Exams now over, Utes turn focus to Yellow Jackets

With final exams wrapping up, the University of Utah football team shifts its attention from the classroom to the Emerald Bowl. The Utes begin a stretch of five practices in six days this afternoon at the Spence Eccles Field House.

"It's going to be good to get back to game-week preparation mode and all that type of thing," said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. "So we're excited about."

Utah faces 24th-ranked Georgia Tech Dec. 29 at SBC Park in San Francisco.

Whittingham said the Utes will kick things into high gear to get sharp and implement their game plan over the next week.

"It'll be good to just focus back completely on football," said Whittingham, who is eager to shift preparation from fundamentals and technique to getting ready for Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets, meanwhile, are also getting ready to begin their Emerald Bowl preparations in earnest. Head coach Chan Gailey said his team has only practiced on Saturdays and Sunday while completing classes and final exams.

"It's always good to get several days of preparation in, especially when you're facing an offensive team like Utah with all the weapons that they carry into a ball game," Gailey said during an Emerald Bowl teleconference Thursday.

"I thought that was a very appropriate description of the stadium out there — home of the (San Francisco) Giants," he continued. "Because when we play Utah that's going to be the case. They're a massive offensive line and their defensive line is tremendously big as well. It's going to be a challenge for us to match up physically."

The Utes, he continued, are unlike any team Georgia Tech has faced this season and perhaps the best tackling squad.

"I don't think I have ever gone into a game expecting one thing or another," Gailey said. "I think you go into the game trying to execute on both sides of the ball. Then you see how it goes."

The Emerald Bowl will mark the first football meeting between Utah and Georgia Tech.

EXTRA POINTS: Utah is the designated home team and will wear its red uniforms in the game . . . Offensive lineman Jason Voss, a junior, is now a tight end and will wear No. 92 . . . Emerald Bowl officials are expecting a crowd of approximately 25,000 for the game . . . The Utes will break for Christmas after practice on Dec. 22 and meet up in California on the night of the 25th for a welcoming dinner.

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E-mail: dirk@desnews.com