The massive renovation on Michigan's football team, on the other hand, will continue right through the season.

Such is the state of one of the nation's most illustrious football programs.

Rich Rodriguez, whose departure from West Virginia created an ugly contract dispute, walked into an equally messy situation as the replacement for Lloyd Carr, who retired at the end of the 2007 season as one of the winningest active football coaches (122-40).

The transition didn't go smoothly, as Rodriguez brought with him 20 new staff members, overhauled Michigan's strength and conditioning program and instituted a faster tempo on and off the field that led to the departure of several players, including starting offensive guard Justin Boren, who transferred to rival Ohio State.

Boren accused Rodriguez of "deteriorating family values" within the Michigan program.

At the time, Rodriguez brushed off the transfers, but one has to wonder if he wished he had some back, particularly Boren, who was Michigan's most experienced starting lineman.

Now the Wolverines' offensive line is a hodgepodge of previous backups and players playing out of position.

Cory Zirbel, tabbed as Boren's replacement, suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury Wednesday.

Defensive tackle John Ferrara took his place.

Altogether, the offensive line has 15 combined starts, 13 by right tackle Steve Schilling.

Behind the inexperienced line will be a quarterback who is just as green, whether it's redshirt sophomore Nick Sheridan or redshirt freshman Steve Threet.

Neither has separated himself from the other in practice and Rodriguez said he isn't opposed to going with a two-quarterback system.

With the offense in such a state of construction, the defense is expected to carry the Wolverines early in the season.

It returns seven starters and consistently earns praise from Rodriguez.

Despite the inexperienced offense and the coaching change, the Wolverines were ranked No. 24 in the coaches poll, something that didn't surprise Utah coach Kyle Whittingham.

"Yes, they lost a lot of athletes, but they always have great athletes coming in," he said. "They have a great tradition in the system. It's out go the old and in come the new. There isn't a lot of drop-off in athleticism and talent; experience, yes, but not talent."

The most popular question in Ann Arbor is what will Rodriguez do with the talent he has?

The man who terrorized opponents at West Virginia with the spread offense has not only a young offense, but one that wasn't recruited to run the spread.

While suspecting Rodriguez may not be able to run an offense identical to the one he had installed at West Virginia, the Utes still are studying game film of the Mountaineers with the belief they'll see something similar to their own offense.

"They're unsettled in the quarterback and their strength is the running back," Whittingham said. "They have a couple of nice tight ends they'll probably use. The key is to be ready to adjust."

Defensively, Utah has been studying tapes of Stanford, where coordinator Scott Shafer last coached. The Utes know Michigan's defense will be fast, but little else about it.

Utah quarterback Brian Johnson feels his offense will be prepared for whatever the defense brings, thanks to Utah's own good defense.

"We've seen a ton of different looks that our defense gives us," he said. "They do so many different things, different coverages, rotations and blitzes. We've seen a lot of good defensive football in camp."

lwodraska@sltrib.com

Offensive formation: spread

Defensive formation: 4-3

2007 record: 9-4 overall, 6-2 Big Ten

Ranking: No. 18 Final AP poll; No. 16 2008 preseason AP poll