--Coach Kyle Whittingham is uncomfortable with his program's role as the BCS poster child. The Utes, who have gone undefeated in 2004 and 2008 but have not played in the national championship game, are the non-BCS collective's example as to why the BCS should be revamped. Whittingham is its reluctant spokesman.

"I kind of cringe at that," Whittingham told the Salt Lake Tribune. "It's good for the conference and the university, but I'm just a football coach trying to win games. I don't have any agenda or platform or that kind of thing."

--Kyle Whittingham was not reprimanded for voting his Utes No. 1 last season in the coaches poll. Coaches who vote are obligated to vote for the winner of the national championship game between the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the BCS standings. "There's a caveat that you are allowed to vote for your own team," Whittingham said, "so no reprimand for me. Grant Teaff (executive director of the American Football Coaches Association) told me he would've done the same thing."

--The Utes' 2008 success came at a price. Three assistants left for other programs, forcing the Utes to make three hires and promote assistants to coordinators on both offense and defense. Kilane Sitake takes over for Gary Anderson (Utah State head coach) on defense, and Dave Schramm replaces Andy Ludwig (Cal coordinator) on offense. The changes, however, are not nearly as drastic as when the Utes retained only two coaches after their undefeated 2004 season when Whittingham was promoted after Urban Meyer left for Florida.

KEY GAME
at Oregon, Sept. 19 -- The Utes open the season with a pair of Western Athletic Conference foes and should be 2-0 heading into Eugene. A win over the Ducks could vault the 2009 team into national prominence and bring Utah closer to being a household name in college football on a national level. The MWC would benefit as much as the Utes by the notoriety.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"We don't really worry about what happened in Congress. It's nothing we can control. As far as the games go, we have a target on our backs every week. We need to go out every week with that same mentality (as last season) and know it's harder to stay on top than to get on top." -- Senior offensive tackle Zane Beadles.

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