Utes' 2010 schedule finalized
by JazzyUte on Mar 29, 2010 5:22 PM MDT
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PrintYay! The 2010 schedule has been released. Now we get to comb over it and dream about it for the next few months. God bless spring and summer!
Utah kicks off the season, as expected against Pitt on Thursday, Sept. 2nd at 6:30 MST. The game will air on Versus - which you may or may not get.
Then, which I love, Utah will host UNLV to kick start their brief conference schedule. This is similar to 2008, when Utah opened against Michigan and then played the Rebels a week later.
The Utes will then travel to play New Mexico on the 18th, another conference game.
A week later, the Utes jump back out of conference play with a game at home against San Jose State.
Then the Utes will have a bye-week before playing at Iowa State on Oct. 9th.
The best news about the schedule, in my opinion, is the fact the Utes will then travel to Laramie in mid-October, as opposed to late-November - which looked possible.
On the 23rd of October, Utah then hosts Colorado State and then travels to take on Air Force a week later in Colorado Springs. It's a later game in the season, which probably benefits the Utes because the Falcons have historically been a weaker team later in the season than at the start.
That starts a crucial stretch for Utah.
After a road trip against AFA, Utah then hosts TCU on November 6th, travels to Notre Dame a week later and ends the season with a home game against BYU.
Air Force, TCU, Notre Dame and BYU - all in a month's span. This will either make or break Utah's season.
What I like about the schedule is that the Utes have a great chance of building some solid momentum early. They don't face many difficult opponents (ISU might be their toughest road game) and are realistically looking at a 7-0 start before their game against the Falcons in October.
Building momentum will be key to finishing this tough stretch the strongest.
What do you think?
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in between Notre Dame & BYU
that’s when we play the aztecs
the schedule definitely sets up nicely for us
i really am expecting a beatdown of pitt right off the bat. utah is loaded on offense, even in the kicker position.
with asiata we have 4 rb’s. i’m sure 1 or 2 of them will move to other skill positions. i say we average 35 to 38 points a game. pitt will be starting a sophmore with no ncaa experience on the road at 4700 feet. i think we beat them by at least 10 points and i hope it’s mark may (pitt alum ) who has to say the score on espn. i like our chances if we play the spread offense like we did in the bowl game vs cal. i can’t wait.
I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. I was building a house, I don't deserve this, deserves have nothing to do with it. Bang. "Unforgiven" I drink your milkshake. I drink it up! "There Will BE Blood"
by wolfmanshowlforever on Mar 30, 2010 2:41 PM MDT up reply actions
First off, let me say for the record that I am terrified at starting the season in SLC,
but I think you may be underestimating Pitt a bit. The Panthers will be returning one of the best running backs (Lewis) and wide receiver (Baldwin) in college football, both of whom will likely be first-round NFL draft picks. Additionally, the defense looks to be much better than last year (returning 7/11 starters), led by Co-Big East Defensive POY Greg Romeus (he shared the award with Pitt DT Mick Williams) and Jabaal Sheard. The weakness of last seasons 10-3 team was the secondary and I believe that Pitt has gotten much more athletic, albeit less experienced, there.
I will admit, however, that the QB position scares me a bit. As the above poster mentions, starting a RS Freshman QB in a big game on the road is less than ideal. However, Pitt was able to play at a fairly high level last season while getting a “B” grade at best from the QB position. Sunseri is by far more athletic than Stull ever could be and by all accounts, has a better arm. If Sunseri can learn the offense this summer, I think Pitt has a good shot of escaping with a victory.
Looking forward to September! (Expedia is showing round-trip flights from PIT to SLC for under $300!)
Thanks for the post.
I don’t want to sound like I am underestimating Pitt. I think it’ll be one of the hardest games of the season. However, since it’s at home, I feel better about it than Notre Dame due to the fact that game comes in South Bend.
You know, TCU might be Utah’s toughest all-around opponent and the Panthers are probably second.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they won…though I do think Utah should be and will be favored. Regardless, it’ll be a fantastic and exciting football game.
I certainly am not . . .
Underestimating Pitt whom I watched closely last year. Their defensive talent is great, their skill positions on offense could cause matchup problems for about any college team except perhaps (only perhaps) the very, very elite and talent-laden programs—which Utah is not one of at this time.
What I like most about the match ups is the coaching matchup—both coaches have had a few downs and steadily improved their team and recruiting.
Neitehr pitt nor Utah has been, as best I recall, stellar or consistent early in the season so I am betting whichever team comes in with tehir heads on straight hads a huge leg up because i think we’re evenly matched.
Head coaches even, asst. coaching slight edge ot Pitt, defenses even, Offenses unknown since Utah underperformed last year and Pitt is re-training at QB. Utah gets field advantage (and at our elevation that could be a big deal) but Pitt is no stranger to hostile crowds. Both teams have tried to stockpile some depth so let us see how injuries shake out.
I think this will be as tough as TCU, and TCU can play with anyone right now.
I don't really know how good Pitt is.
I think losing the 3 interior linemen will be a bigger problem than you think, considering the incredible talent Utah has at DT.
And Utah’s offense should really be pretty incredible. We return a 1000-yard back in Wide, and he’s our BACKUP to our feature back Asiata (who should definitely be healthy for game 1 at least). Plus Wynn will have a full year under his belt.
I worry about our secondary against good passing teams, but nobody is running the ball up the middle on our DL. With Siliga, Talimaivao, Kruger (II and III), Heimuli, Aiono, Lotuleilei, etc. jamming up the middle, and Cox, Shelby, Binks, etc. manning the ends, that is a scary good line. Passing on our D might be possible, since we’ll be breaking in 3/4 new starters in the secondary, but running will not.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
by displacedute on Apr 5, 2010 10:14 PM MDT up reply actions
Thanks for all the replies
I’m trying to learn as much as I can about Utah before September. (We don’t get too many Utes games here in Pennsylvania!)
I have tons of respect for the Mountain West, who consistently have top level talent at Utah, BYU and TCU. I truly believe this is the the toughest game on Pitt’s schedule – ahead of Notre Dame, ahead of Miami and ahead of WVU.
I complete agree with the above poster – I think the Utah is probably the favorite going into the game… a fantastic program all around. What allows me to not wake up in cold sweats is Lewis. I truly think this kid is a Heisman-caliber RB as long as Pitt can stay in the top15.
As for the O-Line, I’m cautiously optimistic. Although losing the entire interior line, Pitt will be replacing RG Joe Thomas with Chris Jacobson, a former Army All-American, Jacobson would have started last year, but he didn’t quite have the mental game down. IF (and it’s a big “if”) Jacobson can minimize mistakes, I think Pitt’s mediocre LG (a converted tackle) and center (a converted DT) could be good enough.
Pitt’s weakness is its secondary. Pitt will be replacing both corners (neither of whom were any good). Right now, both starting safeties (Taglientti and DeCicco) are recovering from surgery, so I’m not real high on their ability to stop the pass. We shall see.
Thanks for all the good info. I’m trying to learn as much as possible about Utah before September!
by PittScriptBlog on Apr 5, 2010 10:53 PM MDT up reply actions
Utes Have Great Potential this Year
With our young QB getting some muscle on his bones and gaining more experience with the offense pre-season, good RBs coming back including Asiata, and some excellent players coming back from our D, the Utes should be big time contenders again this coming year. Pitt will be a good indication as to where we stand this year and hopefully we can push through that tough last month and beat the team down south!
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