(Red) Week 1- #15 Pitt v #24 Utah

Finally!!! After 9 months of waiting college football is back. After a very extremely eventful off season for the U, one of the most anticipated home openers in the history of the program is this Thursday. The Utes welcome in the Pitt Panthers. It is a rematch of the 2005 Fiesta Bowl where Alex Smith and Urban Meyer said goodbye to the U by pummeling the Panthers and launched the program into an era of greatness. Both teams have some unknowns going into the season, which is rather common for a college football team. I would just say Pitt has more unknowns at this point. Don't get me wrong Pitt's defense is going to be stout. Their defensive ends are studs, namely the end Greg Romeus. Pitt was #1 in the country last year in sacks, the unusual thing about that stat is that they are not a blitzing team. They bring the heat with their front four. However, that does play into one of the strengths of the U. The O-Line for the U will be very solid once again this year. Anchored by Zane Taylor and Caleb Schlauderhoff this may be the best O-Line in the MWC. Pitt should have a harder to bringing pressure with just four guys. And Jordan Wynn is an assassin if given time. The Panthers do have a good secondary, but if they can't bring pressure Wynn will be finding the plethora of wide outs as well as getting the ball to the best running back tandem in the MWC, Matt Asiata and Eddie Wide. Now I don't predict 35-40 points for the Ute offense, especially in the first game, but I do expect them to move the ball well, they just need to put the ball in the end zone during their red zone trips. To many field goals last season while in the red zone.
Now the biggest match up I see is their O versus the U's D. Everybody is excited to see Pitt's heisman candidate in Dion Lewis. He ran for almost 1800 yards last season as a true freshman. They also have a stud wide out in Jon Baldwin. However there is a catch. They are replacing their QB as well as the interior of the offensive line. They have good tackles but the big thing here is the U is extremely deep on the D line. The could shuffle 8-10 guys in there and bring the heat. Their strength of running the ball plays into the Utes strength of the front four. And as always expect Kalani Sitake to mix in some very exotic blitz packages to confuse the young QB. I believe you have to respect the back and the wide out for Pitt but I just don't think in the first game of the season it is fair to expect a new QB and 60% of a new o-line to hold up for four quarters. Now the key is the U has to get in the backfield early and rattle the QB, but they need to watch for the screen because Lewis can bust one easy.
I also believe there are 2 other factors that play into this game. First is Pitt has to travel 2 time zones west and lose 2 hours. Now thats not a big deal over all but I think it can be a factor, mostly because it will disrupt their comfort zone. And the second is altitude. Come the middle of the first quarter and into the second Pitt should be huffin and puffin at the 5000 foot altitude of Rice-Eccles Stadium. This may also wear their legs out come the fourth as well. And not to mention the MUSS, they should play a big factor in this game.
Overall I just don't think in game 1 the Pitt offense can gel fast enough to challenge the Ute defense, and possibly the fastest Ute defense in history - while on the road. I believe the offense may sputter at times because Pitt's D is good but I see them wearing them down as the game goes along. If the U gets off to a fast start watch out it could get ugly.

Utes - 27
Pitt - 14