Montana State (0-0) at Utah (0-0)
Thursday, September 1st, 2011, 6:00 PM MST
Rice-Eccles Stadium
DeVonte Christopher - Utah WR
Here’s the Deal…
Only two schools had a victor’s parade after last year. Auburn had a parade to celebrate their BCS Title and Utah had a parade to celebrate joining the Pac-12. The Utes are excited and prepared to make their mark on the Pac-12. Since the BCS started in ’98, Utah has more BCS wins than 10 of it’s 11 fellow members of the Pac-12. Only USC(3) has more than Utah(2). One of the first moves Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham made was bringing in offensive guru and longtime Pac-10 offensive coordinator Norm Chow. Chow scrapped Utah’s spread offense and is implementing a new pro-style offense.
Montana State isn’t the typical FCS team coming in to take their lickings and paycheck. The Bobcats are coming off their most successful season in program history with nine wins and they come into this season ranked in the FCS preseason top five by many polls. The Bobcats bring a high-scoring offense into Salt Lake City that averaged 37.4 points per game last season.
Why Utah Might Win:
The Utes defensive front are game changers. They do not return a single starter, but all the starters this year come with experience. They all contributed to the 11th ranked rush defense in the country last year, only giving up 112 yards per game. The Utes’ front seven being able to take away the run and make the Bobcats one-dimensional will be the key to winning this season opener. Norm Chow’s offense last year at UCLA finished 116 out of 120 in passing yards, but he didn’t have near the talent as he does with the Utes. Utah’s offense will be running a new system, but will still have many of it’s old functioning parts like QB Jordan Wynn and WR DeVonte Christopher that were able to score in bunches last year. The backfield is still unsettled, but John White seems to be the one separating himself in fall camp as the starter. As soon as the offense finds their footing, they should be able to break some big plays and put this game away before halftime.
Why Montana State Might Win:
The Utes are not a quick striking offense, their first quarter scoring was well below the other three. If Montana State is able to go down and score first then they might have a chance to keep the Utes down and pull off a major upset. The last time the Bobcats defeated a BCS opponent was ’06 when they defeated Colorado. The Utes one weak spot on defense is their secondary. If the Bobcats can buy some time for QB Denarius McGhee to spread the ball around then the pass rush will subside and the Utes will be on their heels. McGhee threw for 3,163 yards and 23 touchdowns to 9 different players. He knows how to spread the ball around. In the Utes’ three losses last year they had 9 turnovers and averaged less than 80 yards of rushing. If the Bobcats can force some turnovers and frustrate the Utes’ inexperienced running backs then they will have a good chance to knock off a BCS school for the 2nd time in the past 5 years.
What To Watch Out For:
Watch the Utes backfield for John White, Harvey Langi, and Thretton Palamo. White is a junior college transfer, Langi is the highly touted freshman local product, and Palamo is a walk-on rugby player that has a lot of people talking.The Utah coaches seem to be leaning toward White as their man, but that may change once they see all three backs in real game situations. The Utes don’t have the luxury of taking their time to decide, they are going to need to make a decision during this game, or surely before they travel to USC the next week. For Montana State, keep your eyes peeled to the backfield and Orenzo Davis. Davis is the key to The Bobcats having a chance to win. Davis averaged nearly 100 yards per game last year and took on the the majority of carries. The more positive yards Davis gets, the more Bobcats QB McGhee will be able to air it out and pick on the Utah secondary.
What Will Happen:
The largest crowd Montana State played in front of last year was at Washington State (26,356). Rice-Eccles Stadium will be filled to capacity of 45,000+ and will be raucous. This is the most anticipated season opener in Utah football history. Between joining the Pac-12 and bringing in Norm Chow, there is a lot of anticipation for this game and the adrenaline alone is going to carry the Utes through any first quarter hiccups. Montana State will have a couple good drives, but the Utah defense will smother the Bobcats and the Utah offense will bury them.
JIB Prediction: Utah 35 – Montana State 17
