Defense wins champioships

[Ute Bc]

First, what a great game. We fought hard and lost simply because they had the ball last.

A ton of talk about our DB’s and how thin we were there. I get it. But did we sack OSU once? He had all day back there. Not taking anything away from their QB he was lights out but he was given plenty of time.

So how is it that our offensive line could blow them off the line but our DL just get manhandled? Great game and atmosphere but as a Ute fan I can’t remember the last time our D got so outplayed/out-coached.

[Ghost of the HEB]

No. We never sacked him. Only really pressured him a couple times. Everyone wants to talk about the depleted secondary, but the non-existent pass rush was a bigger problem IMO. Doesn’t matter if your secondary is healthy or depleted if the heisman finalist QB had all day.

[RoboUte]

If defense won championships we’d have won the 2018 Pac 12 championship game.

Ironically enough this year we DID win the PAC 12 championship. And our defense, as you pointed out, has been anything but great.

[2008 National Champ]

I disagree on 2018. Washington had a slightly better defense and managed to take advantage of a bobble to win a hard fought game.

Comparing yesterday to the 2018 CCG shows that Utah can match up with more talented teams, but they need to make something happen on both sides of the ball to win.

[stbone]

While I love defense, the phrase “defense wins championships” has become a lie. It is very rare in the modern era that a defense is so transcendent as to win a championship. The last time I clearly saw this was in SB 50 (Broncos v. Panthers). To win, you need a combination of defense and offense, which was what made this team so special. Give the youth another year, and this team will be deadly.

[RUUTES]

My understanding was our LBs were falling back to help cover our lack of a secondary…which pretty much killed our ability to pressure the QB. OSU’s front line was HUGE and Good…and we were down to playing ironman (thankyou Bernard!) with the secondary. If we had CBs and safeties who could cover the backfield then I think Lloyd and Bishop could have done something different. But we learned a lot. Its true Defense can win Championships…but ya gotta have the players and last night we didn’t. Still 3 point loss in the last 12 seconds…we did remarkable with what we had.