Reader comments
Dick Harmon: Utah game is MWC's best opener

Slobbo | 1:13 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

No way Utah is going to win. Michigan is pumped up, and they have learned from last year...their going to be ready to dominate utah. Michigan 21 Utah 10

rvalens2 | 3:28 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Utah will never have a better chance to beat Michigan. They are catching them at exactly the right time. Michigan has new coaches, a new offense and disenchanted players who have left the team.

Appalachian State thumped Michigan last year, now it's time for the Utes to do the same.

tophero | 7:07 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Pumped won't be the decision maker here. Utah with some consistency and winning the turnover margin make Michigan hate season openers again.

Comments continue below

canadian wolverine fan | 7:17 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

i've been a michigan fan for a loooong time and i can honestly say i won't be surprised if michigan has a decent year or a "rebuilding" year-i will be surprised if they have a great year (and i could live w/ being surprised-as long as they beat ND)

utah man | 7:23 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

That is really saying alot! Utah game is the MWC's best! BYU is playing a D-2 team! Thanks for the great insight. What next, D Will is a very good basketball player? Why is the conference scheduling so many bad games? If the teams in the conference want to be taken seriously, start playing a serious schedule. BYU will not get any credit for running the table this year, because their schedule is going to be considered to soft. I know they haven't been able to beat the big boys the last couple years, so why not take an easier approach. I guess that is the BYU way, try and take the easy route! BYU can't do it the real way! How many D-2 teams did Utah play in 2004? Exactly

Bob | 7:23 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Dick,

If you're going to include people from the radio scene, why did you pick to 3 of the 4 biggest incompetents out there (GM being the 4th)?

Jimmy the Greek | 7:32 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Wanna bet? Utes will dominate.

BYU Fan | 8:01 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

From a die-hard BYU fan, I sure hope Utah wins! That will only improve the national image of football in the state of Utah. The BYU vs. Utah game is always good and it will be just that much better if both teams go into it with unbeaten records. Go BYU!

Byu fan | 8:25 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Go Michigan. Show those 18 Ute fans who flew to Michigan why it is impossible for this team to ever get back to the BCS.

Richard | 8:59 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

I am a BYU fan, and I say to the UTES.....go get'um and demonstrate what kind of a quality team you are...I will be rooting for you today....

Go Utes! | 9:28 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

I'm a die hard cougar fan, but I want the Utes to win this one. A win over Michigan in the big house will prop the Utes into the top 25 as well. And will bring a lot more attention to the MWC. How I would love to see the top 10 Cougars beat a nationally ranked Utah team in November.

Go Utah!

place your bets | 9:31 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Now's your chance. Everybody place your bets on when Brian Johnson will go down with an injury in this game. During the 1st quarter? Seven minutes into the 2nd quarter? During the coin toss?

Also be sure to say how many games you think he will miss because of the injury. He hasn't lasted a full season yet.

Re: Utah Man | 9:36 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

It's exactly comments like yours that make people hate Ute fans...you're arrogant and conceited. I see a lot of BYU fans pulling for a Utah win over Michigan, yet the Utes can't return the same respect? Just FYI, UNI has been consistently ranked better than 5 MWC teams...over half our conference! You're right, UNI isn't a big-time school, but it's a good program nonetheless.

If Utah is such a "real" team, why couldn't they beat BYU the last two seasons? Why did they get spanked by UNLV last year? Stop living in 2004...yes, your team was great then. Yes, you played big schools and did a fantastic job busting into the BCS. But what have you done since then? If you want to take about past achievements, let's talk; where's your national title? Where's your long string of dominance? It will only help our conference if BYU and Utah can go undefeated until we meet in November.

I sincerely hope that Utah beats Michigan. It will help bring some more attention to our conference. Until November, I hope Utah goes undefeated...they have a heck of a team this year.

Anonymous | 9:36 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

RE: BOB
THERE IS ONLY ONE INCOMPETENT. PK HE COULDNT PICK A GAME IF HE TRIED. HE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT COLLEGE BALL. BIG PROPS TO 1280 FOR THEIR COVERAGE OVER THE LAST WEEK

Ute in Philadelphia | 9:38 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

San Diego St. isn't a good team, but I doubt Cal Poly will hang within a field goal. I see AT LEAST a 2 score spread, with some bench players gaining game experience.

I also see a close, low scoring game in Ann Arbor. I don't believe Rodriguez will have abandoned their traditional Pro Set A-Formation schemes, especially with the youth and inexperience along our D-Line and Linebackers. Our LBs will surprise, but don't expect Michigan to call for many pass plays...especially against our DBs. They will try to pound it up the middle, and wear us down via our achilles heel.

I think Utah's chances are good, but I'm not as optimistic as those "calk walk" crowds with their "TDS pie-in-the-sky" predictions. We're going to have to EARN our respect THIS season, and forget about any accolades from LAST year.

GO UTES!!!

Re: Slobbo | 9:38 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

I disagree...I think Utah has a very good chance to claim a victory in the Big House. The Utah offense is looking very strong, especially with Mack and Asiata both healthy. Louie Sakoda will probably see a lot of action as well.

I think Utah is catching the Wolverines at the perfect moment...less-than-experienced Michigan offense, new coach, first game of the season, etc. etc. And no, I'm not a Ute fan. I'm a die-hard Cougar, but I'm really hoping that Utah pulls off a huge win here. Go Utes...for now. GO COUGARS!!!!

calk walk? | 9:40 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

...oops, I meant CAKE walk.

--Ute in Philadelphia

Mike Johnson Fallon NV | 10:32 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

I hope for a Utah victory, something easily done.

BYU is not playing a D-2 team. They are playing a Division I Football Championship Subdivision team. And one of the best in that subdivision of Division I. Northern Iowa was probably the best team in Iowa last year (better than either Iowa of the Big Ten or Iowa State of the Big 12 and proved it with a big win over Iowa State who beat Iowa). Northern Iowa will not be as easy a game as some believe, but the Cougars should still win.

Ernest T. Bass | 10:34 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

To the place your bets poster, it's bad luck to talk about Brian Johnson getting injured so I'm not even going to talk about it at all. I don't want to see Brian get injured, I hate it when he gets injured, and I don't like seeing him miss a bunch of games. He got injured in the very first game last year, too, at Oregon St and that's why I don't want to mention it and jinx him. So I'm not even going to mention that he might get injured, no sir, not me, a Utah mannami.

(p.s. Please put me down for $10 on the 12 minute mark of the 2nd quarter. Thanks)

Cougars fan | 11:32 a.m. Aug. 30, 2008

I am a big BYU fan, but GO UTES!!!!

On this day, this Cougar fan is with you.

BYU Grad for Utah | 12:23 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Only FAKE "BYU fans" are cheering for Michigan today!

A Utah win today would be good for college football, the MWC, and BYU's BCS hopes. Those of you deluded enough to think that BYU will have an easier path to a BCS bowl by playing a 6-5 or worse unranked Utah in November need to have your heads examined--AND understand how the BCS rankings work.

The facts: A QUALITY win over a QUALITY 11-0, 10-1, or 9-2 and RANKED Utah team only HELPS BYU. Few other teams on the schedule, other than the Pac-10 schools, are likely to be strong enough to boost BYU's BCS rating.

Sure, Hawaii got there more or less merely by being undefeated--but then they embarrassed themselves BIG-TIME. You BYU people want that?

But by all means, if you so-called "BYU fans" want ANOTHER couple of decades of media chatter about how BYU really isn't as good as its record because it doesn't play any quality opponents (all BCS considerations aside), keep trying to tear down Utah in this closed-minded, classless, pitiful game of mutually assured destruction. That's what this rivalry has become--a joke that long ago ceased to be funny.

GO UTES!

RockOn | 12:55 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

For BYU's sake, go Utes.

Hope Utah ends Nov. 11-1 and BYU 12-0.

RE: Mike Johnson | 1:09 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Exactly! As an Iowan, let me assure you--UNI is more dangerous than most Cougar fans believe. You in blue, don't be surprised by a closer than expected game. This will NOT be a 59-0 laugher. I'm thinking more like a 35-27 BYU win.

GO UTES! BEAT THE WOLVERINES!

Thomas Paine | 1:59 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

I am a BYU Grad and a true BYU fan, but I still want to cheer for Michigan. It has nothing to do with Utah. I have my own reasons for liking Michigan, and I have been a fan since before this season. Does that make me fake BYU fan? Not hardly. Go BLUE!!

woody | 2:01 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Would all you uninformed nerds remember that these games, for the most part, are scheduled years ahead. A team today may be the best but when the game is played a year or two later, the whole scheme is changed so please get off on who played who or who plays who. I really get sick when I read such stupid remarks and yes, I will stop reading them and read something that makes sence, like the obituaries. GO BIG BLUE.

meagain | 2:22 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

We all talk about schedules but do you experts realize that except for a couple of games each year, both schools play the same schedules. BYU plays a soft schedule and Utah plays a hard schedule? You can't have it both ways. Wake up America.

RE: Thomas Paine | 3:04 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

As the previous "BYU Grad" poster, I'm primarily addressing so-called "BYU fans" who are deluded enough to think that anytime Utah loses, BYU wins. See several above comments and those on related stories if you want to TRY to understand the "logic" behind that, though I recommend you don't waste your time. A number of Utah fans have a similar twisted logic, also far from a credit to their intelligence as well!

If you're a Michigan fan, too, and that's your motivation instead--well, that's another story. But I still insist that if you want what's best for BYU, too, as well as MWC and college football as a whole, you'll want Utah to win today in The Big House. I won't restate the reasons!

Good luck, Thomas!

To: meagain | 3:36 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

So, UCLA ranked in the top 10 last year was a soft schedule? Oh btw today's game was because Nevada backed out after Apr. of this year so a short time to get an opponent. @ Washington isn't a cake walk either. That aside you may have noticed that most of the Cougar fans are rooting for the Utes today....maybe the betterment of the MWC, thats always told you can't compete with the bigger boys.
22-10 at halftime.

BYU fan | 7:41 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Good job Utes!

BYU professor | 8:21 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Way to up Utes!!!

Northern Iowa? | 9:09 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Northern Iowa is a joke. It would be better to not even play them. At least a Weber State game would attract some in-state interest. Any directional school should not be on the schedule of a school in search of national respect.

re: Woody | 10:14 p.m. Aug. 30, 2008

Neither the Michigan game for the utes nor the N. Iowa game for the Cougars were scheduled "years in advance". What in the world are you talking about in your beer-powered post??

Re: Northern Iowa | 9:13 a.m. Aug. 31, 2008

...except Southern Cal?

re: re: Woody | 9:15 a.m. Aug. 31, 2008

Michigan was scheduled last August...before Lloyd Carr announced his retirement, and before Rich Rodriguez even CONSIDERED leaving West Virginia.

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