: Being able to put McGhee on the turf out of its base defense, i.e., with just four down linemen. Utah shouldn't have to use any exotic blitz packages to do this, nor should it want to. That's for the following week against USC. Utah needs to pressure and sack McGee when he drops back to pass when the threat of the pass is not obvious, and force him to throw quickly on obvious passing downs.
If Utah can do this, it will win the down-and-distance battle and almost certainly force turnovers. In turn, those turnovers will lead to easy scores, enhancing the likelihood of a blowout.
Key No. 2 for Utah in a dominating win is to be clicking on offense in the red zone. The installation of a new offense under offensive coordinator Norm Chow really shouldn't be an excuse — or it can't be if Utah is to score touchdowns rather than settling for field goals.
Utah's offense has seen glimpses of what the tight end can do in its offense over the past two years, so watch for Kendrick Moeai to have a huge game by recent Utah tight end standards — something in the vicinity of 5 or 6 catches for 60-to-80 yards and a touchdown.
Key No. 3 is more psychological than anything for Utah. It's opening night and it's the dawn of a new era as a member of the Pac-12. Utah will be eager to prove itself, but this is a team that recently has not responded well when things weren't going as planned. If Utah feels it needs to be up 24-0 after one quarter, it could press to do more, which, in turn, will only make things worse.
But if Utah can put aside the expectations of the fans and media that this game should be a blowout, and just focus on the next play, the blowout will eventually come. It might come in the first quarter, it might come in the third. But it will come, and the fourth quarter should be spent emptying the bench and keeping everyone fresh for the Pac-12 opener at USC.
Prediction: Utah 45, Montana State 13
Patrick Sheltra is the sports editor of the Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News and the author of "100 Things Utes Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die." (September 2011 release) Read more of his thoughts on Utah sports at scriptutah.blogspot.com
