One week from today, the Utes will take the field at the historic 91,500-seat Rose Bowl to open the season against UCLA.
"I've been dreaming about it. I can't wait for it," said Utah quarterback Brett Ratliff. "It's so exciting to be able to play in a stadium like (the Rose Bowl) against a team like that."
More importantly, he noted, is the task at hand.
"I predict we are going to go out and surprise them," said Ratliff. "We've got a great team — a great offense, a great defense. I can't wait for it to come."
Tailback Darryl Poston, who grew up in Huntington Beach and began his collegiate career at USC, acknowledges there's plenty of excitement surrounding the game.
"The butterflies are starting to come," said Poston. "And that's a good thing."
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham acknowledges it'll be a great experience. The tradition in the Rose Bowl, he explained, can't be beat.
"But as far as being overwhelmed or anything like that, I don't see it happening," said Whittingham. "It's a business trip."
The focus, he explained, isn't on the surroundings in Pasadena. It's about playing football.
There's no time to be in awe. No need to pull out a tape measure and show the team that the playing surface is identical to that of Rice-Eccles Stadium. Utah has played in big venues before.
"We've been to the Big House (in Michigan). We've been to (Texas) A&M and Autzen Stadium in Oregon," said Whittingham. "That's not going to be the case."
Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, who has been to the Rose Bowl with Fresno State and Oregon, acknowledged it's a beautiful facility.
"The historical significance of the place is awesome, but the Utes won't be in awe of it. They'll respect it.
It's a great place to play," said Ludwig. "We've got a lot of young men from Southern California. It's a homecoming. It's very important for them to play well at the Rose Bowl."
Southern California, Whittingham noted, is probably the second biggest area in which Utah recruits. Thus, a good performance would be beneficial.
So, too, he continued, is the opportunity to play an upper echelon Pac-10 opponent.
Junior defensive end Martail Burnett, a former Los Angeles prep star, admits it will be a fun challenge for a Mountain West team to face a Pac-10 foe like UCLA.
Then again, in some ways it just doesn't matter.
"We just look forward to playing. It doesn't really matter who they line up in front of us," said Burnett. "We just look forward to playing whoever we have on the schedule."
The Rose Bowl, he insists, holds no extra significance.
"I'm not big into stadiums. We could play at East High School right now," continued Burnett. "Just line me up against somebody. It doesn't really matter where we're at. It's all about just playing football, baby."
It's a mindset that fellow Southern Californian Eric Weddle shares.
"It's not like we are there for a vacation," he said. "We are there for one objective and that's to win."
Like Burnett, Weddle isn't enamored with the location of Utah's season opener. It's just another away game, he explained, before noting that UCLA is a good team and a good program in a good conference.
"We're just looking to show up and play our game," said Weddle. "If it's the Rose Bowl or a J.C., it's all the same to us. Yeah, it's a nice venue and this and that, but we really don't look into it that much."
The Utes, claimed the senior, are single-minded in purpose.
"If their head is not into the game then there's something wrong. I think we are all at the point right now where we know why we are here," said Weddle. "We know why we practice hard. It's for that situation, so we don't walk into a stadium in awe — forget our assignments, forget why we're there.
"We are there to win a game, get back to Salt Lake City and prepare for the next week," he added.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com