Official Utah inagural PAC-12 schedule thread

[Jarid in Cedar]

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.

HL and I had a personal rant party at the BYU game about schemes(mostly offensive)

[LA Ute]

Isn't this thread supposed to be about Utah's 2011 schedule?

[wally]

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.

Please, JIC.... please don't muddy the discussion here with your "logic" and your "critical analysis". We are only interested in cherry picked statistics and anecdotal evidence.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Please, JIC.... please don't muddy the discussion here with your "logic" and your "critical analysis". We are only interested in cherry picked statistics and anecdotal evidence.

I post it as a reference to which all other posts can be measured. Carry on!

[Hot Lunch]

I'm more concerned about the secondary for BYU in 2011. We lose 3 starters.

I like Eason at one corner....but the rest of the Secondary is going to be an interesting thing to watch shake out. Buckner will likely start at the other corner and I've been told that he and Kori Gaines have the best feet on the team.....J'ray Galeai makes me nervous. The kid struggled to see the field while competing against the likes of Steven Thomas and Travis Uale. That's not a good thing to put it mildly.

I know they've got De'Quan Everett, but while having the physical tools, I've heard he's struggled to get down the mental aspect of the defensive schemes. Bringing in 2 more JC Guys in Sampson and Hadley, along with the 2 redshirt freshman in Gaines and Johnson will make things interesting.

Ironically enough I think they might have as much talent in the Secondary as they've had for quite sometime...but not much experience and that concerns me.

I would be very concerned if I were a BYU fan. The one returning starter was by far the worst player in their secondary.

I have heard really good things about Everett physical abilities but I heard the same thing about his understanding of the game. If he is going to be playing safety he needs to know what he is doing back there or he won't see the field.

Eason is a poor man's version of Brian Logan. Junkie thinks a higher of him than I do. If I was an opposing OC I would throw at him all day.

Eason came in before Buckner did so IMO that means that the coaches think Eason is the best back-up they have. I don't know much about Gaines other than he is redshirting.

Sampson could be good. He had an offer from both Utah and BYU but he is a J.C. guy and everyone here knows how I feel about J.C. guys.

[cougjunkie]

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?

Very good point BYU gave up at least 3 garbage touchdowns by backups when the first team defense was pitching shutouts that I can remember. Including giving up half the total yards of UNLV and Wyoming on drives with under 2 minutes to go in the game.

[EdmondDantes]

I would be very concerned if I were a BYU fan. The one returning starter was by far the worst player in their secondary.

I have heard really good things about Everett physical abilities but I heard the same thing about his understanding of the game. If he is going to be playing safety he needs to know what he is doing back there or he won't see the field.

Eason is a poor man's version of Brian Logan. Junkie thinks a higher of him than I do. If I was an opposing OC I would throw at him all day.

Eason came in before Buckner did so IMO that means that the coaches think Eason is the best back-up they have. I don't know much about Gaines other than he is redshirting.

Sampson could be good. He had an offer from both Utah and BYU but he is a J.C. guy and everyone here knows how I feel about J.C. guys.

I actually like Eason quite a bit. More than I do Brandon Bradley.

Gaines is kid from Georgia they signed in the 2010 Class as a Safety, but switched him to corner and he redshirted this past season.

Same with Jordan Johnson. Kid from Massachusetts. Both are non-LDS and have just redshirted which will be nice to have back there so that there are no interruptions and they can improve. I've heard great things about both.

I don't what to expect from Sampson or Hadley. Both JC Guys. Also Lee Aguirre might be back in the mix as well.....but not sure if that's a good thing. lol....

[Hot Lunch]

Very good point BYU gave up at least 3 garbage touchdowns by backups when the first team defense was pitching shutouts that I can remember. Including giving up half the total yards of UNLV and Wyoming on drives with under 2 minutes to go in the game.

Well since Wyoming was driving to win the game with less than minute, I don't think I would say that is garbage time.

[TheBYUGuy]

Yes the game was close but let's be honest, the only reason Pitt was in the game was because of two fumbled kicks. Other than that Pitt did nothing.

Says the guy who can't figure out why BYU fans expect to beat Utah next year after watching Utah's offense sputter against BYU two weeks ago.

[cougjunkie]

Says the guy who can't figure out why BYU fans expect to beat Utah next year after watching Utah's offense sputter against BYU two weeks ago.

Utah is automatically better because they are going to the Pac-10. Just look at recruiting average star ranking last year was 2.74, this year it is 2.84!!!!!! Pac-10 is paying huge dividends already!

[Hot Lunch]

Says the guy who can't figure out why BYU fans expect to beat Utah next year after watching Utah's offense sputter against BYU two weeks ago.

Did I say I don't understand? I think I said something to the effect that I didn't agree with it. Thanks for your thought though.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Very good point BYU gave up at least 3 garbage touchdowns by backups when the first team defense was pitching shutouts that I can remember. Including giving up half the total yards of UNLV and Wyoming on drives with under 2 minutes to go in the game.

I don't even want to count how many points Utah's Offense or Special teams gave up that the defense had little to do with.

Yeah I do cause I hate myself.

Pitt: 10 points. on short fields, 1 following Shaky's fumble, 1 following the blocked punt.

UNLV: 7 points. Blocked punt returned for TD

UNM: 7 points. Fumble by Matthews returned for a TD.

SJSU: 3 points. Long KR that the defense gave up -2 yards on the drive

ISU: 14 points. 2 short fields following a Wide fumble and a Wynn pick inside the 20.

Wyoming: 6 points. This one is iffy because they had to drive 38 yards for the score following Wynn's 3rd INT

CSU: 0

AFA: 0

TCU: repressed memories, but I do not recall a short field score(and it wouldn't have mattered if I did)

ND: 14 points. Punt block for TD and 20 yd TD following another Smithson fumble

SDSU: 0 here as well. Their offense was pretty awesome

BYU: 10 points. FG right before half was set up by a short field punt where BYU got on 16 yards on the possession. TD was set up a the 25 by Cain's second INT.

So that is a total of 71 points out of 238 or 29.8%

[wally]

Says the guy who can't figure out why BYU fans expect to beat Utah next year after watching Utah's offense sputter against BYU two weeks ago.

Our starting QB's shoulder was basically mush. BYU dodged a bullet. The bullet being a double-digit loss.

[EdmondDantes]

Our starting QB's shoulder was basically mush. BYU dodged a bullet. The bullet being a double-digit loss.

Good thing the back up with a 9-1 record as a starter was 0-2 with 2 INTS.

[creekster]

I don't get too excited about this sort of cahtter in the off season (or almost off-season) but I will say I sure enjoyed Hotlunch's posts more when he was pretending to like BYU.