There are many differences between arena football and the outdoor game. In arena football, for instance, there are eight players on the field per side instead of 11, the field is 50 yards long instead of 100, and many players, by rule, must play on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
But if you ask the coaches, games are won and lost in the exact same place in arena ball and traditional football.
In the trenches.
"Our guys up front have to get after their passer and we have to protect ours," said Flint Fleming, the offensive/defensive line coach of the first-year Utah Blaze. "That's the formula for success in this game and in the big game outside."
With final cuts having now been made, the Blaze began on Monday their final week of preparation for the season/franchise opener Saturday night in San Jose. The new AFL team will face the SaberCats at 8:30.
And perhaps the biggest concern Utah head coach Danny White has is on the offensive and defensive lines.
"So many of our linemen are new to this game," said White, a 13-year veteran as an AFL coach, after watching his team scrimmage both the Nashville Kats and the Georgia Force last week. "This was a totally different level for them. Some of them looked like deer in the headlights."
Fortunately for White, the Blaze do have several linemen with AFL experience — including a pair of former BYU players in Hans Olsen and Jason Andersen. Others who will be counted on greatly include AFL vets Bryan Henderson and Scott Pospisil. Two of the rookie linemen that made the team's 24-man opening day roster are ex-Utes Lewis Powell and Garrett Smith.
"It's going to take time to get some experience for some of these guys," said Olsen, who will start for the Blaze at center on offense and nose guard on defense. "But I think we have the talent and ability and coaching to compete with anybody in this league."
Linemen in the AFL play on both offense and defense. That means, of course, that they have to be in outstanding physical condition. Olsen feels the recently completed training camp has taken care of that.
"We've got our guns up and we're ready to shoot," Olsen said. "It was a long training camp."
Protecting quarterback Joe Germaine will be a key to Utah's success. The Blaze have several outstanding receivers for Germaine to throw to — like Siaha Burley, Tom Pace and Orshawante Bryant — but the former Ohio State star will need some protection to get them the football.
Wondering how players will perform in game situations is enough to keep coaches up at night.
"Every coach going into opening week is a little worried," said Fleming. "We've had a good attitude and a professional work ethic from our guys. But from a coaching standpoint — where you don't have a tape exchange and don't know what (the opponent) has done — this first week, we are all going in blind. That's where my nervous, apprehensive tone comes from."
Blaze ignition
Franchise opener
Saturday, 8:30 p.m.
Utah Blaze at San Jose SaberCats
TV: FSN
Radio: 1280 AM
E-mail: lojo@desnews.com