Brent Casteel will definitley win the heisman trophy this year. That's if he can beat out Sakoda.

To Heisman watch:
No doubt he'll win the heisman with JJ Deluji being a distant 2nd.

Load up the BANDWAGON!! Utah Football is back!

That opening game against Michigan in the Big House is intriguing - I think the Utes have a shot at knocking them off. They have a new coaching staff and drastically new offensive scheme that will take them some time to develop. Great opportunity!

I agree, there's a shot and I think they can do it. But it also scares me. That stadium is going to be pumped and so is the team with a new coach, and a desire to avenge last season's opening game embarrassment. All that considered, I think the game, and the season, ride on the shoulders of Johnson.

I'll BE AT THE MICHIGAN GAME ENJOYING THE INTENSITY!

GGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO UTES!!!!

Let's hope BJ is 100% last year. If so, Michigan, OSU, and the MWC could be in trouble...

I mean 100% THIS year! Last year, he was 80% at best...

I can't believe I'm saying this but, I feel that Utah should have a very solid team this year. They should have a pretty good season. I guess as long as they don't injure out 9 starters like they did in last year's season opener, they really should have a pretty solid team this year.

I'm a pretty hardcore BYU fan, at least with football. But, I also follow Utah's team, just because it's interesting to read what's written about them. I know a lot about both teams, and I feel like I even know quite a bit about Utah's team. It's funny, I probably know even more about Utah's team than some Ute fans do. I played high school ball with some of Utah's players, and they are both very good. Utah has a good shot this year at doing well. I think it will make the BYU/Utah rivalry even more interesting. I'm of course biased towards BYU being a better team. I think that Utah has some great athletes, but I think the overall program and mission of BYU's team is better. I think if other teams played the way BYU did, they would be more successful.

BYU fan - what do you mean by "I think if other teams played the way BYU did, they would be more successful."? Are you referring to the 'mission' of BYU football? I think every team has a 'mission', maybe it's just not constantly discussed in every news article about the team. I'm sure Kyle Whittingham (and Brent Guy for that matter) has a very clear 'mission' for his team - just prefers to keep it internal.

“If other teams played the way BYU does ….” Do you mean tougher; faster; with more intensity? I think that goes without saying. Any team that wants to beat the Cougars is going to have to be bigger, faster and/or smarter. But play the way BYU does; I think not. The BYU team has been good, but as far as I know, there has been no claim that the Mendenhall system can or should be copied, much like Norm Chow’s or Urban Meyer’s systems have. I had hoped that Whittingham and Ludwig would have continued Meyer’s system, but that has not been the case, and the declining results were predictable.

I would think this year, BYU is certainly going to have to play every game the way BYU did when they won last year in order to be more successful. Utah will certainly have to play like they did against UCLA and Louisville, rather than how they did against UNLV or BYU for that matter.

Are you kidding Tarheel Ute? Utah always saves one of their best games for BYU. BYU played one of their worst games against Utah and still won. The UNLV game was definitely out of character. That's what is so strange about the Utes. They always lose games they shouldn't and that goes back to coaching.

I am a hardcore BYU fan. I also like to cheer on the Utes - it feels like I'm encouraging on my younger sister in a way. I hope they work hard, and be the "best they can be" in their own limited, yet still "important-to-them" kind of way.

The key thing is that with our encouragement and love, the Utes have a strong self-esteem no matter WHAT the results are on the scoreboard.

Okay for all you ignorant BYU fans out there let me just set the record straight. Last year Utah's defense played amazing against BYU (minus 4th and 18). On offense however they stunk. It only counts as one of your best games if you play that way on both sides of the ball. I mean Utah didn't even go to Mack until the second quarter! And it took em until the 4th qaurter to figure out that BYU was to fast to try and run it around. Whenever they went up the gut Mack picked up four to eight yards. Too little to late...

In the Utah/BYU game Utah did three things well.

1. Goal Line Defense
BYU's Offense drove the legnth of the field on three drives, but for some reason BYU couldn't find the endzone until the fourth quarter. They did well at the goal line and held BYU to field goals on all three drives, which kept it close enough for Utah to have a shot at winning.

2. Field Position
The Utah kicking game, which, I'll admit, was superior to BYU this past season, kept BYU down the field much of the game, even though it didn't seem the Utes could capitalize much on that advantage (due in large part to very tough play defensively).

3. Pass game control
Utah's defensive backs did a pretty good job at stopping BYU's potent passing game. A lot of key passes were stopped, which brought Max Hall's normal 300+ yards passing down around 200 yards. But still, that was with a shoulder injury equivalent to the one Brian Johnson had. So, an injured Max Hall still managed 200 yards passing against Utah's good pass defense.

Outside that, BYU ran the ball better, defended shorter fields, and still passed the ball a little better.

Utah did not have the game against BYU that the enjoyed against UCLA. But then BYU was better than UCLA and they were at home.

Utah was inconsistant against a good BYU defense. But many of Utah's mistakes were self-inflicted. If Utah does not blow the defensive coverage Collie would not have had the opportunity to make that catch. I suspect BYU fans could suggest that their coaching set up the blown coverage, but I did not see evidence of coaching genius on either side. My take it was a blown coverage, against a good BYU QB/WR pair who exploited it for a close win.

I will say this however, Utah needed to play their best game, BYU did not. The best team won, but Utah did not play their best game.

My injury was nowhere near Brian Johnson's injury last year...there are different levels of shoulder separation...mine obviously was not that bad because I was back a week later, while Brian missed a couple weeks and still wasn't the same even at the end of the year...