Does anyone on either side really care about this bowl game?

[SkinyUte]

Just spent a few minutes perusing Indiana boards, and there’s very little mention of the game, if anything at all. I know the Utah online presence is fractured as all hell right now, but there’s nearly no chatter from our side either. No “Know Your Opponent” breakdowns, no “is Utah/IU any good” discussions, ESPN has it ranked as the least interesting P12 bowl, etc. There’s basically just…nothing.

Honestly, does anyone really give much of a crap about this bowl game? The fans obviously don’t, so I just hope the players are more interested than everyone else.

[Anonymous]

It was a letdown season at 8 wins in the PAC12. Pretty funny actually. Utah is out recruited by most of the schools in the PAC. In hindsight you blew it against Cal who is a terrible team but you faced injuries in that game that forced a lot of adjustments. Against Oregon you thought the Utes had it figured out but in the fourth quarter the defense can’t make any plays. Literally zero plays. Utah didn’t want to wrap up and tackle to end the season on defense.(Besides the Dline). You almost feel robbed against Washington when Fox announcers breakdown blatant blocks in the back on a punt return that pretty much decided the game. Against Colorado your “rival” you see an uninspired team go through the motions Still not treating the game like a rivalry.

8 wins is a damn good season in the PAC. This isn’t the MWC, every team has a lot more of NFL guys with large budgets. This was a rebuilding year where Utah loses a lot of NFL talent but the twos looks pretty good. They kept Utah in games. Indiana is a let down though.

[TheJuggernaut]

It’s basketball season, IU fans don’t care.

[Utah]

A couple of things:

1- We are still “stuck up” in a lot of ways. If we had won 10 games in the MWC and were playing a 6-6 PAC-12 team, we’d be super excited. 

Because we “only” won 8 games, everyone is throwing a bitch fit. 

2 – Our offense sucks, has sucked forever and looks to suck in the near future. 

#2 is the biggest reason why. We Ute fans see our team, we see all the talent on the offense that is making it to the NFL and we don’t understand why our offense has the same problems every. single. fricking. year. 

Every year, we have no efficient pass game. 

Every year, we run the ball well, but our #1 gets tired towards the end and we have no backup…until the next year, when last year’s backup is suddenly amazing. Imagine how dynamic our offense could be if we used more than one back? 

I think everyone is just…tired. We start off so well every year, then the opposition gets a list of the 10 plays we run, we lose a game we have NO business losing (Arizona last year, Oregon this year) and the season ends in thud. 

 

 

I guarantee you that if Whitt announced that ARod was hired at Oregon State and we were hiring Yost to be our QB coach and either Harding or Yost would be our OC…Ute nation would get excited about this game. 

 

But, we all know what will happen. Our offense will suck, we won’t be able to throw the ball, we will play good defense, Wishnowsky will make it down right near impossible for the other team to score and we will either be up <7 points or down <7 points with 4 mins to go and we will barely beat a team we should destroy or lose to a team we should destroy. 

 

It’s getting old. 

 

If we go out and beat Indiana by 40, you’ll see some excitement. 

[Anonymous]

I haven’t really researched Indiana but a 40 point win might be misplaced as well. It would be like beating Colorado St a few years back in a blowout. Colorado st lost their head coach I believe as well but had a pretty good season. 

Utah just needs to win and I think waiting to hire the OC until February is bad for Utah. I agree with you generate some excitement now and go hire your damn OC. 

[Red Don]

A part of me doesn’t want to beat Indiana by 40 points. I’m concerned that if we do, Whitt will feel content with our co-offenfensive coordinators and lack of a real QB coach. I want them to go. Harding can stay to work with the offensive line, but I don’t want either of them near the playbook again- ever.

I too believe that we run our RB’s into the ground and at the end of the season they are exhausted and worn out and the other schools have figured out our ten (if it’s that many) plays.

[Onlyu]

Indiana is not sexy but it’s still the Utes and a chance to get a bad taste out of our mouths, win 9+ games for the third straight year and finish in the Top 25 again.  I’ll take that…starting to get excited to see how we finish.  

[rbmw263]

Its the last Utah football game I get to watch for the next 9 months. I care a lot. Other than that, no there is not a lot of appeal to this game. But that falls more on 6-6 Indiana than us. We are playing a .500 team that hasnt been on the relevant in who knows how long and is not a football school. Not quite Kentucky/Kansas, but similar.

[Tacoma Ute]

No.i don’t care that much but it’s Ute football so I’ll be watching.

[KiYi-Ute]

I’ll be at the game. I’m excited for it. I’ve never been to Levi’s Stadium, and I’ve got a pretty fun group of people to go with. Excited to tailgate and cheer this team on for one more game before speculation season starts.

[Stradlater]

Most of the bowl games are boring and meaningless exhibition games. I hope we end up with a system that makes keeps the conference season extremely exciting and meaningful. And then with the expanded playoffs as a second exciting mini season.

[Utahute72]

We have nearly three weeks until said game, excitement will build when it gets closer.

[Buz Nelson]

I hope so–I just spent $2000 on tickets, flight, etc.

[Duhwayne]

No one is beating IU by 40 points. They played Michigan and others close and their D is a run stopper–the matchup is great for them. They just sacked an abusive coach. This is the first time they’ve repeated as a bowl team in like 20 years. The emotional momentum for each team trends in opposite directions, and not in our favor. We could look inept on O, lose this and shoot recruiting in the foot for the next three years. I don’t think it’s overstating too much that this could be a peak if the program doesn’t make some moves and get this corrected. I’m not part of the chicken littles about coaching changes but I don’t think this game is meaningless. We don’t have a lot of upside but we need to finish for future seasons.

[Tony (admin)]

Honestly I’m disappointed. We were two wins from the Pac-12 championship game and immense possibilities.  But the positives are that we get several more weeks of practice and one more chance to cheer on the Utes.