Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - 2007 SEASON IN REVIEW: Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham set the bar rather high for himself and the Utes in 2007, after winning postseason bowl games in his first two seasons as the top man with the program. Whittingham had reason to believe he had the right team for the job in 2007 because he had quarterback Brian Johnson back and ready to run the offense after missing the entire 2006 campaign with an injury. However, in the 24-7 loss to Oregon State in the season opener, Johnson suffered yet another injury, this time to his throwing shoulder, putting him on the sidelines for the next two games. A 20-12 setback to Air Force in the Mountain West Conference opener in the second week of the season raised the pressure in Salt Lake City that much more, especially with a road date against nationally-ranked UCLA next on the slate. But a funny thing happened in that meeting with the Bruins, Utah blew the doors off the host squad by a score of 44-6. The victory should have been the start of something good for the Utes, but the team took a step back the following week with a 27-0 loss to UNLV.

Back at full strength following that setback, Brian Johnson was ready to help Utah turn the corner, which is exactly what happened when the team dismissed in-state rival Utah State (34-18) at the end of September. The win was the first of seven in a row for the program, with the last five coming by a combined score of 155-40. Unfortunately, what should have been a high point for coach Whittingham also turned out to be perhaps the most difficult game of the season when he and the Utes used every trick in the book to run up a 43-0 third-quarter lead against Wyoming on November 10th. Despite the lopsided score, Utah still opted to run an onside kick, prompting Wyoming head coach Joe Glenn to become visibly disgusted and take the focus off the win for the Utes in the end.

A closely-contested 17-10 loss to ranked BYU in the regular season finale dropped Utah into a tie for third place in the MWC standings at 5-3, yet was still more than enough to earn the program a date with Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl, a meeting that resulted in a thrilling 35-32 triumph for Utah to get the team to 9-4 on the season overall. With the victory the program also maintained a winning streak in bowl games that now stands at seven in a row, the second-longest active winning streak in the nation behind only Boston College which has taken eight straight.

2008 ANALYSIS:

OFFENSE: Getting Johnson back under center after his shoulder injury last year was huge for the Utes because he proceeded to lead the team into the postseason, where he was named the 2007 Poinsettia Bowl Offensive MVP. After being one of the top signal-callers in the league early in his career, it's time to see if Johnson can survive an entire season and use his talent and experience to get Utah past BYU in the league standings.

Although only right guard Robert Conley was chosen as an all-conference preseason pick, Johnson has to be thrilled that he has a number of returning starters on the offensive line who will have the senior's best interests in mind. Joining Conley is fellow senior Dustin Hensel at the right tackle position, while junior Zane Beadles locks up at left tackle. Although just a sophomore this season, left guard Caleb Schlauderaff is yet another 300- pounder with plenty of experience to draw from.

As for the skill players that Johnson will be looking for, senior wideouts and starters from a year ago Brent Casteel and Bradon Godfrey will be joined by Freddie Brown out on the wings. Casteel, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second game of the season last year, was a Second Team All-MWC pick a year earlier as he led the Utes in all-purpose yards with 600 receiving and 262 rushing. The Utes are hoping that the rest of the MWC has forgotten about Casteel and what he brings to the offense, but somehow that doesn't seem likely. Godfrey, who is a rare breed that doesn't think twice about going over the middle, racked up 50 catches for 524 yards last year, so now the goal is to pick up a little more production after the catch and get him into the end zone more than three times.

Although it was certainly disappointing at the time, having Matt Asiata lost to a leg injury in the opener means that this year the Utes have one of their best rushing attacks in quite some time. Throw Darrell Mack (1,204 yards, 12 touchdowns) into the mix and the squad will be able to pound away in the trenches and then switch up the tempo when it best suits Johnson who completed almost two-thirds of his pass attempts in 2007, yet managed just 11 TDs against 10 picks.

DEFENSE: There was certainly some things to love about the Utah defense last year. The squad ranked fifth in the nation in points allowed (16.85 ppg) and was tops in overall pass efficiency defense with a rating of 96.5. Unfortunately, it has lost several key components from a tight-knit group that suffocated offenses with regularity, yet still has significant talent to get the job done yet again in 2008.

"Defensively, we have all of our secondary returning with the exception of Steve Tate," coach Whittingham has noted. However, as great as that may sound, Tate was a serious lynch pin in the system as he led the group in solo tackles (63) and total stops (103). "We have a lot of young linebackers in the program that we're very excited about," but that might be just another way for Whittingham to say that these guys have some growing to do still.

The rest of the league seems to think that the Utah defense will be a force to be reckoned with though, because there are three players listed on the preseason all-conference team, beginning with senior defensive back Brice McCain. A 2007 Second Team All-MWC pick, McCain has been a starter since his sophomore year and was responsible for 11 pass break-ups a year ago. Roaming the secondary along with McCain will be fellow starters Sean Smith, Joe Dale and Robert Johnson, the latter a preseason all-conference pick himself who logged three interceptions and a pair of forced fumbles a year ago.

Although he is just a sophomore, one of two starting on the defensive line, Paul Kruger is one of the most important pieces to the Utah defense after placing fourth on the unit with 63 tackles while collecting three fumbles as a freshman. Destined to be running down plays from all over the field, roving linebacker Stevenson Sylvester has the potential to better his 86-tackle, 10- tackles for loss effort from a year ago.

SPECIAL TEAMS: When it comes to the kicking game for the Utes, it doesn't get any better than Louie Sakoda who is responsible for both punting and place kicking. Last season Sakoda, who was named a First Team All-American punter by more than one outlet and repeated as the MWC Special Teams Player of the Year, averaged 44.3 yards per attempt and dropped 28 of his 73 kicks inside the 20- yard line. As a points producer Sakoda, the likely choice to again be named the conference's top special teamer, made good on 19-of-22 field goal attempts and was 38-of-40 on PATs. When he speaks of Sakoda, Whittingham is well aware of the talent he has at his disposal calling him "a great weapon to have on the football team week in and week out. When you add the athleticism he brings to the table it opens up possibilities for...fake punts, fake field goals," which is something the rest of the MWC is already well aware of at this point. "In my opinion, he's the best dual-threat kicker in the country," Whittingham added at the conference's annual media day where Sakoda was the first punter to represent an MWC program in its 10-year history.

OUTLOOK: Utah has a mixed bag when it comes to the non-conference schedule this season, getting a couple of easy plays against Utah State and Weber State. However, there still looms a home date with Oregon State even after the team has played a couple of MWC contests. But even bigger than that is Utah's trip to the Big House the very first game of the season to challenge Michigan and its new head coach Rich Rodriguez. It will be a huge game for the Wolverines and the pressure will be immense on both sides, yet if the Utes can somehow come out on the winning side it could be the start of something great for the program in 2008. The start of the campaign is almost as anticipated as the end, with a November 22nd date lined up with the expected conference champion BYU Cougars. Thankfully, Utah gets that one at home after falling by a 17-10 score in Provo a year ago. As long as the Utes can put up strong fights against both Michigan and BYU, there's no reason why the squad can't be in the mix for a BCS game this time around.