University of Ute coach Kyle Whittingham admitted that the first time the Utes played USC in their initial Pac 12 game in the famed Los Angeles Coliseum, they might have been a bit wide eyed.

“Now I don’t sense that at all,” said the Utah coach, who brings his team to a venue where it has never won.

But as the no. 10 ranked Utes prepare to open their league season against USC Friday night, at least one Utah coach will be coaching at the Coliseum for the first time.

That would be Jerome, Idaho, native Colton Swan, the Utes new linebacker coach.

“It’s a little bit different than Jerome, Idaho,” he joked this week. “If you’ve never been there, there are more dairy cows than people. It [the Coliseum] is going to be awesome. It will be surreal for sure. Obviously, we are very excited for this opportunity.

“But at the end of the day, the last time I checked, the field is 120 yards long and 57 yards wide,” said Swan, who came to Utah after a long stint at Weber State. “There are goalposts at each end and 22 guys on the field. I’ve got a good taste of it the last three weeks. I’m not sure I’ll bat an eye. But it’s an awesome deal.”

Even though BYU upset the Trojans last week, the Ute coaching staff knows that USC always has talent. This is a game Utah needs badly if it hopes to repeat as Pac 12 South champs and play in the Rose Bowl or even the national football playoff.

USC leads the series 11-6 and has been a nightmare for the Utes in Los Angeles, where Utah has not won since 1916.

“They are a good team,” said Swan about USC. “We always respect them. They do a great job offensively. They have talent all the way from the inside to the outside. We look forward to the challenge for sure.”

USC quarterback Kadon Slovis, who was coached in high school by former NFL great Kurt Warner, is a true freshman. While he made some mistakes against BYU, he and the Trojans’ quality receiving corps promise to test Utah’s defense.

On his radio show Tuesday, Whittingham said the key to beating USC was to eliminate the explosive Trojans’ big chunk plays.

Some Utah fans have wondered if offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig has shown all of his playbook in relatively easy wins against BYU, Northern Illinois and Idaho State.

He said at this point it is a matter of installing a few little wrinkles each week and varying the concepts slightly within the existing system.

“If you introduce brand new concepts, you are asking for trouble,” he said, adding that “it’s about the players, not about the plays.”

And Ludwig is happy with the way his players have worked to master a new offense.

“We’ve got so many things that we need to tighten up where we can continue to grow as a unit,” he said. “But the guys play with great passion and great effort as a unit…We all have a lot of growth ahead of is each week refining techniques. The guys have done a good job, but we have so much work ahead of us.”

Ludwig offered praise to running back Zack Moss and quarterback Tyler Huntley.

Moss is ranked eighth nationally in yards per game at 124.33 but was used sparingly in the easy win against Idaho State last week. Huntley is number four nationally in competition percentage at 77.8. He has yet to be sacked.

“Tyler is a very gifted athlete,” said Ludwig about his senior quarterback. “He is very motivated and driven. He has things to improve on and he is working on that every day.”

Ludwig, whose last loss as a Utah offensive coordinator came in the final regular season game of 2007, said film didn’t do Moss justice.

He said Moss has the impressive ability to be “an eraser.” Moss has the ability to turn a play that isn’t blocked exactly right into a gain, something Ludwig said he has great appreciation for as the play caller.

“His vision is outstanding and the physicality at the end of runs is impressive,” said Ludwig. “I have respect for the way he finishes plays. We want to be a tough hard nosed physical offense, not a grab bag offense. We want to have an identity to it.”

The Utes know that if they want to reach their goals of a conference title and a berth in either the Rose Bowl or the national football playoff, everything starts in Los Angeles this year.