Utah's defensive line is fast, athletic and physical, which means Pitt's offensive line will have its hands full Thursday when the Utes and Panthers meet at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

But for the offensive line, it will be another day at the office, having spent the spring and summer banging heads with a fast, athletic, physical defensive front that happens to wear the same uniform.

"It is nice to get away from blocking our defensive line every day," center Alex Karabin said. "I think [Utah's defensive line and Pitt's defensive line] are comparable. I think Myles [Caragein] is similar to their two inside guys. They are pretty good, but our guys might do just a couple of things a little bit differently. Maybe get more penetration into the backfield."

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said the offensive line is not where it needs to be yet, but he expects it to get better. He added that it will improve from the start of the Utah game until the finish as it settles into the speed of the game.

He agreed that the Panthers' offensive line has been battle-tested during training camp, despite the defensive line having been without All-American defensive end Greg Romeus the entire camp.

"When you have three new starters [on the offensive line] inexperience is what you are dealing with," Wannstedt said. "[The problem] won't be knowledge. They'll understand what we are trying to do. They'll have the calls down and give the effort. They just need experience.

"But you'd like to think that the competition they get on a day-in and day-out basis will make a difference. The other thing is for the most part all those [offensive linemen] have stayed healthy, so that is a good thing."

Utah's defensive line is fast and physical like Pitt's, but the Panthers' offensive linemen say there is a key difference between the two.

The Utes do a lot more blitzing and stunting than the Panthers, and that can cause some problems -- especially considering this is the opener and both teams are likely to have some surprises.

The philosophy for Pitt's defensive line is to get off the ball and whip the offensive line straight up. Wannstedt's defenses rarely blitz and, when they do, the blitzes are reserved for certain situations.

Utah, however, will bring extra guys from all different directions, and Wannstedt said he expects to see a steady flow of run blitzes, blitzes off the edge and stunts from the Utes. That is why he said he is glad the Panthers' offensive line has had extra time to prepare for the game.

"They are similar to a lot of teams we will face in that they do a lot of fire-zone pressure and whatnot," right tackle Lucas Nix said. "The whole thing is they will have eight [players] in the box the whole time, or at least we're expecting that, and then it becomes a matter of picking up tendencies.

"They are pretty much an edge rush team. We will see a little bit of pressure from the middle, but, for the most part, they are going to bring strong pressure from the tight end side and try to get in the way of our bread-and-butter plays."

Karabin added, "Since it is the first game of the year, they will come out with some different things, some things which aren't expected, but we're going to try and prepare for anything they can really throw at us."

Wannstedt said the Panthers' offensive line -- with Nix, Karabin, left tackle Jason Pinkston, left guard Chris Jacobson and right guard Greg Gaskins -- has the advantage of playing together the entire training camp as well as most of spring practice.

The unit has taken almost all the snaps together with the first-team offense, and Karabin said that is a big development because the players have learned to trust each other. They also have learned each other's tendencies, and it has shown in improved play.

While the proof of whether that's true will come at game time, one person who believes the offensive line is ready is the coach who has spent most of camp finding ways to beat it -- defensive line coach Greg Gattuso.

"They are doing a good job. They are a physical, tough unit," Gattuso said. "If you watch a scrimmage, you might see defensive linemen in the backfield, but a lot of that is because we'll just jump around blocks sometimes because they are so physical that our guys will try to be more athletic against them.

"But they are doing well and they are getting better in pass protection and they do a great job of keeping you off balance. I've seen improvement, and they are as physical of a line as we've seen here."

NOTES -- The 2010 kickoff luncheon is 11:30 a.m. today at the Westin Convention Center. Cost is $40. ... Romeus (back spasms) practiced at full speed, according to Wannstedt. ... Ray Graham (knee) will be evaluated Sunday but he again did some running Thursday.

• Game: Pitt at Utah, Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City.

• When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

• TV: Versus.

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