Defense has gotten worse

[Ute Bc]

Since Morgan Scalley took over. He has been the common weak link in all our big games. This just didn’t happen with KW at the helm.

Kudos to Harding on the O line. Perhaps he should be the HC in waiting…

[Chidojuan]

Like statistically worse?  Or just how it feels after the first loss worse?  2019 might have been our best defense of the PAC era.  DC was scalley.  Weren’t we the #1 team defensively in the PAC last year as well?  Youth at linebacker and poor tackling cost us the game, but both of those things can be fixed throughout the season.  It hurts man, I get it, but now that we’ve seen all of the PAC play does anyone scare you?  Sure, we could drop a game or two, or three, but seems just as likely that we smash our way through the rest of the schedule in a gator induced rage.

[Ute Dub]

Morgan should have coached against the double pump fake throw and coached our DE’s to have 4.4 40 speed. Am I right?

We appear to have talent at Linebacker that got sucked inside (Lander Barton Karene Reid) on multiple plays that bounced outside. 

[Ute Bc]

I’d just be happy if he got a rush on the QB, finished a tackle. Or contained the ends.

[Ute Dub]

I hear you on containing the ends. We got sucked inside selling out to stop the run. I think some young guys are used to sticking their nose in the gap and then still being able to bounce to the outside….but this level of football is too fast for that. As for tackling, I agree, but at the same time I’m hearing we don’t tackle in practice that much so WTF can we expect in game 1 at Florida. I thought we got plenty of rushes on the QB, but he was too fast for it to matter. 

[Utesbyfive]

[Mike Leach on Defensive Linemen, SEC vs Pac]

[Johnny]

Gap control. I saw a lot of 18-19 year olds taking a bunch of snaps in that game on defense. The good news is, the defense is going to improve. 

If the Utes scored at the end, completely different discussions. But, they were working the gaps on the young fellas, and that #15 was breaking it off of broken plays. Not the end of the world.

Very disappointed though. 

[radioUte]

Defensive line is not as dominant as it once was and the linebackers tend to disappear.

[Chidojuan]

By what standards though?  Not trying to be overly optimistic, but look, Oregon had the best OL in the PAC last year based on ratings, and look what we did to them.  Against Florida, who might have a better OL than Oregon does, neither team had any sacks, they had 8 pressures, we had 9.  Barton and Diabate were there to make the tackles.  Richardson made them miss.  He even got away when Fillinger had a hold of him at least once.  If this is the measuring stick for the whole year, then watch out, because, 9 pressures for every other team in the conference will be 9 sacks.

[CoyoteUte]

Agree with you Chido. I walked away feeling like both O lines played really well, and both QBs did a good job at eluding pressure when they had to. The D played well enough for us to get a W. Red zone execution is what lost us the game IMHO.

[ArcheryUte]

I am very optimistic. You have some young guys, but I think there is going to be a lot of improvement week to week. I look forward to seeing if this group can reach their potential. I know we walked away with a loss on Saturday, but the lessons learned from this game could influence many victories this year.

[UtahUtesRock]

False