The official Utefans toeing the BCS line Thread

[LA Ute]

I think the right thing to do in this situation is not to question why the Utes are struggling and just enjoy that they are struggling.

This is my approach to BYU struggling, and I endorse it.

[TripletDaddy]

I think the right thing to do in this situation is not to question why the Utes are struggling and just enjoy that they are struggling.

CUFNewsBot is piling on today....2 articles about the abysmal state of Ute athletics....one about the football team and one about the basketball team.

[LA Ute]

CUFNewsBot is piling on today....2 articles about the abysmal state of Ute athletics....one about the football team and one about the basketball team.

This is very unbecoming, DDD. Not to mention hurtful.

[MartyFunkhouser]

I can't think of a single team on your schedule who I'm confident would beat BSU.

MSU - no
USC - maybe
BYU - no
UW - no
ASU - maybe
Pitt - no
Cal - no
OSU - no
UA - no
UCLA - no
WSU - no
Col - no

Looking at that I'd say undefeated is far more likely than 3 losses.

They can't just take weeks off and prepare for the best teams on the schedule like they do currently. If they play ASU and Washington under their current crap schedule, they would win the games. With the rigors of the Pac-12 they lose to ASU, Washington, and USC.

BSU doesn't have depth. They would be a couple of injuries away from a disaster season.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Boise has progressed since that win, they are a great program. The question that remains is what happens when they have to play more than 2-3 games a year.

It is an unknown and one of the fun debates in college football. Would Boise be favored with Utah's schedule in all of the games? Probably yes. But what happens when they lose Moore? What happens when they have 3-4 other injuries? Are they deep enough to still beat an above average ASU team? Can they still stop Washington if they are down a couple defenders?

Look at the PAC ASU is down I think 4 starters. Stanford is without an all-P10 MLB, Oregon is playing without the best RB in the country and starting QB. This has long been my contention. Boise can beat any team in the country for 1 game, that is without question. What happens when they actually have to play multiple games against teams that make it a game past the middle of the second quarter?

Well stated. It makes a difference when you actually have to play against talent week in and week out.

[MartyFunkhouser]

I think Utah is in the midst of a perfect storm.

-- New OC with new offense
-- New, tougher conference
-- #1 QB does not throw in spring ball
-- #2 QB is a panic pickup after spring ball
-- Decommits by one or two QB recruits
-- Lack of depth on O-line
-- Career ending injuries to Shak and Burton
-- Injuries during season to #1 QB, and to other key players

As usual you give everyone on the staff a pass. I'm not calling for Whittingham's head, but let's call a a spade a spade here.

The number one reason that Utah is struggling right now: Whittingham's failures with his offensive staff. Hiring Ludwig and letting him suck it up recruiting QBs. Hiring Schramrodd as the OC and letting them suck it up recruiting QBs. Hiring Schramrodd as the QB coach, which was laughable. Hiring BJ as the QB coach which was even worse than Schramrodd.

Whittingham needs to give up this notion that he should be at all involved on the offense. He needs to walk into NoCho's office today and say. Here is the budget for the offensive staff, fire anyone on the staff you want this offseason and hire anyone you want on the staff. The less input Whittingham has on the offensive side of the ball, the better off we will be. Focus on what you know Kyle and let the people who know what they are doing focus on what you don't know.

Chip Kelly doesn't do a damn thing on the defense with Oregon. Learn from him.

[cougjunkie]

Face it K-whitt is Ronnic Mac jr. He learned from the best.

[TripletDaddy]

Well stated. It makes a difference when you actually have to play against talent week in and week out.

Hey, I said so, too!

(I've always said so, actually).

being a good team is not enough. You have to earn the slot and playing that schedule isn't as tough as playing a BCS schedule. The computers and pollsters seem to agree.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Face it K-whitt is Ronnic Mac jr. He learned from the best.

If that is true, that doesn't speak too highly of BYU and Bronco Mendenhall.

[Jacob]

They can't just take weeks off and prepare for the best teams on the schedule like they do currently. If they play ASU and Washington under their current crap schedule, they would win the games. With the rigors of the Pac-12 they lose to ASU, Washington, and USC.

BSU doesn't have depth. They would be a couple of injuries away from a disaster season.

That is the perfect response for this thread.

At least you are not being serious.

[Scorcho]

The number one reason that Utah is struggling right now: Whittingham's failures with his offensive staff. Hiring Ludwig and letting him suck it up recruiting QBs. Hiring Schramrodd as the OC and letting them suck it up recruiting QBs. Hiring Schramrodd as the QB coach, which was laughable. Hiring BJ as the QB coach which was even worse than Schramrodd.
.

funk,

the same could be said of the staffs of Oakland, Indianapolis or Miami in the NFL. It's not as if there are a plethora of talented backup QB's floating around either in college or the NFL.

[Blueintheface]

But isn't this "The PAC-12 is so much tougher than the MWC" stuff overplayed? Sure it's tougher but at some point don't you just say "We don't have a very good team right now."

Or were the 2004 and 2008 teams flukes? I don't believe that for a minute but by continuing to play the "Wow, this league is beyond difficult" stuff you seem to be downplaying what those teams and this coaching staff accomplished and certainly would have accomplished had they been part of a BCS conference. Hypothetical but perhaps only future conference mate USC would have beaten that 2004 team and you all saw what happened to Alabama in '08, with pretty much the same coaching staff as you have today.

My point is, Utah will compete and can do it with the same type of recruits that they've been getting for a decade, and will most certainly do it with better recruits. The gap is not as great as some of you want to believe it's just that currently through injury and some poor recruiting the team isn't up to the standard you've set for your team. As fans you shouldn't settle for mediocrity certainly but drumming the PAC-12 beat makes you look weaker IMO.

[MartyFunkhouser]

funk,

the same could be said of the staffs of Oakland, Indianapolis or Miami in the NFL. It's not as if there are a plethora of talented backup QB's floating around either in college or the NFL.

How about a talented starting QB, because they haven't really gotten that taken care of either. Wynn was decent, but if you were really putting all your eggs in that basket, it doesn't speak highly of our staff.

[LA Ute]

Sure it's tougher but at some point don't you just say "We don't have a very good team right now."

We don't have a very good team right now.



Personally, as fans often do, I had my optimistic red-tinted goggles on in the pre-season. This was in spite of a lot of warnings.

I had been told we had a fragile QB coming back from an injury and no real backup, a weak offensive line, 2 starting linebackers who were walk-ons and kind of slow, and a defensive backfield with little experience. I heard Norm Chow say we didn't have a running back who had played a down of D1 football (I think Vakapuna played one down in 2010 and got hurt on that play). Still, I thought we would string together a 7-5 or 8-4 season.

Looking back, I think I might have been stuck in a MWC mindset, because Utah teams with problems like the ones we have this year have been able to limp to a bowl game in the MWC past. I think we have all learned that things are different now. This Utah team isn't too good and would have been a 4th place MWC team, I'm guessing. It's too bad we hit the new conference with all these problems, but that's sports. One thing about being old is that I know there will be other seasons and that the pendulum swings.

[EuropeanFootballMale]

They can't just take weeks off and prepare for the best teams on the schedule like they do currently. If they play ASU and Washington under their current crap schedule, they would win the games. With the rigors of the Pac-12 they lose to ASU, Washington, and USC.

BSU doesn't have depth. They would be a couple of injuries away from a disaster season.

If only we could somehow put money on that. Agree to disagree I guess.