I know that you had high expectations, like most of us, last year. Of course, things went south for a myriad of reasons. Nonetheless, I still trust your thoughts on the Utes football program.
What are your feelings about the offense, defense, position groups, etc. I value your opinion as much as anyone when it comes to Utah football.
Go Utes!!!
I think you can only view how accurate the vibe was in hindsight. Or to quote noted philosopher Mike Tyson, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”.
Every team in the country believes in themselves right now, has a great vibe, loves their culture, loves their talent, is on a mission to prove ____.,, all of the preseason cliches that get recycled each year as if they are prophetic.
So you can only know the vibe in hindsight? I don’t buy that. Last year the vibe and expectations were as high as they have ever been. But then the wheels came off the bus. It’s what it is. But, I will say, I would rather go into any season with a good vibe rather than a bad vibe. While not all good vibes translate to good seasons, if you start with a bad vibe, it seems unlikely you will be successful. Unfortunately I’m not sure I’m feeling the same good vibe everyone else is, but my fingers are crossed that my pessimism will be proven wrong.
I know with fall camp going there are interviews with players and coaches daily. Where do you think we sit mentally going in to the season?
After back to back bad seasons and last year a disaster. Is the winning mentality gone? There’s only a few players left over from the 2nd Rose bowl. I’m getting a positive vibe from what I’ve seen and heard that this team is on a mission to get back on track. Intensity level is very high according to Bill Riley. My personal opinion is the experienced offense line was embarrassed last year and will set pace for a comeback year. Damuni Barton and Snowden will set the pace on defense. I like the vibe.
At this point, if that’s a Whitt decision, then I prefer him retire now than hang around to do more harm than good to the program. There’s a quote out there, “Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.” That’s Whitt’s philosophy in a nutshell. He’s not doing the team or Wilson any favors if he offered Wilson QB2 to get him out of the portal. I seriously doubt that and think it’s more Wilson didn’t have any takers and was forced to return to Utah, and this time, NIL didn’t force Whitt to given in to his demands. Wilson has earn it now without being given to him on a silver platter. Whitt’s Utah coaching mantra, “we don’t adapt to you, you adapt to us” mentality is not true! We all know Whitt bent the knee to Wilson last year to not only bring him to Utah but forced Whitt to play him in every game when he wasn’t ready. IMO, they’d like people to believe they religiously practice that Utah mantra, but c’mon if we are honest with it, we know that doesn’t hold a lot of weight when your desperately trying to lure top recruits to Utah, especially offensive players!
I’m not sure I agree with the lack of speed in the WR room since Dixon, which is only two seasons. I feel like the style of offense, which emphasized downfield blocking over playmaking receivers, and reliance on short to intermediate throws gave the impression that Utah’s receivers were slower than they actually were. Heck, even with Dixon and Covey, the bulk of their routes were within 7 yards of the LOS and in traffic.
At game speed both Money and Singer were as fast as they needed to be to create separation but were utilized as possession receivers. Mikey Matthews (who we’ll see in two weeks) had plenty of speed but was shoehorned into being a short pass guy only. Tao Johnson, who may be the fastest guy on the team, was moved to defense so that a plodder like Calderella could be an extra TE on the field.
Utah’s offense under Ludwig was not designed to get receivers into space and maximize their speed. Instead, their route trees were designed to keep them close to the defenders so they would be in position to block. Add in the overuse of Stick or Stop routes and everyone looks slower than the competition. If Beck will just call High-Low concepts that allow the receivers to find space instead of looking for contact, the WR room will look 100% better almost immediately.
Theres no perfect solution in my experience, unfortunately. I’ve paid for streaming services, bummed passwords off of family, watched pirated streams, etc. I’ve also used every email address I have to get free trials too. We lucked out a year or two ago and got on a YouTube Tv family plan with extended family. It’s been really nice for games. It has a great dvr set up and even has an option to hide scores on their app so there’s no spoiled games when I start watching hours after a game is over.
The Slingtv day pass would be what I’d recommend if you’re on a budget. Though I’m not sure if it has dvr capabilities so you may have to catch games live?
I have family who yearly pay for sling (or maybe fubo) for just football season, then they suspend the account. So they only pay for three or four months.
You could go in with friends / family on a plan and then share the password. YouTubeTv lets you share with multiple people if you’re set up in a Google family account (I can’t remember all the details), but that’s how we have it set up with the extended family we do it with.
Good luck!
BJ we have a better example of what his NFL talent likely could have been. Cam is an incomplete due to injury. So, while I agree that Cam likely wouldn’t have had the pro career as Mitchell did – I do think it’s only fair to give Cam’s NFL potential an asterisks because frankly, none of us know what he could have done had he not been injured in that Penn State Rose Bowl game (assuming he doesn’t come back for 2023 if he enters the NFL Draft).
You’re contradicting your own point.
What you said earlier:
Utes since the mid-1970s and the only actual elite QBs we have had are Scott Mitchell and Alex Smith.
Mitchell was a fourth-round draft pick in 1989 (the 93rd pick overall) – literally where you suggest Cam was being projected. But he wasn’t a first-round draft pick, so, by your definition: not elite.
Cam is elite by Utah standards. Not only is he toward the top in multiple offensive stats at Utah, despite playing fewer games than many of the players ranked around him (Cam only had 30 games played ever at Utah, starter or otherwise, while someone like Travis Wilson had 46 games – more than a season’s worth of games – and BJ (44) and Scott Mitchell (35) – he and Smith are the only two modern-day quarterbacks who have won multiple conference championships at Utah.
In the context of what Utah typically puts up at quarterback, I think both BJ and Rising are elite. Whittingham is 46-13 (.778) when either BJ or Rising started (a couple of those games, like OSU in 2007 – and Penn State in 2023 were games either were injured in and didn’t play for a good chunk of the game but I’ll leave ’em in the 13 losses) and 122-73 (.625) with someone other than those two playing. With Brian Johnson and Cam Rising, Whitt has three conference titles, three NY6 bowl berths, two top-ten finishes (2008, 2022) – and a top-twelve finish (2021). Outside those two? Zero conference titles, three losing seasons and the highest AP finish of 16.
I think both deserve to be considered elite – if at least by Utah standards.
My peeps end up at my place to watch a lot of games since they can only watch Seattle on a Sunday using Dish if they are playing Arizona. Kinda sucks since not only do I have to entertain, I have to entertain for an event I have no interest in. NFL blackouts rules are terrible. Not as bad as MLB but still terrible.
Utah @ 
UCLA 
