Utah Football Hosts Fresno State

9/1/2014 12:00 AM | Football

Sept. 1, 2014

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Quotes from Coach Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference

QUICKLY
> Utah (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12) hosts Fresno State (0-1, 0-0 Mountain West) on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 1 p.m. MDT in Rice-Eccles Stadium. Some bleacher seats and standing room tickets remain and may be purchased at UtahUtes.com, 801-581-UTIX and the Rice-Eccles Stadium box office. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks. Radio is ESPN700 AM and Sirius 117/XM 202.

> A celebration of the 50-year anniversary of the 1964 Liberty Bowl Championship team begins Friday at the Crimson Club Athletic Fund Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Some 30 Liberty Bowl team members will be on hand for the weekend's activities.

> Entering the Hall of Fame with the 1964 Liberty Bowl team are Kevin Dyson (football), Coach Elaine Elliott (women's basketball), Amy Kofoed (soccer), Andre Miller (men's basketball), Kim Turner (volleyball) and Sandy Woolsey (gymnastics). The inductees will be introduced at halftime of Saturday's game.

> Utah leads the series with Fresno State 5-4, including a 4-1 record in Salt Lake City. They last met in the 1999 Las Vegas Bowl, won by Utah 17-16. For more on the series, see boxed inset on page 2.

> Utah and Fresno State competed as members of the Western Athletic Conference from 1992-98 and the Utes compiled a 3-2 conference record over the Bulldogs. Utah left for the Mountain West Conference in 1999, a league FSU would join in 2012 (when the Utes were in their second year in the Pac-12).

> There have been 26-straight sellouts in Rice-Eccles Stadium, dating back to the start of the 2010 season. The crowd of 45,925 at last week's season opener was the fifth-largest in school history, in part due to the new seating capacity of Rice-Eccles Stadium--now at 45,807 (up from 45,017).

TWO MINUTE DRILL
Former Utah assistant coach Dave Schramm is the offensive coordinator at Fresno State. Schramm coached seven seasons at Utah from 2005-11 and was the offensive coordinator in 2009 and the co-OC in 2010. He also coached the running backs (2005-08, 2011), quarterbacks (2009) and tight ends (2010) at Utah ... New upperclassmen additions made big impressions in their first game in Utah uniforms. Senior Kaelin Clay became the first Pac-12 player since 1999 to return a punt (46 yards) and a kickoff (100 yards) for a touchdown in the same game. Clay's second-quarter punt return for a touchdown came on the first touch of his Ute career. He also made two receptions for 13 yards and led Utah with 159 all-purpose yards. Junior Devontae Booker, playing in his first game since 2012 (at American River College), rushed 10 times for 78 yards (7.8 average) and two touchdowns and also made a 61-yard reception. Booker, who led Utah's rushers, had 139 all-purpose yards. Senior Tevin Carter started at free safety and made four tackles.

IN THE HUDDLE
True freshman Tavaris Williams has moved from receiver to cornerback ... Sophomore Dominique Hatfield played wide receiver, cornerback and special teams against Idaho State. Hatfield had one reception for nine yards, one tackle and two pass breakups. He is listed as a co-starter at one corner this week (with Davion Orphey) and is No. 2 at X receiver ... Kaelin Clay moved ahead of Delshawn McCellon at slot receiver on this week's depth chart ... Players getting their first career starts in the opener were McClellon, J.J. Dielman, Hiva Lutui, Clint Shepard, Tevin Carter and Wykie Freeman ... 10 true freshmen played: Christian Drews, Wallace Gonzalez, Boobie Hobbs, Lowell Lotulelei, Nick Mika, Monte Seabrook, Logan Stott, Marcus Williams, Tavaris Williams and Kenric Young ... In all, 72 players saw action against Idaho State.

OUTSIDE THE LINES
The Kyle Whittingham radio show is Tuesday at 6 p.m. on ESPN700. The show will be broadcast live from the Desert Edge Brewery at Trolley Square and is free to the public ... The pre-game Ute Walk starts at 10:30 a.m. on the corner of Guardsman Way and 500 South. The first 100 text line participants will win Block U donuts at the Ute Walk. To sign up for the Utah Football promotional text line, text UtahFB to 53535 ... Former student-athletes on hand for the annual Alumni Weekend hosted by Utah's Varsity Club will be honored on the video board during the game ... The 2014 Occie Evans Award will be presented to Michelle Plouffe (women's basketball) by the Evans' family. The Occie Evans Award is presented annually to the outstanding senior female student-athlete in a team sport ... Young children participating in the Mini Cheer camp will join the Utah spirit team during its halftime performance.