Norm Chow on State of the Utes

Norm Chow says he has no idea when Utah started to emerge as a Pac-12-worthy team, even though he has coached at both USC and UCLA.

“No idea,” he said on Monday. “I watched them play and kept touch with Kyle (Whittingham). I thought they were awfully good and they play awfully hard. That’s Kyle’s personality is how hard they play. This is just a continuation.

“They played good teams. The tough thing in the Pac-10 is they’re good top to bottom, so every week is a real challenge.”

Chow on whether the spread offense is outdated: “I don’t think so. It’s a nice offense because what it does is – for the longest time, football was 11 against 10; the quarterback doesn’t count. Well, the spread makes it 11 against 11 because they have to defend the quarterback. But by defending the quarterback, there’s a chance he’ll get hurt. Very few spread quarterbacks make it through the whole season. People are doing a better job of defending it, but there’s a place for it.”

Telling a TV reporter about his schedule until Wednesday’s signing day: “They’ll be packed with phone calls, recruiting for a couple of days, people like yourself I have to deal with, yeah.”

On the dearth of running backs: “We went over our entire roster this morning and I think that’s where the question is. We’re going in with a couple of unproven guys, the J.C. player and Harvey Langhi, so that’s an area of concern, because you can’t get through the league with one guy.”

On competing in Pac-12: “Oh, we’re gonna be right in there. I don’t think there’s any question. Like I said, this isn’t a bad outfit, now. They won 10 games, won more games the last few years than all but two or three other ball clubs. No, this is a good football team and Kyle deserves all the credit. It’s just that the bar has been raised and we all know that. You go out and play, and USC gets the pick of the litter on recruiting, so we’ve just got to fight it.”