Athlons Sports picks 'Cal over Utah BIG'

[Wilson’s Mustache]

Outrageous College Football Predictions for Week 6

Utah’s best win to date is not the blowout win over what we now know is a mediocre Oregon team. Instead, it’s the opener against Michigan that the Utes could have easily lost if not for some costly interceptions thrown by Wolverines quarterback Jake Rudock. I like Cal’s Jared Goff to force the ball downfield all night, constantly pressuring the Ute secondary and eventually wearing the group down. A back and forth game early will turn into a second half rout for Cal and a reality check for Utah. – See more at: http://athlonsports.com/college-football/outrageous-college-football-predictions-week-6#sthash.wWrTCD04.dpuf

• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Wilson's Mustache.

[Tony (admin)]

“Utes could have lost if not for…” Yeah but that didn’t happen so buzz off. You can’t use that logic for arguments like that. Otherwise we could just say “Utes could have beaten the Wolverines by 40 if not for…”

[High Uintas]

This is pretty much a do-over for the Oregon State OT game where Mannion picked us apart. I hope we’ve learned a few things along the way and will have a better game plan.

[Anonymous]

Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve.

We know that Gionni Paul’s late hit penalty directly led to 7 points for Michigan. There was another penalty on Utah in the first half which lead to 7 points for Michigan. Take those away and the score would have been 24-3. Add in missed FG by Phillips and it would’ve been 27-3. I better stop as I’m sounding like a Zoob.

Bottom line, Utah beat Michigan. Michigan fans and some media have said they outplayed Utah for most of the game. I was at the game and Utah had the lead the entire time. Michigan may have moved the ball more than Utah, but they did not convert that into more points than Utah. Utah may not have gotten the sacks on Rudock that they normally produce, but they certainly put pressure on him and that directly lead to turnovers which decided the game.

I’ve got $100 on Utah -7 in Vegas and I’m not losing any sleep over that. I think Utah will win this one by at least 10 points.

[Anonymous]

Utah was in control for most of that game and offensively didn’t even do much. Michigans defense is legit and I think they are the only ones who have sacked Wilson.

Paul’s mistake was massive and did lead to a score. Michigan was forced to make several mistakes in that game as well.

By all means give Khakis the Zoob win athlonsports.

[Tony (admin)]

I agree. Utes were pretty much in control of Michigan for most of the game.

[FormerUteSax]

Utah has played what it has needed to up to Oregon. There was no need to run up the score, we didn’t need the extra yardage. If they were closer matches, we may have been more aggressive on offense which would have led to more yards etc. We didn’t need to be though, we didn’t need to take the risks.

Look at Fresno St. We were comfortably in the lead, put in some second/third stringers. Fresno scored a few touchdowns and Utah said no more and that was it. We stopped them and scored another touchdown late.

[Puget Ute]

This is pretty much a do-over for the Oregon State OT game where Mannion picked us apart. I hope we’ve learned a few things along the way and will have a better game plan.

Travis Wilson will not throw 3 interceptions (including a Pick 6), but he might run for 140 yds and 3 TDs. Booker should be able get 150 yds as well.

With Booker, Scott, Covey, Fakailoatonga, Handley, Ty Smith, Repp, (possibly) Corey Butler-Byrd, etc, etc, we have far more firepower than ever.

And we also have a significantly improved defensive secondary compared to 2013.

This team would obliterate the 2013 Oregon State team.

[rbmw263]

That whole “Michigan gave that game away” narrative is so annoying. People who actually watched saw we outplayed them for the majority of that game. We only net 7 points off turnovers. (one was in fg range, but we went 3 and out and a bad punt put them right back in FG range, so it was a wash)

[Wilson’s Mustache]

I couldn’t agree more. Michigan scored a garbage touchdown with just seconds left to get to the final score of 24-17.

[rbmw263]

and we defended that entire drive to avoid giving up a quick TD. A long scoring drive (which we gave up) was never going to hurt us. Dont hear the media talk about that…..

[Puget Ute]

I agree, and it is as disingenuous as blaming Rudock for the loss because he missed wide-open passes to Chesson and Darboh. What people who say that fail to mention is that Rudock was forced to throw both passes early because on both passes he was half a step away from being obliterated by a very strong and very fast pass rusher intent on piledriving him into the turf. Also, we were without the services of Domo who is a solid Shutdown Corner.

I fear that we will break a few of the Cal players. We seem to leave a trail of wreckage of opposing players in our wake over the last few years, and we may see more injuries this week (hopefully not). Jared Goff is an outstanding player and will certainly be a high pick in the draft next spring, but if he spends a lot of time on his back on the turf he will get trigger happy just like Cody Kessler last night, and will make plenty of mistakes.

Our O and D lines will utterly dominate on both sides of the ball. Cal’s Kyle Kragen (PAC-12 D-POW last week) will finally line up against an Offensive lineman with talent, and he will get his butt kicked all day long. Utah will run all over them all day long, and Cal’s Pass defense is actually quite poor (though not as bad as last year, when they gave up more passing TDs than any team in the history of college football).

If Hackett stays true to form on punts and we can limit their kickoff returns (which is a Cal weakness anyway), and Goff is forced to drive the length of a long field all day long, then it will be a very long day for them.

[rbmw263]

Hopefully Whitt shows this to our boys. We might be ranked 5th, but we still have a hell of a lot to prove. Show them we are for real.