SALT LAKE CITY -- Bittersweet is how Utah coach Kyle Whittingham described his Thursday night. He certainly wasnt going to complain about a 24-0 shutout of Southern Utah, but the win certainly wasnt as pretty as the 12th-year coach hoped for against the FCS program.The degree of difficulty is going to get higher in the ensuing weeks, Whittingham said. Thats why were kind of bittersweet because we know that performance wont be good enough down the road. Weve got to get better.Troy Williams threw for 272 yards and two touchdowns as fans got their first glimpse of the revamped Utah offense, which included a new full-time starter at quarterback for the first time since 2012. The Utes have new starters at every offensive skill position.It was a little rocky in the first half, but we started to get in a rhythm, Troy Williams said. Just first game jitters, that is all that was. Especially for me. Then I started to get comfortable and went out there and executed and came out of there with a win.I just put it in (my teammates) hands and they made it happen.Williams showed why there is optimism throughout the program for the Santa Monica College transfer that originally signed with Washington as one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the country. He put zip on the ball on several out routes and kept his eyes downfield while scrambling. Williams also recognized a mismatch on a 2-yard touchdown pass to Tim Patrick, who used his 6-foot-5 frame to box out 6-0 cornerback Jarmaine Doubs to take a 17-0 lead just before halftime.The Utah defense smothered its FCS opponent like it was supposed to and held Southern Utah to just 158 offensive yards. Safety Marcus Williams shined with an interception, a fumble forced and a fumble recovery.I dont feel like we were up to our potential today, Marcus Williams said. But next week were going to fix some things, tackle better and were going to come out blazing.THE TAKEAWAYSOUTHERN UTAH: The Thunderbirds didnt just roll over despite just not having the athletes to match up with Utah. It was difficult to create much offense against a Utah defense that should be one of the best in the Pac-12. Quarterback McCoy Hill flashed some with his arm and legs despite missing time in the second quarter with an injury.Just proud of the guys, Southern Utah coach Demario Warren said. They fought the whole game and never gave up. We made some mistakes. I wish we could have had a couple of plays back and hopefully change that game.But theyre a great football team and you cant make that many mistakes in a game and expect to win. ... I was definitely disappointed in the outcome and some of the mistakes we made.UTAH: A rout was expected, but there were plenty of nerves in the stands when Utah led just 3-0 late in the second quarter. The run game was nonexistent in the first half and the offensive line was far from dominant for a unit with four returning starters and a junior college All-American at left tackle.Wasnt exactly what I expected, Whittingham said. We never really were not in control of the game, but we never really had complete control of the game. It was tougher to score than I anticipated it would be. Credit them -- theyre a good football team.If were going to win next week, weve got to get better. Theres no doubt about that.QUOTABLEUtah has such a good defense, Warren said. You cant block up front too long with those guys coming at you. So then you try and keep the passing game short. But theyve some really good DBs that stick to those shorter routes. Then you try and go long and No. 20 (Williams) is flying around from sideline to sideline making a ton of plays.NEWEST ADDITIONUtah debuted its brand new high-definition scoreboard on Thursday. The $13.5 million project includes the 122-foot wide, 64-foot tall board that contains 2.6 million pixels. The digital surround sound blares from 130 speakers around the stadium.UP NEXTSOUTHERN UTAH: The Thunderbirds now turn their attention to the FCS schedule with Southeast Louisiana traveling to Cedar City, Utah on Sept. 10. The two programs last played in 2014 with the Lions winning 41-14.UTAH: The Utes host their lone true rival next week -- BYU. There were grumbles from both sets of fans when the two programs didnt play in the regular season in 2014 or 2015. The Beehive State football deities corrected that with a 2015 Las Vegas Bowl showdown in which Utah jumped out to a 35-0 first-quarter lead and held on for a 35-28 victory.Swell Fles Kopen . But now that hes in the NHL, the Calgary Flames centre showed big improvement in that department by scoring the winner in the eighth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Swell Fles Nederland .ca NHL Power Rankings for the second straight week, ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche. http://www.swellbottlenederland.com/ . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Swell Bottle Sale . Despite the cost, effort and an improved steroid test, its possible that very few -- if any -- positives will be detected, Dr. Richard Budgett told The Associated Press in an interview. "We just dont know what the results from Torino will be," Budgett said. Swell Nederland . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont.MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday accused an Alabama attorney of bilking millions of dollars from professional athletes and others who invested in his companies, saying he instead used the money on personal expenses.The civil complaint filed in federal court in Atlanta says Donald V. Watkins and his companies falsely told investors that their funds would be used to support waste-to-energy ventures and that a prominent national company, Waste Management, was seriously interested in acquiring the businesses. A total of $6 million was raised from investors, many who were current and former pro football and basketball players.We allege that Watkins duped investors into believing that there was a lucrative transaction on the horizon, when in fact there was none, Walter Jospin, Regional Director of the SECs Atlanta Regional Office, said in a statement.The complaint alleges that Watkins instead spent the money on his girlfriend and on personal expenses like alimony, past due taxes and credit card billsAn attorney for Watkins called the complaint baseless and said it was retaliation for a lawsuit Watkins filed against the SEC last year.The SECs Complaint has zero bases in facts and is nothing more than a baseless slander campaign against Mr.dddddddddddd Watkins; we look forward to our day in court to exonerate Mr. Watkins from these false accusations, attorney Mario Williams said in a statement.Williams said federal prosecutors with U.S Department of Justice, Office of Economic Crimes Unit in New Jersey closed a six-month investigation, finding that there existed absolutely zero basis to charge Mr. Watkins with any criminal conduct.Williams said Watkins has a pristine track record of holding himself to the highest standards of ethical and legal conduct.The complaint says Watkins and his companies with violating antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and a related antifraud rule. The money was invested between 2009 and 2014.Watkins is a businessman, banker and attorney, who has tried to purchase a professional sports franchise. Federal regulators said Watkins touted his 2009 effort to try to buy an NFL franchise in his talks with investors in his two companies. In 2002, Watkins announced plans to try to purchase the Minnesota Twins.[url=http://www.auths