By far the most annoying thing about the rose bowl

[chinngiskhaan]

replace that blocked punt with a 45 yarder and there would have been a minute or two less on the clock, no winning score. They likely score on that possession still, but I’d like to think they take a few minutes off the clock.

honestly, anything we could have done to kill more time would have won us that game. Rather than useless blitzes, drop 8 deep into coverage and at least make them take several plays to get down the field each drive. 

oh well

[Larry B]

That was the most impactful play of the game, IMO. When Phillips had his interception, we had the lead with a ton of momentum. Then we immediately give OSU the momentum back with a botched punt inside their 20. It was the first time all game that I thought we were going to lose.

Hopefully finding a kicker and punter is the number one priority this off season.

[chinngiskhaan]

Redding is decent. Not great, but average. The entire punt team needs fixing desperately

[Larry B]

Yeah I agree Redding is okay, but it’s apparent that the coaches don’t trust him to make anything outside of 35 yards or so. Punting is a disaster. 

[Italy88]

Disagree on Redding. Coaches have no confidence in him. He’s a liability. I’d love a new punter as well.

[chinngiskhaan]

you can disagree all you want. I’m willing to bet he is exactly what I said (statistically speaking). I’m not claiming we don’t need to replace him if we can, but he isn’t priority number 1.

[2008 National Champ]

Yep, Redding was so good the staff gave him a couple of weeks off to keep his leg fresh knowing they would need him later in the season.,, oh wait, it was the multiple missed field goals and extra points.

Kicking game was so bad Whitt either had Rising pooch punt or went for it on damn near every 4th down because he couldn’t trust his punter or kicker. Thankfully, many of those plays were successful but to claim that either kicker was average, let alone up to Utah standard, is not remembering what actually transpired on the field.

[UtMtBiker]

Special teams as a whole where as bad as ive seen from any team ever.

[Trailgoat]

Agree. Punt team and Kick-off team are a mess. From a time management perspective, the punter miss contributed to tOSU having the ball for a quick score. The missed pick in the end zone by Reid was another one of those game changing plays. 4th down TD on the fake slant go route for the TD was a huge play for tOSU. gave up momentum in key situations where they could of gone up three scores.

[Ute Dub]

Disagree. So many things went Utah’s way in this game that there was bound to have a few things go Ohio State’s way. The Covey kick return, Rising escaped tackle for 60 yard TD, Philipps with the punch out saving a TD and getting an INT. So many things went Utah’s way. 

[chinngiskhaan]

I don’t think disagree means what you think it means. What exactly are you disagreeing with? Nobody said that more things went OSU’s way than Utah’s. Disagreeing implies that your opinion is different than the one with which you disagree. You haven’t stated anything contrary to anyone’s opinion in this thread.

[Ute Dub]

Punt failure wasn’t annoying ot me because so many things went right for Utah, there were bound to be some things go right for Ohio State. Pretty clear explanation there. 

[juan know well]

So I may be way off base with this, so somebody correct me if I need it, but weren’t the two poorest performing units the secondary and special teams?

Both coached by a guy whose wife is in the national spotlight and in legal trouble? Any chance Sharrieff had some distractions going on this year?

[tanute3]

Defensive line getting zero pressure on Stroud the entire game was worse than the secondary’s performance imo

[pedro]

If you’re trashing any part of the D, then you are no fan and have no concept what challenges the team was facing in the secondary.  Good bye!

[UtMtBiker]

The secondary problem was that we didnt have bodies. If he is the special teams coach he should be relieved of the responsi ility next season. Still has big time value coaching the DBs though

[Ute Dub]

It wasn’t a blocked punt, right? He just dropped it. Unless I’m remembering another play. 

 

[hbUte]

You’re right Ute Dub, there was no blocked punt.  It was just a complete drop of the football.

[Tednab]

A depleted secondary is what cost us the game. We needed to have our starters in to have a good chance .. Utes played a hella of game . The team made history with winning Pac 12 championship; especially with what they have all been through . Much respect to each one of those players; they deserve nothing less

[chinngiskhaan]

If Broughton is in there I think we may have won… but many of those passes from Stroud were just so perfect it wouldn’t have mattered who was defending.

The point is, even with a depleted secondary all we needed to win that game was a decent punt. They would have ran out of time and we would have at the very least made it to OT.

[chinngiskhaan]

ugh… you are correct… well, I’m going to assume you are anyway, I don’t want to watch that replay again to find out. Either way, it was terrible, and had the punt been at least moderately successful, and everything else went exactly the same way, we win the game. Like I said before, oh well.