It’s tough to take a lot from a season opener against a far inferior team, but there were some encouraging things last night:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-runnin-utes-cruise-in-opener

It’s a lower leg injury. I’ve heard that he that he suffered it in practice. It’s extremely unfortunate.

Let’s get this thing rollin’ for the official start to the season. Here’s the starting five:

Login to view embedded media

No offense is going to do great in this weather, but props to the Utes for getting it done.

Utah had 70 more yards than Arizona and absolutely dominate Ed time of possession by nearly 18 minutes.

The four Arizona fumbles were HUGE, and Utah’s two were flukey. JJ liked like he separated his shoulder on his went and went to the lock room. The one on Yassmin, should be credited to Logan Kendall, who smacked him and caused the fumble. BTW, Yassmin is a damn beast.

That weather was miserable to throw the ball in, so no QB was going to dominate. Still Rising hit key throws while De Laura struggled when it mattered.

The new wrinkle with Nate Johnson was fun to see. They’re high on him and you’ll continue to see those packages for him.

Props to JJ and Glover, as well as Bernard for still roughing things out. It was awesome to see Vincent score too.

In regards too Tavion…

He started on special teams because he’s needing to show that he’s a team player and earn his way back. If it wasn’t for JJ getting hurt, Tavion probably doesn’t carry the ball. However, it was a positive seeing him accept an initially diminished role.

The defense gave up at least five plays of 20+ yards, but that was a helluva performance against a potent offense. They came up clutch when needed.

Broughton and Isbell led in tackles, and props to Bishop who is sacrificing playing nickel back.

Zemaiah Vaughn came up BIG tonight. I expected them to target him, and they proposed regret it.

Let’s hear everyone else’s initial reactions.

As mentioned, Fillinger is out for the year. This will hurt the run defense, and they’ll now be down to a four man rotation.

Whittingham expects about 8 underclassmen to be announced for senior day. Those underclassmen are all welcome back if they choose.

They’re extremely excited about Nate Johnson’s future and he made the most of his role on Saturday.

Glover’s role will continue to expand, as he’s really become a playmaker. Whittingham wouldn’t go into the injury situation with the RBs.

He acknowledged that they’ve had some of their best performances against Dtanford, but wouldn’t say any rhyme or reason to it.

Whittingham was asked about the possible inclusion of SDSU to the Pac. He said it would be a plus for their SoCal recruiting.

The young guys have really benefited from reps due to injuries from others. Whittingham highlighted Jackson, Glover, and Yassmin. He also singled out Sione Vaki who has had an increased role with Bishop focusing more currently on nickelback.

They’re hopeful to have Kincaid back this coming week. (Alex take: I just don’t see that happening until at least Oregon)

They’ve had the package for Nate Johnson waiting and ready. It just made sense against Arizona.

They have a redshirt list that they breakdown paying attention to who is getting close to four games, so they don’t burn it or they weigh the option of them losing the year.

Sounds like, per his Twitter, that Jon Wilner doesn’t totally buy it. I’m not sure what to think and am of the mind with expansion (and TV contracts) that I won’t believe it until I see it.

Login to view embedded media
Wilner’s thoughts:
Login to view embedded media

Smith Snowden had some great things to say about Utah and his friendship with Clark Phillips…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/snowden-talks-utah-and-his-recruiting

I can't remember what thread it's in so I'm trying to remember how the tie-breaker scenario works in the event Oregon, SUC (USC) and we end the season 8-1. To me, we should be the first in because we beat both of them but there is some stupid rule that because USC and Oregon didn't play each other then that doesn't come into play. Regardless of that, I recall that the first tie-breakers seemed to go to Oregon and then I recall that for some reason the tie-breaker scenario resets and then we win that because we beat them. Please confirm and explain. Thanks.

Utah will have multiple committed potential flips at the game today on official visits. These guys are both at a position of need. I’ve been asked to keep it quiet for now, but I see both being likely flips.

According to ESPN, Utah will play at 8:00 MT and be televised on ESPN.

How's everyone feeling tonight?

Here are the takeaways from the dominating victory…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-no-14-utah-hammers-arizona-in-the-rain

So what does Joseph really think of the Wildcats?..

https://utah.rivals.com/news/statistically-speaking-utah-vs-arizona-2

Here’s this week’s position battles:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/position-battles-utah-vs-arizona-3

Alex caught up with Troy Hutchison with the Arizona Rivals website to talk about the Wildcats: https://utah.rivals.com/news/opponent-q-a-arizona-14

There are some interesting games happening. I'm super excited for Tennessee at Georgia - go Vols. Here's what's happening right now:

• Texas Tech is up on #7 TCU 17-13 with 5:20 left in the 3rd and TCU has the ball. I'd love to see TT upset the Horn Frogs.
• #2 Ohio State is up 14-7 over 1-7 Northwestern and they have the ball - 3:43 left in the 3rd. Northwestern was up 7-0 with about 6 minutes left in the 2nd quarter. I like OSU so much more than NW but an upset would be kind of fun.
• #17 North Carolina is up 24-21 over Virginia (they have the ball) with 3:11 left in the 3rd.

Other games of note later today:

• 3-5 Michigan State is at #16 Illinois. Will MSU right the ship or will Illinois keep winning?
• #18 Oklahoma State is at Kansas. After a 5-0 start, Kansas has lost 3 in a row and OSU is coming off a 48-0 drubbing against K-State. Which one gets to feel a little better about themselves today?
• #6 Alabama at #10 LSU - LSU is getting some respect under Brian Kelley. They got drubbed by Tennessee at home but last week they put a beat-down on #7 Ole Miss. How is this game going to play out?
• #24 Texas at #13 Kansas State. The Longhorns are favored by 3 so voters don't believe that K-State is as good as the butt-whooping they put on OSU last week (and maybe they also don't think OSU is that good). Conversely, I think that every time Texas has been ranked this year, they lost the next game - will that happen today?
• #4 Clemson at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have been playing a bit better as of late and they have the Tigers at home. I'm hoping they pull off the upset.
• Finally - #12 UCLA is at ASU. I think that UCLA will win this one by a comfortable margin but I wouldn't be disappointed at an upset.

What are your guys' thoughts?

Here's my look at Arizona. Could be an interesting one with the variables on Utah's offense, but being at home should help: https://utah.rivals.com/news/opponent-preview-arizona-12

Forecast is cold wind and rain. Probably favors us since they’re passing oriented offense and we’re more balanced.

This would be a good game for whoever lined up at RB to ball out.

With the Big-12 getting a new deal, what are we hearing on the PAC-12 side?

I’ll hang up and take your answer off the air.

-According to Whittingham, Rising was ready to go but had a setback early Thursday. He still expected him to go and then Cam acknowledged it wasn’t going to work. Cam had all the first-string reps that week, so it was a shock and Barnes did well with not preparing as the starter.

-Cam is progressing better than he was last week, so barring another setback, sounds like he’s good to go. If not, it sounds like Ja’Quinden would back up Barnes with a limited playbook. They believe Nate Johnson has a really bright future, but the practice reps haven’t been enough for him.

-No season-ending injuries.

-If Kincaid can’t go, it’ll be: Yassmin, McClain and Pututau. Kendall isn’t remotely the same type of TE and no mention of Landon Morris. I’m not sure if that was by accident. If Kincaid is out, it’ll be much more focused on the receivers.

-Whittingham won’t discuss Tavion. Bernard was cleared to play, but it was still early with his injury and he was ineffective. They’re happy with Glover and Whittingham just thinks he needs to learn all the finer nuances, not necessarily behind on assignments anymore. Ja’Quinden was great last week with the exception of the fumble. He really brings an added element.

-They appealed Hubert’s targeting hit, but lost, so he’ll be out the first half against Arizona. Sione Vaki has come on strong and will get more and more playing time, most likely.

-Arizona’s receivers are dangerous and they balance the offense just enough with the run. The Wildcats are similar to to passing attacks that Utah saw the last two weeks, but with less RPO.

-Whittingham was asked about the FS1 gripe and he said he was just as surprised. He mentioned they could have ran around to find them but that would have been impossible since the crew wasn’t even on site for the game. (Basically you could tell that’s why Whittingham doesn’t care about the situation)

Here’s Dustin’s in-depth look at the Wildcats… I definitely don’t think this is a game Utah can overlook…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-arizona-4

I’ve got 4 tickets for tomorrows game that my kids won’t be using due to a school dance and birthday party. N19 Row 51. If interested, I’m selling them for whatever. I’m going to post on KSL if no one here is interested. Paid $80 per ticket (or something like that).

National Geographic lists its 25 Best Places in the world. Some are cities, some are rivers. Some.... One.... Is an entire state: