I'll see you folks online later tonight...

[il Padrino Ute]

I'm getting ready to head up to RES. A bit of tailgating then into the stadium for the game.

And yes, I'll be at the pirate ship. If you get a chance, stop by and say howdy.

[Jarid in Cedar]

I'm getting ready to head up to RES. A bit of tailgating then into the stadium for the game.

And yes, I'll be at the pirate ship. If you get a chance, stop by and say howdy.

Have fun IPU. I will have a running chat thread going on the game.

[ewth8tr]

Have fun, watch out for ninjas.

[Surfah]

Have fun IPU. I will have a running chat thread going on the game.

Are people planning on getting on the FlashChat here during the game? Or are you guys going to CB?

[Jarid in Cedar]

Are people planning on getting on the FlashChat here during the game? Or are you guys going to CB?

Here. If people don't want to do the chat, I will start a thread. I haven't been to CB in over 2 months.

[falafel]

Here. If people don't want to do the chat, I will start a thread. I haven't been to CB in over 2 months.

Plus some of those chats on CB get really crowded. Maybe not as much for the U game, but probably still pretty crowded.

[smokymountainrain]

Here. If people don't want to do the chat, I will start a thread. I haven't been to CB in over 2 months.

Flash works great! I just tested it.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Have fun IPU. I will have a running chat thread going on the game.

Flash chat during the game tonight?

[il Padrino Ute]

Well, it wasn't pretty, but I'll take it.

A few thoughts on offense:

Cain is an adequate QB. He's not an all-conference type, nor is he incompetent. From how I saw it from my seat, I think Schramm called a rather conservative game to give Cain confidence and it worked. With the skil guys the Utes have this year, an adequate QB will be enough.

Asiata is a beast, but I'm hoping that Eddie Wide can get more carries in other games than he did tonight so Asiata doesn't have to do all the work. Best to keep him healthy throughout the season.

Reed is fun to watch and I'm going to say that he'll be an all-conference receiver this year. The guy catches the ball with his hands and will get a ton of yards-after-catch this year. But, he's going to need the other guys to step it up and take some pressure off of him.

O-line: I didn't pay too much attention, but I did watch Zane Beadles for a number of plays and he's as solid as ever. Utah's other Zane did a good job at center.

A few thoughts on defense:

The D-line showed that it's not as good as it was last year, but when a team loses guys like Kruger and Newman, it's tough to plug in others that are as good as they were. I'll even go as far as saying that Newman will be more missed than Kruger, because he was a total stud last year on the inside.

LB's seemed to play well - I only watched them closely a handful of times and the times I did pay attention, they did a good job.

Secondary - I was most concerned about the CBs this year than any other position on defense, but they did a decent job tonight. Lots of speed in the defensive backfield for the Utes will help. Other than the mistake by Dale (I think) on the long run by the USU RB, I think the safties were really good. (On that particular run play, the USU O-line gets a ton of credit for opening the hole in the LOS. It was huge.)

I was happy with Vroman as place kicker. Can't ask for much more than no missed PATs and no missed FGs. The new punter did fine. Vroman and the punter are no King Louie, but who is?

Other observations:

The idiot who sits two rows behind me has turned up his level of dumbass to 11. The last 4 years he has incessantly complained and howled about the incompetence of Ludwig. The first words I heard out of his mouth were "I'm happy as hell that Ludwig is gone. Now the Utes can finally run a decent offense."

Immediately after Cain had the pass intercepted in Utah's red zone, he bellowed "When the <redacted> is Whittingham going to hire an offensive coordinator that doesn't have his head up his ass?! This is ridiculous how much Schramm sucks!"

It's going to be a long season.

BTW, DDD, the moron that sat next to you at the U/Y game last year did not renew his tickets. So I at least have that going for me.

[TripletDaddy]

BTW, DDD, the moron that sat next to you at the U/Y game last year did not renew his tickets. So I at least have that going for me.

What? Why didn't you renew your tickets?

[il Padrino Ute]

I also want to say that Gary Andersen is going to do a helluva job in Logan for as long as he wants to be there. That USU team played with a lot of heart, a lot of guts and a lot of fire.

Their TE is a monster. Holy crap. Who is he and where did he come from?

The QB - can't think of his name - is fun to watch. He's going to cause headaches for a few DCs who don't have a lot of speed.

Their RB (#6) is a solid runner. Fast too as it showed on his long TD run.

And finally, a shout out to LA Ute - it was good to see you again. And you've raised a great son - very gracious and well mannered. But then, he's your boy.

[il Padrino Ute]

What? Why didn't you renew your tickets?

It was weird. I tried not to renew, but the Crimson Club wouldn't take no for an answer.