Before I begin this, I want to say to Cougar fans that the extent of my research has been from last year's films, and this year's media outlets. I haven't seen either team in practice, so if I use wrong names or don't include recent information, I apologize. This is simply my opinion about how I see things shaping up this weekend.
QB - If Darnell stays healthy, this is a pretty simple call. Although Darnell has only started 6 games, he's been the leader of the offense for 2 years, and has a redshirt year under his belt. He has a firm grip of the Ute offense. There are a lot of question marks with the WSU QB situation. Neither QB impressed last year. Jason Gesser, Darnell's replacement at St. Louis, has some skills, but has zero Div. I experience. Advantage: Utah
RB - WSU's loss of a potential All-American RB makes this one a no-brainer. I'd be tempted to pick the Utes even if Kevin hadn't left the program. The Ute starters are prone to fumbilitis, which was worked on in the off-season. But the Utes have 2 great running backs, with 4 potential great running backs waiting in the wings. Advantage: Utah
WR - Again, this one is a no-brainer. The Utes have only 2 returning WR's with significant game experience, and Donny Utu, the better one, is injured. Washington State has good speed and depth at this position. Utah may very well have a receiver or two step up, but until someone proves themselves. . .Advantage: WSU
TE - I never thought I'd see the day that we'd
lose an All-America Candidate to injury and I'd say, whatever. The Utes
are absolutely loaded at TE. Nickel is a great blocker, and at 6'5" poses
some match-up problems in pass patterns. Ben Allison has shown huge potential
in the fall practices. He poses major speed match-up problems for opposing
LB's who try to cover him. If we weren't so deep at Slot Back, I'd like
to see him play there. (Mostly just to see him lay out the opposing corner
in the laser screen.) I predict that when all's said and done in the next
4-6 years, Ben Allison will be the best recruit to have come out of the
state of Utah this year.
Advantage: Utah
O-Line - WSU returns a very good Tackle, but is completely rebuilding around him. Utah returns 3 starters, and 4 others with significant experience. Utah has a big size advantage, and a big depth advantage. They'll need it against the Cougar D-Line. Advantage: Utah
Overall Offensive Advantage - The Utes hold the advantage in four of five positions, but in two of those positions the advantage is purely due to lack of experience. If a QB or RB steps up for Washington State, the game could take on a completely different look. Nonetheless, it's tough to ignore what the Utes have in the backfield. If they don't have a receiver step up, though, they'll be facing a nine man front, and they'll never move against that. Pending answers to huge question marks . . .Advantage: Utah
Defensive Line - Utah has John Frank, who probably will be the best lineman on the field on Saturday, and I've heard good things about Ma'ake. But the Cougars are absolutely loaded at D-Line with big, fast, physical linemen. WSU runs seven deep with experienced players. This was a fairly unimpressive bunch last year, but things will probably be different this year. Advantage: WSU
Linebacker - Again, Kautai will probably be the best LB on the field on Saturday, but, again, Washington State has better size and depth. I like the move of Wes Tufaga to MLB. It adds some good speed and coverage skills to the corps, but I don't know how he'll fare in plugging holes in the running game. Big questions at the Whip - until Parker learns the sysytem. He'll be great - Advantage: WSU
Secondary - This one could get ugly. The Utes have great potential. The Utes return 3 of 4 starters from last year's squad. You know, the squad that gave up 4 300+ yard passing games. The squad that gave up a 99 yard game-winning drive to a Big West team's back-up QB. And now, the two deep charts are showing a walk-on starting at FS (unless Patrick Dyson has grown-up or Brandon Dart can actually make the first game of the season without getting hit by a bus). Washington State, meanwhile, probably has one of, if not THE, best secondary in the PAC-10 led by legit All-America Safety Lamont Thompson. Advantage: WSU
Overall Defensive Advantage: Well, you do the math. Actually, D-Line and LB are close calls. Utah has better individual players, WSU has better depth. The secondary is not close, though. Andre Dyson and Teneil Etheridge are going to have to take it up big time this year. Advantage: WSU
Intangibles: This game is too close to call simply on position analysis. I think the biggest position mismatch of the game will be our receivers against their secondary, but the match-up of their backfield against our front seven runs a close second. I think this will come down to penalties, injuries, and turn-overs. That doesn't bode well for the Utes, unless Mac was serious about improving team disclipline.
Prediction: I'm not going to predict a final score. That's for the gamblers. I will point out one statistic that is of interest, though. Mac is 3-6 in opening games as head coach, but all of the victories have been on the road. OK, 2 of the three wins have been against Utah State. Utah hardly ever wins opening games against teams when they are evenly matched. Hopefully some questions will be answered this Saturday in terms of receiver and secondary.
GO UTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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