Utah Utes notebook: Team not looking past Northern Colorado

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham insists the Utes are taking Thursday's season opener against Northern Colorado seriously. They're not taking any comfort in the fact that the Bears went 0-11 last season and have lost 18 of their past 19 games dating back to 2010.

"We've been watching the tape the last couple of weeks and we've got to be ready to play just like every week," Whittingham said while noting Louisiana-Monroe's 21-14 upset win at Alabama on Nov. 17, 2007. "Anything can happen so we better be ready to play."

Quarterback Jordan Wynn also isn't looking past the opener and ahead to next week's game at Utah State.

"Nope. I'm not going to do that," he said. "All my focus is on Northern Colorado."

READY TO GO: Wynn is looking forward to starting his first game since suffering a season-ending shoulder injury against Washington last October. It's almost been 11 months since he played in a game.

"I'm excited. I haven't felt this healthy in a long time, especially going into the games," Wynn said. "So I know my family is very excited. I'm excited and looking forward to just going out and putting a good performance up."

Wide receiver Dres Anderson is also looking forward to the opener.

"Man, I'm too excited," he said. "We're looking healthy, we're looking good and I'm ready to do just what I'm supposed to do — just do great for my team, just be a dependable person."

COACHES POLL: Whittingham said he agreed "100 percent" with Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott's recent comments that coaches should not be asked to vote for the top 25.

"We've got too much going on. We don't have a chance to do it justice because we don't have a chance to watch all the games because we're involved with our own deal," Whittingham said. "So we've got such tunnel vision, all we're doing is going on ESPN highlights and a few things off the Internet. I don't think that's an accurate barometer."

Whittingham believes an eight-team playoff would be a much better solution.

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