Utah's season opener is just a week away. Seven days from now the Utes will take on Utah State at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
"We were just talking about that after practice," head coach Kyle Whittingham said while looking ahead to the game against the Aggies. "Ready or not, we'll be there."
The Utes, he added, began replicating game week on Monday and will re-start it again on Friday as the opener approaches.
Senior linebacker Stevenson Sylvester said it feels good to close in on a game day again.
"We're happy. I like where we're at but we've still got to work hard.
"Coach A (USU head coach and former U. defensive coordinator Gary Andersen) is going to have a game-plan for us, so we've got to come with it," Sylvester said. "We've got to bring our best game. No game this year is going to be easy, so we've got to come in each and every week.
"Right now, I feel good where we are at. It's just one week out. I can't wait to get started," he added.
Speaking of starts, the quarterback issue has yet to be resolved publicly.
Both Terrance Cain and Jordan Wynn, however, vow to be prepared.
"As a player you've always got to be ready. When they call your number you've just got to go in there, make plays and do things for your team," Cain said. "It can be a second before the game, it can be three months before the game, it doesn't matter. You've just got to go in ready."
Injuries on the offensive line have forced several of the projected starters to take reps at multiple positions.
"You don't know what will happen between now and the game," said center Zane Taylor, who could end up moving over a spot in the opener. "They might need me at guard. They might need me at center. Either way, I'm happy that I'm going to be able to play."
Switching spots, he acknowledged, is kind of frustrating. Even so, the bottom line is more important.
"Whatever I can do best for the team," Taylor said.
Whittingham said that projected starting offensive linemen Caleb Schlauderaff and Walter Watts, who are sidelined with knee injuries, were "question marks" for the USU game. Freshman Tevita Stevens was back Wednesday after a bout with the flu.
"We're still kind of in flux because we don't know exactly who's going to be available," Whittingham said. "We've got plans in any situation depending on who's available and who's not. I can't tell exactly how it's going to turn out until we know who we have."
e-mail: dirk@desnews.com