Before the season began, the second game on the Utah football schedule looked like the perfect home opener. Even if the Utes happened to lose to UCLA, the Division I-AA Northern Arizona Lumberjacks would be a great chance for the Utes to put up a lot of points by showcasing their offense and to get the fans pumped up for another great season of Ute football.
As it turns out, this game means quite a bit more than initially intended. The Utes went into the Rose Bowl and experienced their worst loss in 10 years. Frankly, much of this season’s hype and expectations were sapped by how the Utes kicked off the season. The result is that Utah’s performance against Northern Arizona will be a significant indicator of where the Utes’ season is headed this year.
“I think it would be good to score a lot of points on them (Northern Arizona), but it’s not 100-percent necessary,” sociology major and U rugby team member Andrew Jewkes said.
“I would expect over a 20-point win. I think it would be a little bit of a confidence boost to blow them out. At the same time, I’d like to see them get up in the score so they put in their second string in there.”
Jewkes seems to echo most football fans’ sentiments regarding this week’s home opener. Jewkes’ rugby teammate and accounting major Aaron Metcalf wants the Utes to beat their Division I-AA opponent by a slightly larger margin to be optimistic about the season.
“I think we (Utah) need to score over 50 and Northern Arizona score below 20,” Metcalf said.
More important than the score, Ute fans want to see a better overall performance, especially from the offense. The Utes have a very difficult offensive scheme to defend, but it was obvious that the team needed a tune-up this week after it failed to fire on all cylinders against UCLA.
“Mostly, I would just like to see their offense moving the ball, reading each others’ routes, and picking up their assignments,” Jewkes said. “That’s the biggest thing to me, to see the offense get rolling.”
As expected, U head coach Whittingham’s isn’t looking past a Division I-AA school.
“If there is anybody on this football team who is taking NAU lightly or doesn’t understand that a I-AA opponent can come in and get you, then we need to get that completely crystallized in their mind that we need to play our best football this week,” Whittingham said.
Not only can the football team not afford to take the Lumberjacks lightly, but it is very important that the team look better than it did against UCLA. Equally important is for the fans to not hit the panic button after one game.
“One game never makes or breaks us; it’s a 12-game season. Our main objective is to win the Mountain West Conference,” Whittingham said. “We stubbed our toe against UCLA, but one game is not a season ender.”
The interesting aspect about Saturday’s game is that the Utes face a similar catch-22 situation that the team faced in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl. When the Utes were lined up to play Pittsburgh, they faced a lose-lose situation. If the Utes had won, everyone would have said it was a game they should have won no matter what. If the Utes had lost, then everyone would have said the Utes didn’t belong in a BCS bowl. A similar situation faces the Utes in front of their own fans Saturday. If the Utes destroy Northern Arizona, then many will say they should have. If the Utes win it closely, or don’t win at all, then many people will continue to doubt the Utes until they prove themselves.
The bright side is that the Utes now have game film, which allows the team to make changes, work on weaknesses and polish rough edges. U fans can be assured that Whittingham and his staff have the team working just as hard as it ever has to prove to itself and to the fans that this team has the ability to be a quality football team.
Kamil KrzaczynskiBefore the season began, the second game on the Utah football schedule looked like the perfect home opener. Even if the Utes happened to lose to UCLA, the Division I-AA Northern Arizona Lumberjacks would be a great chance for the Utes to put up a lot of points by showcasing their offense and to get the fans pumped up for another great season of Ute football.