College Football Begins- Pittsburgh vs. Utah Thursday

September 1, 2010

The 2010 College Football season kicks off Thursday as 4 top-25 teams take the field. While Ohio St, Miami and USC are facing squads that are virtual “Cup-cakes”, the Pittsburgh Panthers have decided to begin their 2010 campaign against a Utah Utes team that is coming off of a 10-3 season that culminated with a Poinsettia Bowl win against the California Bears.

Despite being slated to play just 2 teams that are ranked in the pre-season top-25, the Panthers will have a very difficult time navigating their schedule without a loss. Notre Dame is expected to be improved over last season. Louisville always has the potential to put up a ton of offense with their aerial attack. South Florida has proven to be an up and coming team in the college football ranks, and Cincinnati may have lost a ton of starters, but they are still more than capable of taking down any team on any day.

Dave Wannstedt has taken the Pittsburgh program to new heights. Their 10-3 record last year was the best this team has finished in almost 20 years. His NFL coaching experience has really helped in giving these student athletes the work ethic that is needed to be successful on any level. Wannstedt will have to deal with having a new starting quarterback, and several first time starters on both sides of the ball this year, but he feels extremely confident in their ability to make the transition smooth.

Tino Sunseri will take over the starting job at quarterback as he has clearly shown that his is the best choice for the job. He will have the luxury of handing the ball of to one of the best running backs in the Big East. Dion Lewis has a phenomenal 2009 season as he rushed for 1799 yards and 17 touchdowns. His 5.5 yards per rush average can make life easy for any quarterback, and he will be leaned on heavily throughout the first few weeks as Sunseri gets acclimated to the offense. Wideout Jon Baldwin will the transistion easier for Sunseri as well. He led the Pittsburgh receivers with 1111 yards and 8 touchdowns last year, and is expected to increase those numbers in 2010.

Taking on the Utes in game 1 may have seemed like a good idea when the planners set the schedule several years ago, but now that Pitt has a top-15 ranking and hopes of a BCS game it may end up throwing a wrench in their plans. Like the Panthers, the Utes have one of the best defenses in the country. They may be able to take advantage of the young QB for Pittsburgh and escape with an upset win if everything goes to right.

Utah has several key starters back for them on offense, and has a very solid defensive scheme. Wide receiver David Reed is the only member of the trio that anchored Utah’s offense not returning this season. Quarterback Terrance Cain is of the new mold of college quarterbacks. He may not be the most gifted passer, but his ability to elude tacklers and make yardage with his legs is why Utah got to the Poinsettia Bowl last year. He will have one of the best running backs in the conference to hand the ball off to as Eddie Wide tries to improve on his 1000+ yard performance last season. This is a tough team that may play the role of spoiler more than once this season.

Although most college football experts don’t have the Utah Utes winning the Mountain West or cracking the top-25, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they did……especially if they steal one from Pittsburgh Thursday night!

Written by Glenn Andrew · Filed Under NCAA Football

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