Prep football tab unveiled

Be sure to check out “Back to Basics,” our annual high school football preview, included in today’s Journal-World.

You’ll find stories and pictures on all the J-W city and area teams, district assignments and statistics, plus a convenient map showing how to reach the stadiums.

Also, don’t miss J-W high school writer Ryan Wood’s column on the unsung guys in the trenches, plus his games and players to watch this fall.

College football

Aggies open against Utes

Salt Lake City — Utah opens the season with a chance to show it belongs in the Top 25.

With a No. 20 ranking in their first ever preseason poll appearance, the Utes play host to Texas A&M tonight. A win solidifies their status as an emerging program; a loss relegates them to just another mediocre team from the West.

Coach Urban Meyer loves the buzz Utah football has created after his first season — 10-2 and a Mountain West Conference title — but he’s tired of talking about high expectations.

“I’m anxious for it to disappear,” Meyer said, “and I think it will when that foot hits the ball at 5:45.”

Local officials have declared today “Utah Day,” hoping fans can sneak out of work for pregame festivities before the early evening kickoff.

Utah set a Rice-Eccles Stadium attendance record last season with 46,768 against California, and could top that against the Aggies.