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After a summer of shadowboxing, the Utes finally have a challenger entering the ring.
There won't be as much buzz for Southern Utah this Thursday as there was for Jim Harbaugh's Michigan debut last year — certainly no bus with Thunderbirds coach Demario Warren's khakis on them. Rice-Eccles Stadium will be "checkered," which depending on one's view may refer to color scheme or the actual attendance at the scheduled 6 p.m. kickoff.
But beyond the stage and the opponents, there are many unknowns for both programs headed into the season opener. While Utah figures to be a heavy favorite against its in-state neighbor, the team is still feeling out its opponent while trying to even out its own wrinkles.
The Utes will be expected to win their ninth straight season opener, but they'll similarly prepare for the unexpected.
"You prepare the same way," coach Kyle Whittingham said. "Little different strategic elements to the game, but it's an opener nonetheless. … There's a lot of unknowns, and you've gotta be ready to adjust. That's the nature of an opener."
While the two are meeting for the first time ever on the football field, the Utes know a bit about what they're getting into. SUU was last year's Big Sky champ — the summit of the climb the program made during Ed Lamb's tenure — and saw two alums drafted into the NFL compared to Utah's one this spring.
Lamb's departure brought many changes for the program, which is replacing its starting quarterback, several linemen and top defensive backs and ends.
But senior cornerback Dominique Hatfield took up watching SUU games in his spare time, including all of the team's wins last year. Because the Thunderbirds promoted Demario Warren from within and retained several key staff members, he expects many of the same things he's seen on film to show up on Thursday.
"They have real good talent on the outside, the people I'll be guarding," he said. "Especially [Mike Sharp] and [Ty Rutledge], they're big targets. But offensive coordinators are gonna be themselves, so there's not really a big difference."
Among Utah's own lineup, the team is starting at least eight players who weren't starters last season, including quarterback Troy Williams, left tackle Garett Bolles, linebackers Cody Barton and Sunia Tauteoli and — in a bit of a surprise — defensive end Pita Taumoepenu, who is getting the nod over Kylie Fitts this week (though both players should get a similar number of reps).
The Utes also are putting back a pair of freshmen on kickoff return with Cory Butler-Byrd expected to remain suspended for the opener, though he is again practicing with the team. Cornerback Terrell Burgess was a proven returner in high school, Whittingham said, while Layton product Julian Blackmon has been "one of the best surprises" of fall camp.
Picked by Pac-12 media to finish third in the South and voted just outside the top 25 by the Associated Press, the Utes will get a fuller sense of what they can expect to accomplish this year when they finally do take the field. Whittingham dismissed notions that the team was "disrespected" by preseason polls.
"Are we a little underrated this year? Nobody knows, and I think we won't know until week four, five or six," he said. "To get true perspective on the landscape and where everybody is, it takes a couple weeks."
The next few weeks will be crucial to getting rolling. After the Thunderbirds, the Utes renew their in-state rivalry with BYU, now headed by familiar face Kalani Sitake. Utah will have one true nonconference road game, against San Jose State, before the Pac-12 opener on Sept. 23 against USC at home. The Trojans were the one team that truly mauled the Utes last year.
Utah expects to be me more productive passing the ball, at least better than last year's 180 yards per game, but Whittingham added that spreading out the full playbook will take several weeks as well. With Williams decisively winning a three-way race in camp and a much more competitive receiving group in practice, the eyes will be on Utah's throwing game, which has underwhelmed for the better part of the decade.
The players know all of that, and they're ready to tackle the weight of expectations. But some, like Williams — who will be playing in front of a home crowd at Utah for the first time — are looking forward to that other unknown: what it will be like to enter the stadium with the swell of support at their backs.
"I've heard a lot: The MUSS is crazy. The whole stadium is crazy," he said. "We didn't have the perfect, ideal fan base at Santa Monica [College], but I'm excited to get out there in front of all the fans and put on a show."
Twitter: @kylegoon —
Southern Utah at Utah
P Thursday, 6 p.m.,
TV • Pac-12 Network