Concerns for the Oregon game

[BleedsRedUte]

I believe if the Utes bring their A game with very few mistakes (missed assignments on pass defense, punt blocking, flags for stupid fouls, etc..), they can prevail.  

The offense has been great, and we need that to continue.  The running game must be solid, and most plays designed to take advantage of their pass rushes, like screens and short passes to our excellent tight ends.  The ball has to come out in a short amount of time.  Ludwig has to have a great game plan.  The defense has to recall some earlier games where they stopped the run consistently and were putting pressure on the opposing QB.

I am concerned about the Shotgun snaps that have consistently been high, close to over the head of Rising.  They have to have figured this out.  

Like everyone, the punting unit is really concerning.  How can a D1 program have a unit that doesn’t even look like high school caliber.  You can bet opposing teams have seen this and emphasize punt blocks against Utah.  I still think the formation they use with 3 players back by the punter is flawed.

It’s easy to say all this, there is no doubt we have a talented Ute team this year, capable of beating Oregon.  But the Utes are really young, with many Freshman starting now.  Consistency has been a problem, but they have enough games under the belt that they should be rounding out to playing solid at this point in the season.  Go Utes!!

 

[Charlie]

I think we will get a different Oregon than others have the last few weeks. This week is the biggest game in the second half of the season before the CCG. I think they expect to play us twice and have spent extra time on our game plan. I think we will see the best effort from their players. To some extent the same applies to Utah. Still, others have found a way to move the ball on Oregon and have been able to slow down their offense, Utah needs to do so as well.

I expect we will use more players in pass blocking than usual. Maybe we will roll Rising out away from Kayvon some. Hopefully, our run game gives them much to be concerned with beyond coming after Rising. Punt team only needs to achieve not being a liability, that should be doable. Oregon is the team with playoff pressure, Utah has much less to loose and is at home. Utah TEs put much more pressure on safeties and LBs than others. TOs and big chunk plays could go either way and will become an advantage for one of the teams.