SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah was still a bit of a novelty the last time it played Pittsburgh.
In fact, it was the only time. The Utes celebrated their status as the first "BCS Busters" and an unbeaten 2004 season with a 35-7 victory over the Panthers in the Fiesta Bowl.
The BCS has been busted plenty in the years since, including another run by Utah in 2004, and the Utes are well enough established in college football that they're actually favored over the higher-ranked Panthers in the season opener for both teams Thursday night.
"We've been pointing to this game for a lot of months now," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
Utah has won 17 straight at Rice-Eccles Stadium and every ticket for tonight -- even standing room -- was gone by early in the week. Utah fans are anxious to begin the three-month farewell to the Mountain West Conference and get to the Pac-10.
Whittingham is officially 1-0 against Pitt, although he was sharing "co-head coach" duties with Urban Meyer in his final game at Utah before taking over Florida. The NCAA credited both coaches with the victory, a distant memory for Whittingham as he opens his sixth season as coach.
No. 15 Pitt is now coached by former Panther Dave Wannstedt, who appears to have his alma mater headed back toward the level it once occupied.
"He has done a great job with personnel," Whittingham said. "This team is much more talented than the 2004 team in the Fiesta Bowl. He has done an excellent job in recruiting."
The Panthers were almost a unanimous pick to win the Big East in a preseason media poll and their AP ranking is Pitt's highest since opening the 2003 season at No. 10. All this praise despite bringing in a new quarterback in Tino Sunseri, who has thrown all of 17 passes in his career.
Wannstedt said he reassured Sunseri with some guidance last week and tried to keep him from getting overwhelmed thinking about the opener.
"He came into my office and I gave him a few stories of other quarterbacks, both on this level and the NFL that were starting off their careers for the first time," Wannstedt said. "I really wanted to make the point to him that he's one of 11 players on offense. We're not the type of offense where Tino's the only one who needs to make plays."
Sunseri's inexperience and three new offensive linemen seem to be getting overshadowed by running back Dion Lewis, who in just one season has Pitt fans buzzing about the 5-foot-8 sparkplug whose 1,799 rushing yards were the second-most in school history.
Only Tony Dorsett ran for more in a season, gaining 2,150 yards when he won the Heisman Trophy in 1976. Having Lewis as the main option will give Sunseri and the other newcomers on offense a little room to develop, although not much. Utah is deeper on the defensive line than anywhere else and will pressure Sunseri while trying to contain Lewis.
The Panthers will rely on Lewis to offset inexperience up front and at quarterback and have colossal defensive end Greg Romeus (6-foot-6, 270 pounds) to anchor the defense. Romeus is one of just nine senior scholarship players on the Panthers' roster.
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