Utes feel they have special-teams advantage

SCOTSDALE, Ariz — So far, much of the talk about Saturday night's Tostitos Fiesta Bowl has centered around Utah's potent offense and how it will perform against Pittsburgh's big, physical defense and whether Utah's bend-but-not-break defense can keep Pitt's Tyler Palko & Co. out of the end zone.

Perhaps the real difference in the game will come down to special teams, where the Utes feel they have a big advantage.

Under coach Urban Meyer, the Utes put a lot of emphasis on their special teams and have excelled in several areas, including punt blocks (7) and in net punting, where they ranked second in the nation.

"I think we're the best special teams group in the nation and statistics prove that," said Meyer. "To single out one is unfair. There's really not a weakness. Last year we were weak in punt returns and didn't block many kicks. This year we blocked seven kicks and Eric Weddle turned out to be a terrific punt returner."

It's the punt blocking capability that has the Utes most excited this week, whether they want to admit it or not. The Panthers had five punts blocked this year, which is a statistic the Utes noticed right away.

However, when Meyer was asked about it, he just smiled and said he wouldn't talk about it.

"Ask our team about that," he said "It's like blood in the water.

Ask Grady Marshall. He was hyperventilating when he saw that."

OK, so we did ask Marshall, the Utes' expert punt-blocker, who got three blocks of his own this year.

"We're definitely excited as a punt-block unit," he said. "We're really excited to scheme up some punt blocks. They've had five blocked punts this year. We're anxious to get out there and hopefully get one."

Even though his coach wouldn't talk about it directly, Marshall exposed his coach's feelings about the possibilities of exploiting the Panthers' punt game.

"The first thing he did when he got back from Florida was go straight to the punt block," Marshall said. "He got all excited about them having five punt blocks. That was the first thing he did in our meeting."

So what are the Utes planning for Pitt's punt team?

"We're going to . . . nah, I can't say anything," Marshall said.

"But it will definitely work."

The Pitt players don't seem to be shaking in their boots, worrying about the Utes' punt-block prowess.

"We've watched it on tape," said Pitt tight end Erik Gill, a member of the punt team. "They bring a lot of corner blitzes and use a lot of different looks. But we've been working on it for three weeks and have it down pretty good. I think we'll be in good shape."