ASU is not a juggernaut, but they are a very good team this year. I’d argue they are more balanced than injury-laden Oregon at this point. They lost to TDS, but mostly because they shot themselves in the foot. Jayden Daniels is a true dual-threat, and their second-highest rusher with ~400 yards this year. They have a very balanced attack, averaging ~220 yards on the ground and roughly the same through air. They have 3 very good RBs, and 6 receivers with between 135 and 250 receiving yards this year. Their secondary is experienced with a total of ~145 games between them. They have a mid-season all-American LB, an experienced OL and DL, and so on.. How do we surmount all of this? ASU is not more talented than USC, but they’re well-coached and won’t fold. I’m feeling really nervous about this one tbh. Anybody want to talk me off the ledge?
I spoke with some parents of starters and I was told the team dislikes the forks the most. Chippy, cheap, cheating SOB’s. I hope the crowd chants “CHEATERS!!” incessantly.
The intangables…
1. Motivated by hate
2. COLD! those players don’t practice or play in cold weather but once or twice a year.
3. Home field noise and cookin (hopefully).
4. Underdog role. Play loose with new confidence. Pressure is on Jayden Daniels. Ute D has seen his interview at the start of the season where he flat out stated his toughest game ever is at RES. It’s on his mind.
5. Llyod, Ford, Tafua, Kuithe will remind them what is on the line. They came back for this, get it done.
6. Karma….TJ and AL looking down from above…shine on boys!
Love this question Jayden Daniels ask DTR and Slovis. I think most of us have already seen JD’s response on social media but I loved seeing DTR and Slovis’s reaction when JD said Utah was the toughest team he’s had to play. They both were like, oh yea…definitely hate having to play Utah, especially at RES!
Can’t wait to see a whole lot of that nasty Utah defense this season…Go Utes!!
Guys, I’m thinking the South is going to be an absolute dog fight this year. I’ve been drinking the koolaid since Spring believing we are winning the South and it’s going to be us and Oregon battling it out in the CCG. But after learning more about the other teams I’m starting to feel the need to pump the brakes a bit.
We’ve heard for awhile that it’s us and SC with ASU in the mix as well. But Yogi Roth is super high on UCLA. He says DTR has been the most impressive QB he’s seen without question, placing him ahead of both Slovis and Jayden Daniels. Talented QBs usually need a couple of years of experience before they finally have that breakout year (ie Tyler Huntley)…and that’s what we’re looking at with DTR. The whole conference basically has 80 – 90% returning production from last year. And UCLA has the most. Their offensive line has 2 NFL tackles on either side. The biggest knock against UCLA is they have the toughest schedule of anyone in the South, playing LSU in OOC and then having to go on the road to play us, SC, and Stanford this year. Add to all of this that it’s do or die time for Chip Kelly and I think they’re going to be a really tough out. The only gimme game I’m seeing really is Arizona. Every other conference game where we are favored, could be really tough outs. For example, Stanford is going to be another dangerous team this year like UCLA. And we’ve got to go play them at the Farm.
I’m not discounting the fact that this truly is Whitt’s deepest and most talented team yet. We’ll definitely be right there in the mix for winning the South. I’m just not feeling confident it’s going to be like 2019 where we are destroying teams on our way to an 8-1 Conf campaign.
Would love to get everyone’s thoughts. Especially if you think I’m missing something…I’m hoping more than anything that 10-2 is right there for the taking! Go Utes!!
Will Utah Football be Big 12 champions in their first Big 12 season?
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