Official Utah inagural PAC-12 schedule thread

[UteStar]

deleted because of awesomeness

[cougjunkie]

Actually it isn't and no they aren't better because I said they are better. The #9 ranking doesn't tell the whole story. MPfunk pointed out the run defense stats which plays into account when discussing this. I know you don't like to give Funk credit but he put it up there before I was able to post it. Kyle's defensive philosophy is to shut down the run and make teams beat them with the pass.

Did you really just compare me to TopUte and SloanHater? Come on man.

BYU was in the same situation they were able to shut down the run and still contain the pass yet for some reason you think Utah had a better secondary. That makes zero sense unless you are saying that Utah is more talented but Bronco is clearly the better coach.

[MartyFunkhouser]

BYU was in the same situation they were able to shut down the run and still contain the pass yet for some reason you think Utah had a better secondary. That makes zero sense unless you are saying that Utah is more talented but Bronco is clearly the better coach.

Sure makes more sense than the argument that Utah has the worst pass defense in the conference by far.

[UteStar]

...a BYU team that was just as good at stopping the run...

99 yards per game compared to 115 Utah was clearly better however the difference does not justify how much better BYUs pass defense was than Utahs.

Yeah, thats kind of using numbers to fit your argument. Yeah, total yards per game were not significantly different (20% difference or so), but BYU gave up an extra yard per carry on rushing compared with Utah. That is pretty significant so its a little silly to say that they were basically the same.

[Hot Lunch]

BYU was in the same situation they were able to shut down the run and still contain the pass yet for some reason you think Utah had a better secondary. That makes zero sense unless you are saying that Utah is more talented but Bronco is clearly the better coach.

He is a better coach. I am not going to argue that. He did more with less talent back there than anyone in the conference. I have been very critical of Utah's coaching this year. I will be the first to admit that. The talent that Utah has isn't the problem.

[TripletDaddy]

Yeah, thats kind of using numbers to fit your argument. Yeah, total yards per game were not significantly different (20% difference or so), but BYU gave up an extra yard per carry on rushing compared with Utah. That is pretty significant so its a little silly to say that they were basically the same.

you should delete this post because of lack of awesomeness

[Sizzle]

Yeah, thats kind of using numbers to fit your argument. Yeah, total yards per game were not significantly different (20% difference or so), but BYU gave up an extra yard per carry on rushing compared with Utah. That is pretty significant so its a little silly to say that they were basically the same.

The only counter argument I would make would be the drastic defensive turnaround when Bronco took over. Hill was absolutely holding the defense back and our inability to stop the run v AFA like we typically do was a huge reason we got lit up that game. Our run D improved dramatically once Bronco took over.

[wally]

Now it is Utahs "talent" when before you just said you would take them over everyone else. Sorry but Lamar Chapman is not as good as Bradley or Logan, Taplin-Ross and Blechen do not hold a candle to Rich. Burton I will give the UTes but other than that BYU beats them in 3 out of 4 positions.

Blechen is an 18-19 YO Frosh. Rich is a 23-24 YO Sr. I beleive Blechen will a lot better than (24 YO) Rich by the time he is 21.

[hostile]

The only counter argument I would make would be the drastic defensive turnaround when Bronco took over. Hill was absolutely holding the defense back and our inability to stop the run v AFA like we typically do was a huge reason we got lit up that game. Our run D improved dramatically once Bronco took over.

That is a stat I would be interested in seeing - difference in defensive efficiency between games with Hill as the DC and Bronco as the DC.

[cougjunkie]

Blechen is an 18-19 YO Frosh. Rich is a 23-24 YO Sr. I beleive Blechen will a lot better than (24 YO) Rich by the time he is 21.

You believe wrong. Blechen will never be the best safety in the conference and one of the better safeties in the country.

[cougjunkie]

That is a stat I would be interested in seeing - difference in defensive efficiency between games with Hill as the DC and Bronco as the DC.

They are not close the only problem is in Hills defense he did play better offensive teams. However Bronco did have to face SDSU and TCU.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Utah's struggle against the pass occured because of a change in basic philosophy. We are a bump and run, free safety over the top cover team. However, starting against CSU, we started playing zone more than 50% of the time. With this, our corners were passive, our LB's got burned because they cannot cover slot receivers in space, and Blechen was caught out of position several times.

This all comes down to the fact that Justin Taplin-Ross is a strong safety who was forced to play FS. He was not able to cover enough ground to erase a CB getting beat or break up the deep post/corner routes that Robert Johnson frequently turned into interceptions.

The fact that the FS position could not meet the expectations that are in our defensive philosophy forced a wholesale change into our coverage. This played away from the athletic ability that we recruit to play at CB, and forced them to do something that we rarely do, play zone.

Burton is a fabulous bump and run corner, but become passive in the zone because we were asking him to do something that we didn't do all last year, through spring camp, fall camp and the beginning of the season. Chapman is a better man cover corner than a zone man. As a freshman, Blechen did not have the instincts to play cover two at this level. He was able to overcome many mistakes with guts, ability, and sheer determination, but the ones he missed stood out like a sore thumb.

Replacing Tapin-Ross with a true free safety that can make the plays that are expected in our scheme will solve many of the woes that we had in the secondary this year. Blechen will be a year older and wiser, Black will have another year of experience(again another better man cover CB than zone). If Burton stays for his senior year, and either McGill or Payne can fill Robert Johnson's shoes better than Taplin-Ross, we will be fine in the secondary next season.

[Hot Lunch]

This argument is making me laugh actually. There are so many more things that go into this that the stats don't tell. For example, when were these yards put up? Did they happen in the 4th quarter when the Utes were up big and the back ups were in the game?

[UteStar]

you should delete this post because of lack of awesomeness

Interesting. I just received 4 boardmails commenting on how awesome this post was. Looks like you are in the minority.

[wally]

You believe wrong. Blechen will never be the best safety in the conference and one of the better safeties in the country.

Good point, I didn't think of that angle.