Weber St. is 26-3 in the previous 3 seasons because Jay Hill = K-Whitt in that they are defense first, with a stout D-Line (for their level of football). Their defensive lineman are all 1st and 2nd team all conference guys and they are physical and strong. Their D-Tackles are 290 and 300 lb’s and their DE’s are 260 lb guys. I think it was great to play a physical defense in the first game. I feel some pride for Weber State when you look at their coaching staff. Jay Hill, Joe Dale, Grant Duff, Andre Dyson, Robert Conley, Gabe long.
Positives for the Utah O-line: RB’s averaged 6.1 ypc and the pass protection looked good. I would challenge the board to come up with the amount times the QB was hurried where it was specifically the O-line fault vs. the TE, RB, QB fault. I think Paul Maille had a couple mistakes while starting in place of Laumea, I think the left side of the line was solid.
Negatives: I know we would like to see better push from Utah’s O-line on those goal line situations. Utah was missing two starters (Jaren Kump and Sataoa Laumea) but there can be a little bit of credit to Weber St. in that this is the pride of their team and credit Jay Hill here as well. That’s why this was the perfect first oponent in my opinion. Play a team that has a physical mindset and that makes you work.
I see a lot of blanket statements regarding the play of the O-line without much details shared on the specific issues. Utah gave up 1 sack for 10 yards on a bad snap and 3 additional TFL’s for 5 yards. I will mention that a 7 man rush against 5 o linemen isn’t something to blame the o-line and that also TE’s and RB’s need to make their assigned blocks. But all criticism gets funneled to the O-line no matter what, right?
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