Less than two years after taking over as head coach, Ron McBride is ready to roll his latest-model football team off the showroom floor, and like the rest of us he's not sure how it will run. As the University of Utah takes the Rice Stadium field tonight to play Utah State for the 89th time in 99 years, there are, as McBride himself says, "a lot of questions about this team."
Will the Ute offense - the Edsel of 1990 - be any better this season? Especially with a new assistant coach and a new quarterback running the show. Can two tiny teenage tailbacks really revive the team's poor running attack? Especially when one of them is named, argh, Charlie Brown? The Utes' running game has become a thing of the past, if not, uh, a Fassel. But the biggest question of all: Is the offensive line - nickname: Much Maligned - any better than it was a year ago, or does it still leak like a sieve?Looking ahead to tonight's game, McBride sounds like any Ute fan when he says, "I'll be real interested to watch (new quarterback) Frank Dolce and the offensive line. I want to see how they'll do."
The Aggies will be a good test. After losing their opener to Utah 19-0 last year, they finally got their act together midway through the season. They tied Fresno State (which had thumped Utah a month earlier), pushed eventual Big West champ San Jose State to the limit before falling 34-27, and won four of their last five games against Big West also-rans. The word in Logan is that this is USU's best team in a decade, boasting the likes of halfback Roger Grant, wide receiver Tracey Jenkins, quarterback Ron Lopez and linebacker Del Lyles.
"This is the best team I've had here," says Chuck Shelton, who is beginning his sixth year as USU's head coach.
They'll need to be. After facing Utah, the Aggies face, in order, Nebraska, Oklahoma, San Jose State and BYU. If the Ags don't get a win tonight . . .
Recent history doesn't favor them. Utah has beaten USU in six of their last seven meetings. Last year's game was a sleepy affair, featuring all of two touchdowns. It was Utah's first shutout since the 1981 season opener, which was another shutout of USU. It also proved to be an average day for the Utah offense. The Utes averaged 19 points per game the rest of the season, and, among Western Athletic Conference teams, ranked ninth in rushing, eighth in scoring and seventh in total offense.
"The big question marks this year are on the offensive side of the ball," says McBride.
During the off-season the Utes took action to improve their offense. Among other things, they hired Rick Rasnick, the successful San Jose State offensive coordinator. He has added a few new wrinkles - the shot gun, for instance - and smoothed some of the old ones.
"We'll be better," says offensive coordinator Dan Henson. "We'll be better at quarterback and better at running back."
The new quarterback, Dolce, is a 1989 junior college All-American who redshirted last season. He has an average arm and better than average mobility, but what Ute coaches like best is that he doesn't beat his own team with mistakes, and he's a winner. He threw only five interceptions in two years of JC play (he also threw for 3,772 yards and 33 TDs), and won 10 of 11 games as a sophomore. On the other hand, he hasn't played in two years.
"Frank Dolce will be fine, because pressure doesn't bother him much," says McBride. "He just goes out there and plays."
Dolce will replace last year's returning starting duo of Mike Richmond and Jason Woods, who had the misfortune of playing last season with a weak line and a poor running attack, all of which failed to take defensive pressure off the quarterback (they were sacked 39 times).
"There were a few times last year when I was almost glad I was on the sidelines," says Dolce. "By the middle of the year, the offensive line was depleted (by injuries). They were throwing guys in there with no game experience."
This year's line is fairly new again, but with better talent, strength, size and depth. Redshirt Tom McNit and lettermen Mark Barton and Brian Anderson will join returning starters Russ Dailey and Mike DeHoog in the lineup. If they can protect Dolce, the Utes can utilize their most talented offensive players, wideouts Bryan Rowley and Sean Hutson.
The tailbacks are new, too, now that Steve Abrams, last year's top rusher, has been moved to fullback. He has been replaced by Brown and Keith Williams - both 5-foot-8, both about 180 pounds, both sophomores, both 19, both Californians, both quick, both impressive in training camp. They could bring the running game - last seen at Utah in 1984 - back to the Utes. Then again, Williams, a Prop. 42 case who sat out last season, and Brown, who had just 27 carries last year (and 133 yards), have little experience.
The Utes are cautiously optimistic about the immediate success of their offense, particularly since there is just one senior in the starting lineup. Defense is another matter.
"Defensively, we're a solid team," says McBride.
The defense is led by linebacker Anthony Davis, an All-American candidate who dominated USU a year ago, and end Jimmy Bellamy.
"We're a lot further ahead this year than last," says McBride. "This team has a chance to be good."