Running up to 2008
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Don's (Tarheel Ute) Summary
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(12/24/07)
Looking Ahead to 2008
(12/21/07)
Utah won in spite of allowing Navy to rush for 316 yards.
Regardless, Utah won the ball control battle, allowing
Navy two rushing touchdowns. The Utes with a
balanced attack rolled up 451 total yards to Navy's 438 and held the ball for 33 minutes to Navy's 27. The Ute's did not dominate
offensively, however Navy would have preferred to
control the tempo on the ground.
Navy dominated the 1st half and through the first 4 minutes leading the Utes 17-10.
However the Johnson lead Utes, rattled off three
straight touchdowns and the momentum which they
maintained, even as Navy mounted a furious comeback.
Johnson completed 11 straight passes leading the Utes
back from a 17-7 deficit by going 9-for-9 for 130 yards
in the third quarter. For his efforts Brian
Johnson was named Offensive Player of the Game.
The Utes' junior running back, Darrell Mack carried the
ball 22 times for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Not
necessarily a strong running attack, but enough the keep
the Navy defense honest.
The Navy quarterback had a surprisingly strong passing
game, passing for 122 yards and two touchdowns.
His only mistake was their final offensive play, and
interception, ending the Navy drive with less than a
minute to play.
Joe Dale, the
Poinsettia
Defensive Player
of the Game,
intercepted Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada's final pass,
thwarting and sealing the victory for the Utes. After
Navy recovered the onside kick at the 42, the Navy QB
was intercepted by safety Joe Dale on the second play of
the drive to seal the victory. Dale had a team-high 12
tackles to go along with the game winning interception
earning the Defensive honors for the game.
The game could have gone to Navy; a fumble on their one
yard line cost Navy a touchdown, and a blown call on a
Ute fumble that was later deemed to have been a
touchback should have prevented a Ute touchdown.
Bowl officials said 46,000 tickets were sold for the
game and a bowl-record 39,129 showed up on a 57-degree
night and included sprinkles and fog in the third
quarter.
(12/20/07)
Poinsettia Bowl win criteria:
Establishing the Run. If Navy does it they win, if not
Utah wins.
Utah must successfully counter the Navy run attack. Ute
quarterback Brian Johnson must have a better game
against Navy's pass defense. He must be aggressive and
win the game, rather than play to avoid losing like it
seemed against BYU. If the Utes can control the ball
like they did against TCU and New Mexico, both who had
good running games, then they have a good chance to win.
I expect Sakoda to keep Navy penned up on their side of
the field. If not Navy on a short field will easily run
to a quick lead, that the Utes are not able to respond
to.
The Utah's run defense should have an easier time than
against BYU, whose front line outweighs Navy's by an
average 40 pounds. However Navy runs the option,
which is designed to exploit perimeter of the line and
is less dependent on size than on execution and
handling. Utah's defense must control the edges of
the line and not allow it's center to be exploited by a
rare pass.
My pick - Utah by 10, 23-13. Sakoda will kick a
bunch of field goals.
What are the Experts' picks?
Baltimore Sun: Navy, 32-30
Fox Sports: Utah 34 ... Navy 23
CNNSI: Utah 38, Navy 30
CNNSI: Stewart Mandel - Utah 38 -
Navy 24
ESPN: Pat Forde, Utah 38, Navy 28.
ESPN: Fans Pick Navy over Utah 55%
- 45%
CBS Sports: 3 of 5 experts pick
Utah over Navy
Sporting News: Utah 40, Navy 24
& Navy, 28-24
Rivals.com: Strong for Utah
(12/19/07)
The Midshipmen will have
great support
from the local naval bases and community. Navy
brought upwards of 20,000 fans to the first Poinsettia
Bowl then also performed on the field, putting on an
impressive offensive display in beating Colorado State
51-30 at Qualcomm Stadium. Utah has not sold out it's
allotment of tickets, but should have four to five
thousand fans at the game.
For Utah, San Diego with this bowl has an added bonus,
recruiting. Two of the Utes' most productive offensive
players in recent seasons – quarterback Alex Smith and
tailback Darrell Mack – both hail from San Diego County.
“This is always going to be one of our primary areas to
recruit,” said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. “It's been
very productive for us.”
Interesting Fact: Utah and Navy have never played
each other.
(12/16/07)
The Midshipmen, with a new coach will continue their run
oriented offensive approach, relying on its
triple-option rushing attack when it faces Utah on
Thursday. New coach Ken Niumatalolo was promoted to
coach on Dec. 8, one day after Paul Johnson left after
six seasons to take the Georgia Tech job.
This should be an entertaining game watched be a large
local and TV crowd. Considering it is the first
bowl game, college football fans regardless of their
stripes who are starved for football will watch this
game this Thursday night.
This will be an interesting as Utah is No. 2 in the
country defending the pass and No. 3 in total defense up
against Navy's run attack. Navy leads the nation
in rushing offense at 351.5 yards per game, and the Utes
have surrendered just 84.3 yards rushing per game in
their last seven games.
Navy enters the bowl on a four-game winning streak,
capping the regular season with its most-lopsided
victory by beating Army 38-3 on Dec. 1.
(11/28/07)
MWC Bowl Predictions
The Falcons (9-3) are locked into the Armed Forces; the
Cougars (9-2) are expected to return to Las Vegas for
the third straight season; and the Utes (8-4) are
projected to go to the Poinsettia to face Navy (which
has already accepted an invitation to play in that
game).
Most sports pundits have Utah playing in the Poinsettia
Bowl, December 20th in San Diego against Navy.
Navy is similar to Air Force; a strong running game
supported by a tenacious, quick, hard hitting defense.
(11/26/07)
For the second time in as many seasons, Utah loses in the fourth quarter, with
minutes to play, on blown coverage in the secondary. Arguably, BYU played the better game
this year, controlling the game on both sides of the
ball. Hall converted a fourth-and-18 on a 49-yard
pass to Austin Collie and Harvey Unga's 11-yard
touchdown run with 38 seconds to play was the clincher
in BYU's tense 17-10 rivalry game victory over Utah in
front of 64,749 fans in Provo and 8 Ute fans in my
living room on Saturday.
It was not a great game. The first half was almost
unwatchable. Utah dodged bullet after bullet as
BYU's drive imploded, and Utah never got started.
The Cougars out gained the Utes, 424 yards to 244, and
could have had another two touchdowns if not for a few
key BYU turnovers and inopportune penalties.
The Utes kept the game close giving them a chance to win
late in the game. The Utes put together a great
final drive, scored, leading with only minutes
remaining. But like last year were unable to
prevent the Cougars from driving and scoring in the
final minute.
Five Reasons Utah Lost on Saturday.
Blown Pass Coverage: It is incredulous to
me that after last years debacle that the Utah coaching
staff and defensive secondary would allow such a blown
coverage allowing Hall's 49 yard completion to a wide
open Austin Collie. The Utes were one play from
stopping the Cougars, following the Ute's late fourth
quarter touchdown. The Cougars faced a
fourth-and-18 from their own 12-yard line.
Quarterback Max Hall, scrambled away from two Ute pass
rushers, rolled to his right and threw a 49 nine yards to
a wide open Austin Collie, who had gotten behind the
Utah pass defense, keeping the game-winning drive alive.
"I don't have no words," safety Robert Johnson said,
when question about the Utes blown coverage. Just
about says it all.
The Running Game: BYU's defense held Utah's 1,000-yard rusher,
Mack, to just 56 yards on 14 carries. Harvey Unga on
the other hand had a stellar day running for 144 yards
including a 11 yard touchdown run sealing the win for
the Cougars.
Key penalties: Utah had their chances but were
not disciplined, particularly on defense on BYU's final drive of the game. Following Hall's
fourth-and-18, 49 yard pass to Collie on the Cougars'
final drive, the Utah secondary is called for two
penalties, setting up the Unga's winning touchdown
run. A personal foul call on Robert Johnson, and the
second a pass interference penalty on R.J. Stanford that
set BYU up at the Utah 14. I Utah had not
committed one or both of these calls BYU may have run
out of time. Overall Utes were called
for 10 penalties for 94 yards, to many and at the worst
times.
The Passing Game: Utah Brian Johnson, did
not have the type of game that was needed to win.
Maybe it was the play calling, however Utah did not pass
well enough to win own its on merits or to provide the
Ute running game cover. BYU's Max Hall, while not
great, passed well enough to keep the Ute defenders
honest, allowing Unga to run around and through the Utah
defense. The Utes best drive was there last.
The Utes chewed up more than seven minutes in a 15-play,
69-yard drive to take a 10-9 lead on a Darrell Mack
1-yard run with 1:34 to play. The Utes needed more
of these drives if they expected to win.
BYU-GOD connection? Austin Collie's now
infamous comment after the game, "Obviously,
if you do what's right on and off the field, I think the
Lord steps in and plays a part in it. Magic happens,"
hasn't done much to diffuse the animosity between he two
schools. Perhaps the quote was taken out of
context or said in the emotion of the moment, but the
'Holy war' sure takes on a more literal meaning.
(11/21/07)
Five Reasons Utah will win on Saturday.
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Both Utah and BYU will
play in bowls against also-rans from the PAC 10 or in
the case of Utah probably Navy. Both will probably
not remember this year's bowl games even if they win.
They will remember who wins the game on Saturday for a
while. Both teams come into the game with winning
streaks. This should be a great game, hopefully on
par with last years and other BYU-Utah matchups.
BYU has three former University of Utah signees or
verbal commits – current BYU starters Harvey Unga,
Manase Tonga and Jan Jorgensen. Lets hope the Utes
make the rue the day the chose Utah over BYU.
(11/14/07)
Utah plays a Lobos teams with identical records and
aspirations for a post-season bowl. New Mexico has
had good success in Utah beating them the last to games
in SLC. The Lobos have defeated the Utes the
last two years. Last year the Lobsos won 34-31
after a 21-point comeback, the largest comeback in
school history. In 2005, Coach Whittingham's first
year as head coach, the Utes beat the Cowboys 43-13 at
home after a bye week to improve to 5-4. Against
the Lobos the next week the Utes lost 31-27.
Since 2000, New Mexico is the only MWC team to record a
winning record (5-2) against the Utes. Utah is 33-17
against the other seven league teams during that span.
Utah's last home win against the Lobos was in 2001. s was in 2001.
The Lobos have the league's top-2 receivers in seniors
Marcus Smith and Travis Brown. Smith is 1st in the
league in catches (7.2 a game) and receiving yards (84.5
ypg). Brown is just a hair behind at 6 catches a game
and 83.3 yards.
The key to this game will be their respective defenses.
Utah has not allowed a touchdown in the past 10 quarters
and has yielded just 30 points in its past four games.
The Utes lead the MWC in scoring defense (16.0 ppg),
pass defense (179.0 ypg), pass efficiency defense (only
7 TDs allowed and 15 interceptions), sacks (32) and
turnover margin (+8). They have allowed just 12.8
points and 269.8 yards in 5 conference games and have
outscored MWC opponents 127-30 the past 4 games.
(11/12/07) (11/12/07)
I would have hoped that Utah would not have resorted to
the on-side kick, leading 43-0 in the third quarter.
I had thought there was a
Wittingham is sorry.
Glenn apologizes for
flipping the bird. It is shame Wyoming is not
playing as well as they did when they defeated Virginia.
Beating a good Wyoming team is always better that
winning the way the Utes did on Saturday. I would
hope they would conduct themselves as though they had
won a game or two this year.
This may be good for the Utes this year but, I
suspect there will be a few more teams other that
Wyoming that may use their home game next year to wreck
some vengeance on the Utes. It has always been BYU
that most team detested. The Utes are probably now
a close second.
(11/11/07)
50 to
0. Perhaps it was a good thing I was unable to
watch the game. A game were
good
sportsmanship was not exhibited by the hosts,
albeit following some poorly timed remarks guaranteeing
victory by Wyoming's coach prior to the game. The
otherwise decisive win by the Utes was overshadowed by
the Utes aggressive play once the early lead would have
normally required a little civility. Granted it is
difficult to tell even your second and third stringers
to hold back, as the Utes attempted in most part in the
second half. However the damage was done, and now
a good win is tarnished and what little good graces
gained after turning around their season has vanished.
Wyoming may have deserved to be beaten on the field, but
did not deserve to be humiliated, regardless of the
their couches comments.
I would have much rather enjoyed the fine Ute
performance; The Utes dominated the Cowboys in total
yardage (505-122), first downs (22-12) and sacks (6-1);
looking forward to another home game and probable win
against a tough New Mexico team.
(11/7/07)
The Utah-Wyoming game on Nov. 10 marks the 80th anniversary of their football rivalry.
Utah, which leads the series 47-31-1, has played Wyoming more than any school
other than Utah State (107 games) and Brigham Young (88 games).
(11/6/07)
Who has the most to lose this
weekend. Both can salvage respectable seasons, and
bragging rights as their respective coaches recruit this
spring. The Cowboys a month ago had the potential to produce a
championship. Wyoming has to
resurrect its confidence on offense, recently referred
as the "Prevent Offense" by a wise Wyoming grad
and fan. However the Cowboys must defeat Utah on the
road, where this season it has a 1-3 record.
Utah will look to extract a measure of revenge for the 31-15
stomping the Cowboys dished out last year in Laramie. The Cowboys will
hope to get ahead early like they did last week against SDSU, but then hold on. Utah will try to do the
same, that is,
score the first touchdown. The shutout loss to UNLV is the only game
other than the Utah State contest in which the Utes didn't score first.
Junior Darrell Mack leads the Mountain West Conference
ranks 22nd in the nation in rushing (112.2 yards per
game), leading a resurgent offence.
The Ute defense will have to continue to play well and
not allow the Cowboy running backs to make big plays and
control the ball. Cowboy running backs Seldon and
Moore have combined for almost 1,500 yards in nine games.
The deciding factor may be how the teams respective
quarterbacks play and each defense focuses on their
opponent's running games.
(11/5/07)
Wyoming enters this week with a 5-4 overall mark and
a 2-3 Mountain West Conference record. Utah is 6-3
overall, 3-2 in MWC play. Saturday's loss by New
Mexico, put the Utes in control of their own fate down
the stretch. Three season-ending victories would assure
them of no less than a tie for second place. Three wins
and at least two BYU losses would garner them a share of
the league title.
Wyoming
lost a tough
game to San Diego State, after taking a 21-0
lead in the first half. The Cowboys may have
started looking forward to the Utah game a little early,
as the dominated the second half to win 27-14.
The Utes have three tough games starting with the
Wyoming Cowboys on Saturday and should look at Wyoming's
loss to lowly SDSU as a lesson in staying focus on the
game in front of you.
Having said that Utah is on a roll having won their last
five games in a row. Utah has won it last five
games, beating Utah State, Louisville, San Diego State,
TCU and Colorado State on consecutive weeks. And playing in front of a
home crowd on what looks to be great November weather,
should defeat the Cowboys.
Prediction: Utah Wins 34-24
(10/30/07)
Utah became eligible for a bowl with its 27-3
victory over CSU on Oct. 27. The MWC bowl games (in
order of selection) are: Pioneer Purevision Las Vegas
Bowl (Dec. 22), San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia
Bowl (Dec. 20), Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Dec.
31), New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 22).
Utah defensive back Steve Tate shared the MWC defensive player of the week award.
The Utah-Wyoming game on Nov. 10 marks the 80th
anniversary of their football rivalry.
Utah, which
leads the series 47-31-1, has played Wyoming
more than any school other than Utah State (107 games)
and Brigham Young (88 games).
the last time Utah played Wyoming in Salt Lake City,
Brian Johnson led the Utes to a 43-13 win by passing for
384 yards and four touchdowns.
(10/28/07)
The Utes played a near perfect game, albeit against CSU, one of the
worst teams in the MWC. The Utes are now 6-0
this season when Mack rushes for 100 yards. The junior
had 99 of his 151 yards in the first half. Ray Stowers,
in a reserve role, added starter yardage with 123 as the
Utes improved to 6-3 overall, 3-2 in Mountain West
Conference play and
won their fifth-consecutive game and became bowl eligible.
The Utes scored on four offensive possessions in the
first half. Johnson marched Utah down the field on
the game's opening possession, connecting with running
back Darryl Poston on a 15-yard touchdown pass to cap an
11-play, 80-yard drive.
Utah's defense enjoyed a great game as well holding
CSU's high octane ground game to 135 yards. Running back
Gartrell Johnson had all of his team-high 95 yards
rushing in the first half. Quarterback Caleb Hanie was
sacked five times.
With the bye week next, the Utes will prepare for
Wyoming at home on November 10th. The Utes final
three games could be their toughest as the Wyoming game
is followed New Mexico at home and BYU in Provo.
(10/24/07)
Back to a dangerous game. I expect that with the
four game winning streak that the Utes do not
underestimate any team, particularly the CSU Rams on
their own turf. The Rams beat the UNLV Rebels last
week in Las Vegas. This is the same team that
demolished the Utes in September.
The
Utes have improved considerably since them in almost
every position, most notably at the QB and RB positions.
The Ute defense continues to do well but is still
average in both the MWC and NCAA (MWC Stats). The
Utes should be able to handle the CSU passing game.
CSU's Caleb has thrown 12 interceptions, and I expect
that the Utes should feast on his mistakes.
CSU
has a two-pronged rushing attack with Kyle Bell and
Gartrell Johnson (MWC Offensive Player of the Week. The duo, both of whom are about 6 feet
tall and 230 pounds, resemble the powerful,
straight-forward running attack of UNLV's Summers
(5-foot-10, 240 pounds)
who gave the
Utes so much trouble. Johnson got
his first start of the season two weeks ago, rushing for
a career-best 143 yards in a 45-21 loss to Air Force.
Last week at UNLV, he ran for 162 yards and two
touchdowns.
Conversely the Rams struggle on against both the rush
and pass. Their offense is middle of the pack, with only one win, albeit against UNLV last week.
Hopefully, the Utes will play above the competition.
Note: BYU's game with SDSU has be rescheduled for
December 1st, due to the fires in southern California.
(10/23/07)
Sakoda tops in
MWC again earning Mountain West Conference
Special Teams Player of the Week honors Monday.
(10/19/07)
The Utes played well enough to win on the road against a team picked to be first or second in the MWC. Both teams
needed to win in order to have any real MWC Championship
or post-season bowl hopes. The Ute defense was
generally good accumulating 4 turnovers leading to 10
Points. Special Teams was a disaster; a
blocked punt was run in for a TCU touchdown and the long
return led to another TCU score. Utah racked up 98
penalty yards, almost negating the 107 yards of run
yards.
The offense struggled at times but did not provide TCU
any opportunity to exploit for points. Mack
had 100 yards
on 32 carries allowing the Utes to control
the ball on offense for 37 minutes.
|
What few fans left in
Amon G. Carter Stadium did not see a very good
TCU team on offense and the defense while great at
slowing Ute Quarterback Johnson, did not provide much
excitement, scoring opportunities or defensive points.
The Ute fans were great. They were notably vocal
and RED against the gray of a half empty stadium.
The paid Attendence was 25,391 but it sure did not look
like there were that TCU fans there. Regardless
the did not provide much energy to there lackluster
performance of their team.
Overall I am happy to see the Utes against a mediocre,
overrated TCU team. They will need to continue to
improve and win over the next month, including a road
game at CSU and two home games against tough Wyoming and
New Mexico teams before their game against BYU in
November.
(10/15/07)
The Utes defeat the Aztecs at home improving to 4 wins
against 3 losses. The Utes finished with 514 yards
and held the Aztecs to just 211 yards; 62 rushing yards.
On Thursday they take on the TCU Horned Frogs, who like
the Utes were picked as pre-seasons MWC contenders.
Both teams need to win on Thursday to have any hopes at
post-season bowl game. Both teams are coming off
wins; TCU beat Stanford for their first road win, 38-36.
TCU finished with 494 yards, including 344 through the
air. TCU Quarterback Andy Dalton completed 23 of 34
passes with two touchdowns.
The last game in Fort Worth, in 2005, between the teams
marked the Frogs' first-ever MWC contest. A 23-20 TCU
overtime victory snapped Utah's 18-game winning streak.
TCU is just 1-3 on Thursdays and 25-3 the other days of
the week over the last three years. On the other hand,
Utah is 2-1 on Thursdays since 2005 and 4-1 going back
to 2003.
(10/9/07)
ESPN experts are not buying the story that Utah will
qualify for one of the four MWC bowl games. Air
Force, BYU, TCU and Wyoming are the odds on favorites.
The bowl games the MWC has commitments with are the Bell
Helicopter Armed Forces, New Mexico, Pioneer Las Vegas,
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia.
Mitch Unrein (Wyoming), Chad Hall (Air Force) and Louie Sakoda (Utah) are
MWC Players of the Week
for games through Oct. 6.
Looks like
Wyoming may be the team to beat this year in the MWC. Hoost Marsh caught two touchdowns while Devin Moore and Wynel Seldon
combined for 235 yards rushing as Wyoming beat
TCU 24-21 on Saturday.
The are also now the top MWC team based on an
average of Sagarin, Fox Sports and CNN/SI College
Football polls.
(10/8/07)
Utah played up to the competition Friday night
defeating the Louisville Cardinals in Louisville in
front of 41,000+ impatient Cardinal Fans, who left Papa
John's Cardinal Stadium way too early missing a exciting
fourth quarter. Utah controlled the ball, holding
the ball for 10 minutes more on offense than did
Louisville. But Heisman candidate Brian Brohm
riddled the the Ute secondary for four touchdowns in the
second half. The Ute offense was more than up to
the task rolling up 582 yards of offense, including a
career high 163 yards rushing by Utah's Mack.
The Utes defense secondary was riddled for 467 yards by
Louisville QB Brohm. Wittingham will most likely
focus on this as they prep for San Diego this weekend.
The Utes return to Mountain West Conference play next Saturday at home against San Diego State.
My expectations are curbed, considering the Utes success
following their impressive win over UCLA.
FROM the SLTRIB
(Kurt Kragthorpe)
Q: OK, the state's three Football Bowl Subdivison
schools have a combined 6-11 record. How will they
stand, going into the bowl season?
A: They will be 19-17. BYU and Utah each will be 8-4 and
USU will be 3-9. BYU will not lose again until going to
Wyoming on Nov. 17. The Utes will lose to New Mexico at
home the same day but will recover to beat the Cougars
in Provo the following week, handing Wyoming the league
title and resulting in red T-shirts that say, "Collie's
still covered."
(10/3/07)
Louisville's
Coach Steve Kragthorpe was Tulsa's Head Coach
last year in the Armed Forces Bowl were the Utah won
that game 25-13. Kragthorpe and Utah coach Kyle
Whittingham also go way back. Their fathers were
assistants at Brigham Young University at the same time,
and their families socialized together.
Updates on notable Ute football players in the NFL.
Alex Smith
(SF) - Injured in Sundays game but
will not need year ending surgery.
Eric Weddle
(SD) - Has 13 tackle and 1 sack in four games as the
starting Strong Safety for the currently ineffective
Charger Defense.
(9/30/07)
The UTES defeated the Utah State
34-18. This follows the UTE debacle to UNLV, were
the Utes were shut out at home 27-0. That followed
their amazing defeat of UCLA 44-6, which had followed to
ugly loses to Air Force and Oregon. Get the
picture... The picture of inconsistency, mostly
negative.
After thinking the Utes had righted their ship, beating
the 11th ranked UCLA Bruins they have returned to the
season's form playing down to lesser teams. What
little they have left of the season will surely be
understood following Friday's game against the
Louisville Cardinals at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
The Cardinals defeated UNC over the weekend to
snap a two-game losing streak that dropped the Cardinals
out of the major football rankings. They will not
take the Utes lightly. The UTES have a 2-0 series
advantage in games against the Cardinals. The Utes are
1-0 in Louisville, defeating the Cardinals, 27-21 in
1997. The other meeting was a 45-22 win by Utah in 1998.
(9/25/07)
Ughh.....
(9/20/07)
Air Force moves to the top of the rankings average
(unscientific) with the Utes moving from 8 to 3.
What does it all mean. Air Force and Utah beat
some great teams, while TCU and BYU lost games that they
were predicted to win.
Battle of the Urban Meyer Coordinators. Kyle
Wittingham and Mike Sanford were the
Ute Offensive and Defense Coordinators respectively
during the two years Meyers coached the Utes. It
will be interesting to see (hopefully) how much of Urban
Meyers play book is used by each team. Both
coaches are off to rough starts and see this is a game
to turn the corner in a positive way. Whittingham
is 16-12 as Utah's coach and has led the Utes to two
bowl wins, Samford is 5-21 as the UNLV coach.
The other story line this week is who with QB the Utes.
Johnson thinks he is ready. Either way the
Utes are more talented and should have momentum enough
to beat UNLV this week.
Utes 27 UNLV 10
(9/17/07)
Darrell Mack (RB), Robert Johnson (DB) and Louie Sakoda (Kicker/Punter) Utes all were named
Mountain West Conference Players of the Week for games through Sept. 15.
Probably a little hard for some of the Air Force players after their stellar victory over TCU.
(9/16/07)
What a difference a week makes. The Utes defeat the UCLA bruins in
Salt Lake City in front of a large vocal crowd by the
score of 44-6, dominating every facet of the game.
I was very happy to be wrong this week. I suspect
only the most ardent Ute homer might have picked the
Utes to defeat UCLA after the disappointing zero and two
start to the season.
I had a full house over on Saturday to watch the game.
At most we thought the Utes would play well, hoping that
any game were they did would signal a new start and
rebuilding. Instead it looked like the team was
completely retooled. The passing game was great.
The nonexistent running game re-emerged. But
the defense, complemented by Louie Sakoda's kicking set
the stage for the Utes stunning defeat of the Bruins.
It's also hard to fault the coaching. While I may
not be convinced, this game was called perfectly.
Coach Wittingham and Offensive Coordinator Ludwig called
a patient but aggressive game, inflicting a deft
combination of ball control interspersed with a few
trick plays at key times. The most obvious was the
fake field goal leading instead to a touchdown late in
the first half and the use of the back-up QB Corbin Louks, running
right, but throwing back across the field to a wide open Dallin Rogers for a 12 yard TD.
My player of the game: Defensive Back
Robert Johnson
(No. 17) who intercepted two of Bruin quarterback Ben Olson's passes
and caused Marcus Everett to fumble as he dove for a Bruin TD that would have
certainly got the Bruins back into the game. Instead Ute QB Grady
led the Utes back on a 80 yard drive culminating in a
touchdown.
Finally, there were the Ute fans. The win, which
came in front of 43,056, was Utah's first at home over a
team ranked in the top 15 since it defeated No. 8
Arizona State 36-31 in 1973 and the first over the
Bruins in nine tries. The fans were loud and
raucous both in Rice Stadium at at my house, where Judy
and I hosted a dozen or so Ute fans.
Considering the context of the start of the the year
this game ranks up with the 2005 Fiesta Bowl win and the Utah 1978 second half comeback with when Randy Gomez hit Frank Henry
with less than three minutes left to give the Utes a 23-22 victory over the Jim McMahon-led Cougars.
(9/11/07)
The MWC did not show well over the weekend.
BYU, TCU and UNLV all had chances against ranked teams but could not win. The conference results are making the MWC decision to not televise games, look pretty good.
Utah still plays UCLA and Boise; Air Force plays Notre Dame and New Mexico and San Diego play the Arizona teams. Not much chance of making a statement left.
(9/10/07)
Utah
lost ugly on Saturday and
need a win bad if they have any hope for a season.
I was not able to watch the game, but listened to most
of it on Air Force radio.
Utah's offense continues to
struggle as injuries continue to deplete the team.
Lineman Jason Boone, running back Matt Asiata,
quarterback Brian Johnson and now receiver Brent
Casteel, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament
in the second quarter Saturday and is done for the
season.
This game was a little bit of a through back, when
Carney, the Air Force Quarterback ran for 113 yards.
Conversely Air Force stopped Utah twice at the 1-yard
line in the final 1:25 in a 20-12 win Saturday, the
Falcons' first over the Utes in five years.
On the Coach Meyers coaches. There is no
doubting Urban Meyer's system, successful at Utah and
now at the national champion Florida Gators.
Meyers two assistants at Utah have not fared as well.
Mike Sanford, Meyer's Offensive Coordinator took over a
UNLV team that has always been bad. However this
could be turning around if their performance against 5th
ranked Wisconsin on Saturday is proof. The Badgers
scored a touchdown with 1:53 on the clock winning the
game against the improving Rebels.
Kyle Wittingham, Meyer's Defensive Coordinator before
replacing Meyers in 2004, has had two good seasons, but
has not improved the team even on defense. His
choice of Ludwig as offensive coordinator has not added
any intelligence or imagination to the offense.
The offensive is hard too watch. Ludwig did a mediocre
job as offensive coordinator at Oregon when between
2002-2004 the Ducks went 20-17.
If the season turns out the way it started Coach
Wittingham should go. He was a very good defensive
player and coach, and should have remained there.
Too bad he cannot just be demoted back to defensive
coordinator.
Tale of the Stats two weeks in
Utah
Total Offense 254.5 yds 108th 9th (Last in the MWC)
Total Defense 380 yds 72nd 7th
Points Scored 9.5 pts 115th 9th (Last in the MWC)
Points Allowed 22 pts 52nd 6th
BYU
Total Offense 413.5 yds 49th 5th
Total Defense 245.5 yds 17th 3rd
Points Scored 18.5 pts 94th 6th
Points Allowed 17 pts 29th 3rd
Next game is at home against UCLA, the same team that
trounced BYU on Saturday 27-17 at the Rose Bowl.
BYU quarterback Max Hall threw for 391 yards, but also
forced three turnovers, two of them leading to points
helping the Bruins and avoid the upset. BYU was in
the game until the end on UCLA's home turf.
Utah is not looking as good as BYU so far, certainly as
demonstrated by the Quarterback play. Tommy Grady
through for 240 yards, but also had two interceptions.
However the Utes are at home and should have a chance,
albeit small. The game will be televised on
Versus, I should be able to watch it. I look for
the Tommy Grady to improve some, but the running game
will struggle again. Utes will keep it close early
but UCLA size and speed in the second half will give the
Bruins the win.
BYU and Wyoming also have tough road games.
UCLA 24 - Utes 10
BYU 30 - Tulsa 17
Boise 45 - Wyoming 23
(9/7/07)
Tomorrow's game against the Falcons was a must win
for the Utes, and more so now. The Utes, picked to finish
third in the conference behind TCU and BYU are bigger
underdogs with the injuries to Johnson and Asiata.
Tommy Gradymmy Grady the new Ute Quarterback hasn't had a chance
to show much during his career at Utah since
transferring from Oklahoma.
Altogether he was 7-for-14 for 102 yards, a touchdown
and three interceptions.
The Utes defense should not have the same problems with
the much smaller Falcon offense and the Falcons’ side
haven’t beaten Utah since 2002.
Utah should have the talent and experience to beat the
Falcons at home, regardless the Rice Stadium is not sold
out for tomorrows game.
Utes by 6 over the Falcons, 23-17
UCLA 42 - BYU 13
Wyoming 34 - Utah State 3
9/2/07
Thursdays game against the Beavers was a disaster.
The Utes lost both their starting Quarterback and
Running back to
injuries for the indefinite future. Utah
quarterback Brian Johnson and running back Matt Asiata's
injuries were as bad as feared on Thursday, when the two
went down in the 24-7 loss at Oregon State.
Brian Johnson's passes were until he was mobbed by the
Oregon defense. His replacement, Tommy Grady,
finished 9-for-24 for 59 yards.
Asiata's injury eight minutes into the game, dashed any
hopes for the Ute running attack.
Utah managed just 18 net yards
rushing to Oregon State's 241. Asiata's
replacement Mack was red-shirted for this season, but
with Asiata's injury will start.
With no offense the Ute defense wore down in the second
half. The
OSU running back, Bernard rushed 29 times for 174 yards
and two touchdowns to lead a rushing attack that
finished with 241 net yards.
A terrible start to the season. The only solace is
that we didn't' lose to Appalachian State at home in
front of 109,000 fans. First time a football team
ranked 5th has ever dropped completely out of the top
25. 25.
8/26/07
I agree with most of the
polls that show Utah will end up third in the Mountain
West Conference. I hope the Utes have a better year than
that prediction.
But with their difficult schedule I will be justifiably
happy if they end the year with a 7 win 5 loss record,
third in the MWC, behind TCU and BYU (ughh), and going
to one of the lesser bowl games.
I predict that Utah will win all their home games except
UCLA. I hope they win 1 of their 4 difficult away games
against Oregon State, Louisville, TCU and BYU.
If they beat Oregon State they could end up with 8 wins
and I will be ecstatic. They have a better chance away
against TCU, if not taken seriously, but that would mean
that the Utes are having a bad year by week 9.
Otherwise, winning at BYU win a new quarterback is
problematic.
The problems are in my view, the coach and the
quarterback. Coach Kyle Wittingham does not inspire me
in the least regardless of the winning seasons. The last
second loss to BYU was hard to take, particularly at
home. This year will make or break him.
Andy Ludwig is also suspect. As the Oregon Duck’s
offensive coordinator, Oregon’s record before Ludwig
became offensive coordinator was 10-2 in 2000 and 11-1
in 2001. For the three years Ludwig was at Oregon his
record was 7-6, 8-4 and 5-6. The record for Oregon after
he left was 10-2. His stints in Fresno and Boise State
give me pause, but this year is his chance to convince
me.
This is really Brian Johnsons first year as the starting
Utah quarterback. He was recruited into the Meyer
system. I do not think he will fit well into
Wittingham’s system. I don’t believe that Wittingham
understood Meyer’s system. I think Johnson will be
exposed by mid-season, assuming he does not get hurt.
I am hoping for the best, but I believe seven wins are
about as much as Utah can expect. If that happens, we
may have see some coaching changes, particularly if BYU
has eleven plus wins this season.
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Utah will have the MWC is their primary goal. BYU will have a BSC birth as goal? BYU has won the MWC two in a row, sounds reasonable. Is it likely? They don't have an overly difficult preseason schedule but their away schedule is more difficult. Utah has Michigan to start the year who with a new coach and a talented team will not overlook Utah in their first game. Utah has their work cut out for them.
BYU's defense (rebuilding?) will probably lose at least twice. TCU, Utah, AFA and New Mexico will be waiting in ambush. BYU was not so dominating that they can pen those games as wins, just not that dominating this year - period. Utah will have a difficult year as well - too offensively flawed; I'm hoping they have a good a year as 2007 - they exceeded my expectations as it was.
Go Utes in 2008