Utah-Pittsburgh

[Flystripper]

This has opened up a whole new area in which we can smack ER around. Every time a TV camera picks up a single fan's sign in LES, we'll assume that sign reflects the view of all of Cougar fandom and tease him mercilessly. This is going to be fun.

Just make sure you don't show HFN's signs. He means business when he commits sharpie to poster board.

[USUC]

I was listening to ESPN radio late last night and they aired a clip of Cowherd running his mouth on Friday's show about how unfair people are to USC and how Utah is getting unfair buzz.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=theherd#

[LA Ute]

I was listening to ESPN radio late last night and they aired a clip of Cowherd running his mouth on Friday's show about how unfair people are to USC and how Utah is getting unfair buzz.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=theherd#

Cowherd oozes love for USC. He often has some good insights but when USC comes up I change the channel. As for Utah, TCU, BSU and BYU, his thesis is always that yes, they can beat big-time teams with regularity but can't sustain that level of performance week after week. That's a fine thesis but it can never be proven or disproven because of the conference structures and the resulting schedules. It's more like message board smack than something you'd hope to hear from a knowledgeable pundit.

(Notably, his thesis has evolved. He used to say a team like Utah could never beat a team like Alabama. I'm pretty sure he thought BYU could not beat Oklahoma.)

[UtahDan]

I bet Wynn has a passer rating of <75.

146. Ha! Not nearly as good as Nelson nor as bad as Heaps.

[Surfah]

146. Ha! Not nearly as good as Nelson nor as bad as Heaps.

[UtahDan]

You said less than 75, no?

[Surfah]

You said less than 75, no?

Yes. He played better than I thought. And Pitt's defense was worse than I thought.

[LA Ute]

Yes. He played better than I thought. And Pitt's defense was worse than I thought.

Yeah, but Pitt played dirty. One of them grabbed poor Jordan's thumb and twisted it.

[Jarid in Cedar]

This is a little late, but here is a post mortem of how we fared

I am started to get giddy about the start of the season, so here is a brief breakdown of the match ups.

Pitt Offense vs. Utah defense

Pitt O-line vs. Utah D-line

Pitt has a AA candidate in Jason Pinkston at LT, but alot of question marks and inexperience at the other positions. Alex Karabin and Greg Gaskins at Center and guard seem to be the real concerns for Pitt. Unfortunately for them, Utah's Defensive line strength is up the middle with Siliga and Dave Krugar. Utah has experience and depth at both ends.

Pinkston is a marvelous player, but the rest of the individual matchups favor Utah

On mark here, Utah's DL controlled the LOS and was able to generate decent pressure(although they whiffed on a few sacks)

Pitt RB's vs. Utah LB's

This is Pitts real mismatch. Dion Lewis was a freshman phenom and Ray Graham is likely just as good. Utah replaces all 3 LB's and unfortunately, the most experienced of the group, J.J. Williams , is not going to play due to a fott injury suffered in Fall Camp, and another, Jamel King is out with a concussion.

Big advantage Pitt

I am going to call this one a draw. Lewis was contained and the LB's had a good performance as a unit, but this was as much influenced by the the play of the D-Line as anything.

Pitt QB/WR vs. Utah Secondary

Pitt will be breaking in a new QB in Tino Sunseri, who, by Pitt insider reports started camp strong, but has hit a bit of a wall. Jonathan Baldwin is another AA candidate, but is the only upper classman in the 2 deep at WR/TE for Pitt, so a bit of an unknown for them. Utah has one returning starter, Brandon Burton, who will likely shadow Baldwin on the field, and Lamar Chapman returning as Nickle back as it appears Conroy Black may have edged him as the other starting corner. The big surprise at camp has been the play of Brian Blechen who has nailed down the starting SS as a true freshman. Justin Taplin-Ross will start at FS.

I say this area is a push given the youth/inexperience of each unit and the fact that Pitt's offense starts and ends with the running game.

Advantage Utah.

Burton was as good as advertised. Pitt made some hay picking on the 5'9" Chapman with #87(name escapes me right now). Minus 2 plays, Baldwin was as well contained as he will be all year. Blechen played soild through the game and had the game breaking interception in OT.

Utah Offense vs. Pitt's Defense

Utah O-line vs. Pitt D-line

This is the best matchup of the game. Utah returns 4 starter, but the one loss was a big one at LT. John Cullen has won the starting spot through camp and has had more ups than downs overall. Pitt has 2 monsters at DE with Greg Romeus and Jaball Sheard. Their interior line is unheralded but experienced.

I give the slight edge to Pitt due to Romeus playing opposite the only newcomer in Cullen. Look for Utah to play TE or a blocking H-back to Romeus's side to give Cullen some help in his first start

Advantage Utah. Sheard put pressure on a few plays, drawing Utah's 2 holding penalties, but for the most part, Pitt's vaunted D-Ends were a no show for the game. Utah put up over 100 yards on the ground averaging 4.5 yds/carry and did not give up a sack. Pitt was only able to generate pressure on Wynn by blitzing at least 2 other players. Cullen passed his initial test and will not face a DE of any real quality until the TCU game.

Utah's RB vs. Pitt's LB

Utah has 2 proven backs in Eddie Wide and Matt Asiata. Tauni Vakapuna was the surprise of the camp and has locked down the #3 spot in the rotation, and will likely see substantial time in short yardage/goal line. Asiata is an excellent pass blocker and will likely be in to help protect, esp early in the game, against Pitt's pass rush. Pitt has a beast at MLB in Dan Mason. There is still some uncertainty at the OLB's spots as starters have not been named yet.

Advantage Utah

On mark again. Mason had a decent statistical but Utah was able to get good production from the 2 headed monster of Wide/Asiata. Shawn Asiata was a difference maker as a blocking H back on both the ground game and in pass protection.

Utah's QB/WR vs. Pitt's Secondary

Wynn is clearly the starter despite and up and down 2nd week of camp. Utah's WR's are heavy on talent and light on experience. Brooks, Shaky Smithson, and Luke Matthews will start with Devonte Christopher and a trio of JC transfers(Reggie Dunn, Martavious Lee, and Dexter Ransom) as the primary back ups. Of the JC's Dunn is the only one who will likely make noise as Ransom just got to camp(and is recovering from a Knee injury) and Lee is barely getting up to speed for his own hamstring injury. For Pitt, Dom DeCicco is a possible All COnference performer at SS. SO, Jarred Holley is slated to start at FS. Both starting corners have experience and should be solid.

This one is unknown to me as to who has the advantage

Advantage Utah, but with some question marks. Utah was able to establish a second option in DVC in the receiver corp and Brooks was about what we expected. Utah was able to use formation and motion to etablish some real mismatches in the secondary and be getting Brooks matched up with a LB on several occasions. Wynn is the interesting piece here. Statistically, he had a good game, and at one point was 14-17(just prior to the pick). Granted, some of his missed throws could be dismissed due to the injury sustained at the end of the 2nd quarter. However, he channelled Peyton Mannings happy feet anytime there was a blitz and pressure coming up the middle. He did ok with pressure from the edges where he was able to step up and into his throws, but when the push was up the middle, he was back pedalling and throwing off his back foot. Other teams will obviously notice this and I will be curious to see how he responds. Will he step up and deliver the ball, whie taking a hit? Will we see a rolled pocket when in obvious blitzing downs? Time will tell.

Intangibles

Utah's home field advantage is a big plus, and the fact that it is the first game of the year at altitude for the Panthers, should favor the Utes

Big advantage Pitt. Utah's special teams were an abomination and penalties at crucial times killed drives or flipped the sticks unfavorably. This is the biggest area of concern/need of improvement.

This is going to be a low scoring, somewhat ugly game. I think that Utah will be able to exploit Pitt's bigggest weakness; inexperienced offensive line; to keep pressure on a young QB, and to disrupt the Pitt running game. Lewis will likely get over 100 yards, but will e getting many of them on individual effort/skill. Utah's offense will muster enough points to put the game away

Utah 21 Pitt 16

A few more points than expected, but eliminate the easy points Pitt got because of Special team miscues, and this would have been close to the final.