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Utah/SJSU: The Good, The Bad, and The Liposuction Worthy

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  • Utah/SJSU: The Good, The Bad, and The Liposuction Worthy

    First of all, I'm sure the Utes were looking past San Diego State. Umm... uh... what? They played San Jose State? Oh. Well, then why were all of the local sports casters calling them San Diego State? No joke, I heard one of the guys on 1280 as well as Dave Fox call them San Diego State last week.

    I'm sure nobody was looking past them though.

    The good news is that this game in no, way, shape, or form, hurts our chances to win the MWC championship and punch our ticket to the mighty Maaco Las Vegas Bowl.

    As a side, nothing screams Las Vegas bowl more than a sponsor whose primary tool is an artificial filler to round out those unsightly shapes. Just fill them up and slap a layer of paint on them and, bimbo, new fenders.

    In reality, this was a really good game for the Utes. We learned a lot about them:

    * When the game was on the line in the 4th quarter, the Utes sacked up and found a way to win. This team could have collapsed like a cheap tent, but they went out and took the game away from the Spartans. With a 3rd string running back no less.

    * Our offensive line owned the 4th quarter.

    * Our defensive line owned the Spartans. The Spartan offensive line all have giant block U's branded on their asses right now.

    * We have an athletic QB who can run circles around people, and we have to teach him to GET OUT AND RUN AROUND PEOPLE. When was the last time you had to teach a QB *to leave* the pocket?

    * When the game was on the line, Cain did have some really nice throws. That third and long to Peel in the middle of the field was huge. We've just got to get that the whole game now. He showed some real mental toughness on that drive.

    * I haven't seen or heard anything about why Asiata didn't play in the 4th quarter, and I find it interesting that he had exactly 20 carries at the time he was taken out of the game. It makes me think that Whittingham felt comfortable enough with Wide and Shak that he decided before the game they weren't going to give Asiata more than 20 carries. It is too easy to give Asiata the ball when he's in the game and we don't want to wear him out before the conference games even begin.

    * Am I missing something, or was that Shak's first carry of his career? If so, it was pretty memorable. Either way, we are really deep at RB. If we have 3 RB's to throw at teams, we can keep their legs fresh.

    * We put a *lot* of pressure on our corners. Replacing two NFL corners with new guys is going to be painful at times. Still, these guys are as athletic as they come, and they will actually tackle. While they were abused like the waitress at a Provo Hogi Yogi on coupon day, they are extremely athletic. I believe that whatever problems they were having is related to technique, and will be something that will be fixed by Whittingham.

    * We miss Sakoda. We have no answer there. Maybe we'll just go Meyer in 2003 and just go for it on 4th down from now on. I wouldn't be surprised if the Utes held an open tryout monday morning. Sakoda isn't doing anything else, can't we just throw a different jersey on him? Nobody will notice.

    * Our front 7 is as nasty as they come. If we can coach our corners up, we will be in every single game.

    An ugly win, but I don't think we're worried about style points right now. We have a good young team, that just need to focus on winning the MWC, which, if the BYU/Tulane game was any indicator, is going to be extremely difficult. Still, I like the way this team seems to be growing.

    Go Utes!

    U-Ute

  • #2
    Congratulations. This may very well be the first zoot post on CUF.
    "It's true that everything happens for a reason. Just remember that sometimes that reason is that you did something really, really, stupid."

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    • #3
      Haha... If you say so. You're the boss.

      Feel free to correct me.

      U-Ute

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      • #4
        I am not going to correct you too much U-Ute....

        But it was 7-7 in the 4th versus SJSU.

        Your report makes it sound like it was 24-7.

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        • #5
          You do realize that you guys played San Jose State right? SJSU will not win more than 4 games this year, in fact I am calling it right now they lose to Utah State. They are a bad, bad, bad football team. It was 7-7 going in to the 4th quarter against them, yes Utah found a way to win, but it was very ugly and if I were a Ute fan I would be very worried.
          *Banned*

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          • #6
            You completely missed the point of my post. You guys make it sound like I am predicting another undefeated season. I know SJSU sucks. I know it was a much closer game than anyone (including me) expected. Because of that, now is the perfect time for Ute fans to start claiming that the sky is falling, and for BYU fans to start believing that the universe is back where it should be: with BYU walking through the conference, and the Utes winning 2 games.

            I just don't think that is going to be the case, despite what the SJSU game suggests.

            I believe we will look back on this game much like the UNLV game in 2007: a low point from which the Utes will bounce back. I certainly don't expect the high point we got to in 2008, but they will bounce back. This is a young team, and they are going to have low points. I can just see that this team is better than what they showed last night.

            Lastly, when all is said and done, this team is nowhere near ready to go undefeated and try to make a run at the BCS, so I hope you don't read any of that in my post. Breaking in a new quarterback and two new corners (which our defense puts a ton of pressure on) makes that a very steep challenge. So the goal of this team is to win the MWC. That was the focus of my post, and I still think that is doable. BYU is obviously playing very well, but I think that they still have some weaknesses that teams haven't been able to exploit yet. I haven't seen TCU play yet, so I don't have an opinion on them yet.

            Course, I never thought the Utes were going to make a BCS run last year. I thought they were good enough to win the conference, but as it turned out, with a few lucky bounces, they were able to make that run. So who knows.

            If anything, last year proved that you just have to take care of your own business first. Everything else is out of your control.

            U-Ute

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            • #7
              Originally posted by U-Ute View Post
              You completely missed the point of my post. You guys make it sound like I am predicting another undefeated season. I know SJSU sucks. I know it was a much closer game than anyone (including me) expected. Because of that, now is the perfect time for Ute fans to start claiming that the sky is falling, and for BYU fans to start believing that the universe is back where it should be: with BYU walking through the conference, and the Utes winning 2 games.

              You completely missed the point of your post.

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              • #8
                SJSU sucks. They are a bad football team and I wouldn't be surprised if they are a 4-8 team. There are plenty of reasons for Ute fans to be concerned.

                However, the Utes do not suck despite what a lot of BYU fans want to believe right now. This is still an 8-9 regular season win team and they finish at worst (and likely will finish) 3rd in the MWC. BYU and TCU are clearly the 2 best teams and I'm not sure yet that BYU is better than TCU.
                As I lead this army, make room for mistakes and depression
                --Kendrick Lamar

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by mpfunk View Post
                  BYU and TCU are clearly the 2 best teams and I'm not sure yet that BYU is better than TCU.

                  Neither am I and I wont be until when/if they beat TCU.

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                  • #10
                    The absolute worst case scenario is an 7 win regular season. Eight or nine is more likely. Ten to twelve is not entirely impossible.

                    The biggest cause for concern right now for Utah is the offense's inability to get the ball in the hands of its playmakers in positions where they can be effective. The passing game still hasn't shown its dependability. Cain made some nice throws and looks to be a good decision maker in the short to mid range throws, but all a team needs to do to effectively defeat the passing game is limit the yards after catch. Utah knew coming into the season that Matt Asiata was its primary playmaker, and they rode him hard, to the tune of 36 carries against Utah State. It was an odd decision to cap his carries at 20 in a close game, but it did force Utah to find some other playmakers, and it looks like they've found a few running backs capable of at least reducing Asiata's load. That was the real victory of last night-- finding two or three more places from which offensive production will come.

                    Oregon showed that it isn't the collection of total boneheads that it appeared to be at Boise State after beating Purdue 38-36. They've got a balanced attack, picking up 281 yards passing and 170 rushing. Oregon will be favored to win, but Utah could pick it up with a little luck. Louisville had a 30-10 win over Div. I-AA Indiana State, not showing any particular reason why they should be world-beaters. That's a winnable game as well.

                    Utah should be favored to win all of its conference games except for TCU and BYU. The worst case scenario is that they drop both Oregon and Louisville in out of conference games and lose to TCU and BYU, and drop a surprise game against an unexpected conference opponent (like Air Force). They still get seven wins. If they hold serve against conference opponents, they get eight wins. If they pull off unexpected wins, they get nine or more. They don't play any games against teams that are so good that they can't beat them.

                    A winning season on a reloading year isn't that bad a deal, so long as they can identify their playmakers in coming seasons. And that doesn't mean they won't be making a splash this season, either.
                    τὸν ἥλιον ἀνατέλλοντα πλείονες ἢ δυόμενον προσκυνοῦσιν

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by mpfunk View Post
                      SJSU sucks. They are a bad football team and I wouldn't be surprised if they are a 4-8 team. There are plenty of reasons for Ute fans to be concerned.

                      However, the Utes do not suck despite what a lot of BYU fans want to believe right now. This is still an 8-9 regular season win team and they finish at worst (and likely will finish) 3rd in the MWC. BYU and TCU are clearly the 2 best teams and I'm not sure yet that BYU is better than TCU.
                      Utah is going to be very tough to beat. If the coaches can harness Cain, he's going to inflict a world of hurt on a lot of teams, BYU included. I could see the U going undefeated if they get the most out of Cain. His arm is suspect but he looks like Michael Vick at VT.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Coach McGuirk View Post
                        Neither am I and I wont be until when/if they beat TCU.
                        If we lose more OLinemen, TCU will be a loss. We need a big push up front to counter their D-line/LB speed.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Viking View Post
                          Utah is going to be very tough to beat. If the coaches can harness Cain, he's going to inflict a world of hurt on a lot of teams, BYU included. I could see the U going undefeated if they get the most out of Cain. His arm is suspect but he looks like Michael Vick at VT.
                          clearly you didn't see Michael Vick play at VT
                          Dyslexics are teople poo...

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                          • #14
                            There is a LOT of football to be played between now and November 28 so prognosticating based on 2 games each is pointless. That said, if BYU and Utah were to play next week, I'd pick BYU by at least 2 TD's.
                            "It's true that everything happens for a reason. Just remember that sometimes that reason is that you did something really, really, stupid."

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by FMCoug View Post
                              There is a LOT of football to be played between now and November 28 so prognosticating based on 2 games each is pointless. That said, if BYU and Utah were to play next week, I'd pick BYU by at least 2 TD's.
                              Because BYU has really shown the ability over the past 10 years to beat Utah by 2 TDs. The last time BYU was able to beat Utah by 2 TDs, it took the Utes playing ColoUte's grandmother on the dline because of injuries.
                              As I lead this army, make room for mistakes and depression
                              --Kendrick Lamar

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