Utah football begins tomorrow night!

The Utah Utes open up their 2010 season at home tomorrow night against the #15 Pittsburgh Panthers. The game is set to kick off at 6:30 p.m. MT and will be televised on Versus which is channel 603 on DirecTV and channel 34 on Comcast in Salt Lake City.

Pittsburgh is picked by man to win the Big East this year and should provide a stiff challenge for the Utes right out of the gate. Pitt's top player is sophomore running back and Heisman Trophy candidate Dion Lewis who rushed for 1,799 yards as a freshman last season. Lewis is definitely a game-breaker type who should make things very interesting, not to mention difficult for the Utes. However, Pittsburgh is breaking in a new quarterback this year in sophomore Tino Sunseri and though I am sure he is a talented player, I think it will take some time for him to break in with the offense, particularly on the road. Utah's defense is typically strong and I expect the same this year. Lewis will get some yards but the scoring won't be too outlandish.

On offense I think the Utes are set up quite well with returning starters at all the key positions. Sophomore quarterback Jordan Wynn showed flashes of greatness last year and has a great arm not to mention good decision making abilities. I think Wynn will lead a potent offense this year starting tomorrow night. Notably returning at wide receiver in Jereme Brooks of whom I expect there will be some big plays this year -- he is a solid target for Wynn to throw to. And of course in the backfield there is a two-headed monster of Eddie Wide (who rushed for over 1,000 yards last season) and Matt Asiata (coming back from an injury shortened year). Asiata is more of a power back and Wide provides more speed. I am very confident in both of them. They have both shown they can be effective and have experience on their side.

I expect Pittsburgh's defense to be tough, but I think Utah will get enough points to win in a close one. Lewis will do his fair share of damage on the offensive end for the Panthers, but Utah has a stout defense themselves and a number of weapons offensively. The two teams are pretty evenly matched and in a game like that I'm going to have to go with the home team.

I will be at the game in person and providing updates on my Twitter feed for which the address is twitter.com/dpaysports. And of course I will be back on here after the game to blog with my thoughts. Go Utes!