UPDATE: Utah Wins 24-17 Over Michigan

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Photo Courtersy: Slumz.boxden.com

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – September 3, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) — UPDATE: Utah won 24-17 over Michigan last night.

It’s college football’s opening weekend and one of the big questions everyone is wondering is if Jim Harbaugh’s return to the Pac-12 tonight as head coach of the Michigan Wolverines will be enough to break the University of Utah’s seven year season-opening winning streak.

Ironically, Utah’s winning streak started in 2008 with a victory in Michigan and Thursday’s game marks the first game Michigan has ever played against the Utes in Salt Lake City.

The Utes hold a 2-1 winning edge over Michigan, even though all three prior games played against the Wolverines have been played in Ann Arbor. The advantage definitely is in the Utes’ favor with an at home opening day record of 53-19-1.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham feels the team is ready to face Michigan and is looking forward to see all their hard work pay off. “Our guys have really worked hard this offseason so it’s been very, very productive,” he said. “We have a very experienced group coming back this year. Whenever you have an opener against a high-profile team like this, you want to have a lot of experience. And we feel at most positions, we’re in that situation. We feel like we have a general idea of what to expect. You try to expose your players to virtually everything you think they might see during fall camp and build a game plan that will be able to accommodate all of the possibilities. ”

Whittingham also says the key to winning a team like Michigan is how well you adjust after the second or third series and you can get a feel of what they’re trying to do or what their method of operation is. “You can’t wait until halftime. You have to adjust the game on the sidelines and get those adjustments down so you can make corrections and get people in the right places or any changes in structure or anything you need to do to make sure you’re doing things right,” said Whittingham. “That’ll be a huge part of determining the outcome of the game, which team is better able to make those adjustments. We may have a bigger challenge than Michigan in that we haven’t changed a whole lot schematically.”

When asked about his thoughts on Harbaugh taking over Michigan, Whittingham said he believes Michigan made the right choice. “He’ll do a great job. He’s a heck of a coach. He’s a proven commodity. He’s been successful everywhere he’s been. He knows how to get it done. I thought it was a great hire for them,” said Whittingham.

When comparing last year’s game against Michigan to expectations for tonight’s game, Whittingham said the teams matched up pretty well against each other physically. “I thought we stood in there and slugged it out toe-to-toe. Each year is a new entity and set of circumstances. Matchups are different. They lost guys, we lost guys. They added guys, we added guys. The dynamic can change considerably, but the one thing we can take away is that we played these guys before and we fared pretty well.”

James Estep and Justin Faursthou, friends who seem split on their opinion of who will win tonight’s game said it’s all about the experience. “It’s awesome football, good weather, great friends and great food,” said Estep. “The Ute fans have been very welcoming and so far it’s been a lot of fun.” Faursthou says he thinks the Utes will win but Estep, an avid Michigan fan, disagrees. His prediction? Michigan over Utah, 27-24, in double overtime.

Devin Dalvin, another Michigan fan, said she came to Utah to watch the Harbaugh help the Wolverines break the Utes winning streak and she is confident enough in him as their new coach she thinks it can be done. “We are all very excited to see what Harbaugh can do for Michigan,” said Dalvin.  “Fans are really excited about him. He is an awesome guy and a great coach, we are hoping he can turn it around for us and give us a winning season.”

Terri Jackson, also known as “Utah Crazy Lady,” was already on scene at the pre-game tailgating party and said she has been an avid Ute fan since the 1980’s. “I have been dancing around in front of fans at the stadium and in the parking lot since 2000 and I just love it,” said Jackson. “We have a lot of good memories here, my daughter got married in Rice Eccles Stadium and we have passed our love for the Ute’s down through our grandchildren. Our entire family comes to the games, we just love to have them all here, it’s our life.”

Jackson said she is not a big fan of Harbough over the way she feels he treated Alex Smith, the prior quarterback for the San Fransisco 49’ers. “More power to him for coming aboard Michigan but I just want to punch it to him,” said Jackson. “I am hoping the Utes win tonight so he gets little bit of Karma.”

The Utah-Michigan game on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 6:30 p.m. MDT in Rice-Eccles Stadium will be televised on Fox Sports 1.

ESPN 700 (KALL-AM) has been the radio home to University of Utah athletics since 1951. All of Utah’s games on ESPN 700 can also be heard live on the Internet at UtahUtes. com. They will also be carried by SiriusXM Satellite Radio as well as Tunein Radio.

 

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