Mullen will call plays from Utah's sideline

PHOENIX — The Utah offense will have a new look for tonight's Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

No, it will still feature Alex Smith, Marty Johnson, Paris Warren and Steve Savoy.

But with offensive coordinator Mike Sanford getting settled into his new job at UNLV, the Utah football team will have no one in the press box calling the plays for tonight's game.

Offensive coordinator-for-a-game Dan Mullen will be calling the plays from the sidelines, where he has roamed for the previous 11 Ute games this year as the quarterback coach.

Mullen, who will follow Urban Meyer to Florida as quarterback coach, says it's more important to be on the field like he has been for Smith all season than up in the press box.

"I just have to be organized," he said. "It would be nice to have everything all spread out, but it's really a case of organization and staying focused about what my responsibilities are."

Meyer weighed in on the setup, saying, "When Alex looks to the sideline he wants to see someone other than me, so he looks for Dan Mullen. To have Dan Mullen not there in the biggest game of his career, is not fair."

The other two offensive coaches who have been on the field all year (receivers coach Billy Gonzales and offensive line coach John Hevesy) will be there again tonight. So who will be in the press box?

"We'll have a spotter up there to tell us what they're doing," said Mullen.

TRICKERY: The Utes closed practice to the media Thursday, presumably because they didn't want anyone to see their latest trick plays, among other reasons.

Savoy said the Utes have been working on trick plays for the game.

"We have some new trick plays we've put in to give us extra deception," he said. "Hopefully they work."

Mullen said the Utes always have some trick plays in the hopper and they add new ones for each game.

"Shoot, some people think our whole offense is a trick play, but we'll always have one or two special deceptive plays for each game," he said. "We'll keep the same deceptive play until we use it. It just gets passed over until the next week. But there's a couple of new wrinkles for this game."

CONTROLLING THE LINE: Meyer said it's all about the line of scrimmage, not trick plays or the Utes' imaginative offense.