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By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah coach Kyle Whittingham didn't care much for season openers when he was a defensive coordinator. Adding the duties of head coach haven't made preparing for the first game of the season any easier.
"As a coordinator, openers were always my least favorite game of the year because I like to have information. I like to know what I'm up against," Whittingham said Monday.
The Utes open the season Saturday at UCLA, and with all the turnover the Bruins have had since going 10-2 last year, Whittingham has had a hard time preparing for players he's either never seen or not seen very much.
"I like known quantities. In the openers, there's too many unknown quantities. Once the season gets rolling, and we have tape to study and analyze, that's when I feel most comfortable," Whittingham said. "It's a level playing field for everyone involved. So we're not by any means making excuses, it's just my least favorite game of the season."
The Bruins will have a new quarterback -- Brigham Young transfer Ben Olson -- running back and tight end among the 10 new starters Saturday in the Rose Bowl. UCLA finished the year ranked No. 16, but the Bruins didn't get a vote in the AP preseason poll.
Utah went through that last fall in Whittingham's first season, with the departure of Heisman Trophy finalist Alex Smith and 13 other starters from the 2004 unbeaten Fiesta Bowl team.
Last year the Utes dropped to 7-5, but closed the season with victories over rival BYU and Georgia Tech in the Emerald Bowl.
"We have just about every player back from that Emerald Bowl team. In fact, there's only two starters on this team this fall that started in the Fiesta Bowl. That's how much the team has turned over in the last two seasons," Whittingham said.
The Utes have won their last four games against Pac-10 teams and five of the last seven against teams from that league, including a 10-6 victory over Southern California in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl. Utah running back Darryl Poston played for USC back then, before transferring to Utah.
"We were playing a Mountain West team -- Utah -- who we just looked at as grown 30-year-olds who had kids and stuff like that," said Poston, who is from nearby Huntington Beach, Calif. "Basically what happened was we looked down upon them and got tore up."
Playing in a stadium with the tradition of the Rose Bowl and a team with the history like UCLA's, the Utes know they're probably underdogs in reputation, but if they win Saturday it wouldn't exactly be an upset.
"This is an upper echelon Pac-10 team. If we go head-to-head with UCLA on a recruit, I don't think we've ever beat them on a recruit," Whittingham said. "To be in a situation where it's assumed that we can go down there and play head-to-head, it's great. That shows a lot about our program and how people view us."
On the Net: www.utahutes.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-08-28-06 1524MDT
