Game time!!!!

[New Mexican Disaster]

Jerome Brooks will be a nightmare match-up for everyone we play this year. As Drum was saying to me, it is nice to see Christopher coming into his own. That is a kid that came within a whisker of transferring. I also agree that more Asiata and Wide earlier would have been better. 36 pass attempts in a game where the other team has the ball for 35 minutes is a lot.

It is the combination of Brooks and Christopher that is frightening. If the Utes had straightened up the mistakes they could have crushed Pitt, especially since Pitt decided to run every first down until the 4th qtr.

Really, there was no reason other than a lack of execution to not beat Pitt by at lest ten points.

[Hot Lunch]

I haven't read any posts in this thread yet but here are my quick thoughts on the game.

The Good:

Devonte Christopher, he stepped up and came into his own. He pulled his head out of his butt, made huge plays and let's hope that this game proves to him what type of receiver he is.

The Utah D line was really good tonight. I will say this, I think they were helped by a very sorry o line that they played against. The 2 guards and center were awful for Pitt tonight.

Brandon Burton, he is awesome. When he had Baldwin man for man Baldwin couldn't do anything. I do want to know what happened on Baldwin's touchdown. That was the one series Utah ran zone and I think that Burton thought the safety was going to take him and he ended up wide open. Burton was great tonight other than that play and I am not sure if that was his fault.

Utah's linebackers. They really stepped up and proved they can play. They might have been helped by the pathetic guards and center for Pitt.

The Average

Jordan Wynn. I thought his play was just average tonight. He made a couple of really good plays. Made a couple of bad plays that cost him and he made a few bad plays where he was lucky the ball hit the turf.

John Cullen. I say he was average because I think it is still up in the air on how good he will be. There were time where he did a great job on Romeus but I also thought that Romeus was lazy as hell out there. He took tons of plays off tonight. Cullen also had a costly mistake on the personal foul.

The Bad

Shaky. I don't think I need to say anything else.

Special Teams. They were awful.

Offensive play calling. I don't think Roderick called a great game.

Utah won't be tested until they play TCU. Both TCU and Utah will be undefeated on Nov. 6th when they play.

Great win for the Utes tonight. It was fun to be there.

[Guest]

I don't think it is a coincidence that Wynn was less effective when they started putting additional pressure on him.

Your line is good. Pitt did not come prepared and had a lot of chances to win and didn't. Missed FG, the INT, too many trips inside the 20 only coming away with FGs. To Utahs credit, they made plays when they needed to and got the win, especially in OT.

In playing the could-have-should-have game, I think Utah still gets the nod. Four TOs and a personal foul on a running-down-the-clock drive and they still win. If they play a cleaner game, it's never in OT.

Utah has work to do, no question. But they have a good schedule in front of them to try and tighten it up.

[MartyFunkhouser]

The Bad

Shaky. I don't think I need to say anything else.

Special Teams. They were awful.

Offensive play calling. I don't think Roderick called a great game.

I hate seeing Shaky struggle like that. He deserves everything good in life that comes to him because of what he has done with his brother.

Roderick's play calling was a real mixed bag tonight. He needs to learn how to use the running game more effectively. He seems a little too in love with the passing game and Wynn is not ready to carry the team. I actually love the shotgun formation with 2 RBs (or a RB and FB) on the same side. While Roderick wasn't perfect, I think he called a better game tonight than Schram ever did when he was calling plays. I'm happy to have Schramm demoted.

[Sizzle]

In playing the could-have-should-have game, I think Utah still gets the nod. Four TOs and a personal foul on a running-down-the-clock drive and they still win. If they play a cleaner game, it's never in OT.

Utah has work to do, no question. But they have a good schedule in front of them to try and tighten it up.

You're right. Utah blew plenty of opportunities to put the game away. It never should gave been that close.

[BoylenOver]

I haven't read any posts in this thread yet but here are my quick thoughts on the game.

The Good:

Devonte Christopher, he stepped up and came into his own. He pulled his head out of his butt, made huge plays and let's hope that this game proves to him what type of receiver he is.

The Utah D line was really good tonight. I will say this, I think they were helped by a very sorry o line that they played against. The 2 guards and center were awful for Pitt tonight.

Brandon Burton, he is awesome. When he had Baldwin man for man Baldwin couldn't do anything. I do want to know what happened on Baldwin's touchdown. That was the one series Utah ran zone and I think that Burton thought the safety was going to take him and he ended up wide open. Burton was great tonight other than that play and I am not sure if that was his fault.

Utah's linebackers. They really stepped up and proved they can play. They might have been helped by the pathetic guards and center for Pitt.

The Average

Jordan Wynn. I thought his play was just average tonight. He made a couple of really good plays. Made a couple of bad plays that cost him and he made a few bad plays where he was lucky the ball hit the turf.

John Cullen. I say he was average because I think it is still up in the air on how good he will be. There were time where he did a great job on Romeus but I also thought that Romeus was lazy as hell out there. He took tons of plays off tonight. Cullen also had a costly mistake on the personal foul.

The Bad

Shaky. I don't think I need to say anything else.

Special Teams. They were awful.

Offensive play calling. I don't think Roderick called a great game.

Utah won't be tested until they play TCU. Both TCU and Utah will be undefeated on Nov. 6th when they play.

Great win for the Utes tonight. It was fun to be there.

Cullen also had a 15-yard personal foul, I believe in the 4th quarter.

Good call on Burton, he shut down a receiver that will be playing on Sundays. And based on the way he reacted to the touchdown, I'm assuming he expected help over the top.

Sean Sellwood had a nightmare of a game. Get the punt blocked that wasn't even close, then shank another one in a very crucial point of the game.

I want to re-watch this game tomorrow to see how Blechen and the linebackers played. Seems like they did really well.

Also, Whittingham said Wynn jammed the wrist on his throwing arm, which had some effect on his play in the 2nd half. He needs to be more composed, though. That pick in the end zone at the end of the 1st half was a bad, bad play. The first half performance was fantastic, though.

[MartyFunkhouser]

He did hit a wide open receiver on the TD and Christopher did a good job turning a 3-yard throw into a 60-yard TD.

Wynn missed a lot of passes, including screens designed to get the ball off quickly, and outside of the throw to Christopher in the 2nd half was largely ineffective. Pressure is about more than just sacks. How many times did Wynn have to throw the ball away/over or under throw a receiver because he felt the heat?

I agree with this assessment of Wynn tonight. I also think the coaching staff put too much responsibility on him. We need to rely more on on running game.

[Guest]

I agree with this assessment of Wynn tonight. I also think the coaching staff put too much responsibility on him. We need to rely more on on running game.

Yeah. They didn't balance the attack effectively tonight and when Wynn was under pressure, he missed even easy pass, i.e. the bounce pass to Wide - who had ten yards of space in front of him.

[Guest]

Brandon Burton, he is awesome. When he had Baldwin man for man Baldwin couldn't do anything. I do want to know what happened on Baldwin's touchdown. That was the one series Utah ran zone and I think that Burton thought the safety was going to take him and he ended up wide open. Burton was great tonight other than that play and I am not sure if that was his fault.

I wish they would have highlighted this matchup more on the broadcast. It was great to watch, when they showed it.

[Coastal Ute]

The Utes have a lot of talent- thats obvious.

My big surprises were 1. Devonte Christopher (I guess I shouldn't be surprised- have heard he was a hell of an athlete), 2. How well the defense played (considering how different it is this year), 3. The O-Line, and 4. Brian FREAKING Blechen.

But they're also pretty scrappy (4 turnovers? Get real.) and unless they make some serious adjustments I still predict a 2 to 3 loss season.

http://www.versus.com/college-footba...st-recent/i/1/

Above are the highlights that were posted on versus website. Sorry if they've already been posted.

[xena]

Brian Blechen!!!!

[DrumNFeather]

I think the best news that comes out of this game is the W. They've got a lot to work on in the coming weeks, but the best news is that they were able to stub their toe, make a ton of mistakes, have essentially 4 TOs, 100 yards in penalties and they still won the game vs. Pitt who will stay ranked and probably win a bunch of games this year. It's just a whole different ball game when you stumble to a win out of the gate vs. USU or someone like that.

The play calling toward the end of the first half really played into what Pitt was doing defensively. If they roll Wynn out he probably has an opportunity to dump it off or throw it away, but they brought the pressure right up the middle on him and he just made a bad decision...I think that changes with experience.

Very pleased to see the D hold Lewis to 75 yards, they really bottled him up and he earned every one of his yards.

A good start, lots to build on heading into UNLV and New Mexico.

[cougjunkie]

How can you still respect Burton after his reaction on that TD he gave up? Watch the last replay VS had, he clearly bit hard on the double move trying to be a hero and then blamed it on the safety. He had no safety help the safety was rolled to the other side on that play. He just got smoked nothing more to it.

Wynn loves to throw off his back foot and is not good under pressure. When he has time he can pick you apart. Utah needs to completely eliminate the option with him in the game it is hard to watch.

I thought it was an ugly game but thats to be expected during week 1. I loved Whits 2nd timeout call absolutely boneheaded coaching blunder.

Sealver Siliga is effing good, damn is he good.

[DrumNFeather]

Whits 2nd timeout call absolutely boneheaded coaching blunder.

Only in hindsight my friend.

[Surfah]

Only in hindsight my friend.

In hindsight it's still bush league.

Congrats Utes. You beat #15 team (why is everyone calling it an upset when you were favored to win - preseason rankings are retarded) and earned first billing on Sportscenter. But I liked the intro saying that Utah wants to win so everyone stops talking about BYU. That killed me. LOL. I love Neil Everett. Howzit!