Help out a fellow Ute

[ProudUte]

I want to feel good about our football team.  I saw very little last Saturday to make me optimistic about this team.  I really liked what I saw from Bernard.  He had a solid game.  From what I could tell – Lloyd played okay.  We were beat up and outsmarted at LES.

Please give me some tidbits about why we should be excited about this team.  Will we show up on Saturday night against SDSU?

I hope that last Saturday’s debacle is a wake-up call and we see a different team this weekend.

[Central Coast Ute]

I’m with you. I can’t really offer any tidbits to help you out, I’m just taking the stance that last Saturday was a learning game for them. My hope is they just came out flat, expecting to win and were arrogant. Things will change now that they have that loss out of the way. We can all dream right?

[UteBacker]

Proud- this probably won’t help much, but the Utes have plenty of talent to still do some damage this year.  We just need to get back to being the boxer instead of the punching bag.  Our coaches and captains need to figure out how to get us back to the nasty aggressors that we usually are.  Teams hate playing Utah… a Pac12 coach once said that “you may beat Utah but you’re going to walk away with a limp”.  Again, Saturday we’ll find out if this team is good being curled up in the fetal position or they are going to be reborn.  

[alUmnUs]

If it helps, I’ve seen you post many posts like this over the years. Overall, I believe your loyalty has been rewarded more often than not.

A win on Saturday could boost your excitement (I mean, it will make me feel better about things), but for sure if Utah plays SDSU the same way they played BYU, our guys will get ran off the field. And if that happens, they’ll have quite a few more losses this year and probably also pull off some unexpected wins which will remind us all we’re nothing but spectators who must take what we get.

[Ute2]

I’ve been saying this a few times…

And it’s a reason to feel optimistic. We tied our hands behind our back with basic play calling. Our game plan was more geared toward not showing our conference foes our playbook rather than beating byu. Everything was base and vanilla. No tricky blitz schemes( when we really needed it). No screens, to fly sweeps. Just basic simple offense and base defense.

Now I know there was some their issues and stuff.

But we tied one hand behind our back, to(sticking with the boxing metaphor) get in the ring with an opponent that was super motivated, adequately talented and played perfectly and didn’t tie a hand behind their back with the playbook and we still almost won(needed one stop and one score).

[RedRocks]

I am not sure I buy this kind of argument. If the team couldn’t execute the basic plays effectively, what makes you think they could execute the more complicated stuff?

If you are correct and they held back, why hold back the entire game? If what you are doing doesn’t work, why keep doing it? If this is the real philosophy, then they deserved to lose.

Teams should play to win, not ‘keep stuff hidden’ for some potential win in the future.

BYU beat Utah, fair and square (as much as it pains me to say it).

[Stone]

Completely agree with this. If the coaches really were “holding back,” while losing, then they are idiots. You need to play to win EVERY GAME. I am okay with the idea of holding back in a safe win – but not when you are losing a game. If that happens, adjustments need to be made during the game.

[Ute2]

I don’t want to discount byu. They played great. Jaren Hall WOULD NOT FLINCH.

And I don’t want to discount that we have stuff to fix.

But I challenge you to get on your DVR find me one screen, one covey play, one creative blitz we ran. A singe reverse or kuithe fly sweep. I bet we have a whole package of variations to that play. But they didn’t even run it. Out side of a couple brewer zone reads it was power right, power left play action pass.

That’s how we’ve played them for awhile now. We’ve just always won. And our basic play calling has been a talking point as we’ve laughed about how they couldn’t beat us. In hindsight it was bound to come bite us at some point. It took phenomenal play from them to do it though.

I am with you in asking if it was worth it.

[Stone]

I will clarify – I agree that the play-calling was vanilla. It did not seem like the plays adjusted to what TDS was showing/doing. There was no apparent counter punch to take advantage of their defense. I do not know why that was, but if it was an attempt to hide things for the future, then I think it was dumb to do. One can make the case that the conference games matter most – it is true – but I find it unacceptable to lose a nonconference game so some surprises can be used in future conference games. 

Line up and play your best football every game. Try to win every game. Do everything needed in every game. If your secret plays are not needed, great. But if you are losing, break that s**t out. If you use your surprises in early games because you need them to win, then, for hell’s sake, come up with new surprises as the season goes on.  

[Ute2]

Yup. When we play Florida, the next time we play byu or any formidable non-conf opponent, let’s play to win.

[noneyadb]

Doesn’t Utah have a WTF loss every year? Maybe BYU was that loss.

 If Utah comes out lethargic vs SDSU and Wazzu, then it might be time to make a few coaching changes. Would love to see Chris Peterson brought in if that does happen.

[dystopiamembrane]

Every season is a drama played out on fields across the country. Just enjoy the ride. This is our team, no matter the results. Go, Utes.

[Calgradutedad]

I’ve tried to rewatch the game a couple of times and I don’t get far. Watching guys from BYU coming in untouched up the middle to tackle the ball carrier as it’s handed to him gets frustrating. I see many positive spots on the defense and Bernard looks really good but I would like to see the line more in sync.

Big picture wise the South is there for the taking. USC has a loss so the October 9th game isn’t do or die. ASU and UCLA go to Utah. THe road games are USC, Stanford, Oregon State, and Arizona so the road schedule isn’t that bad.

[idahoute]

This is how I see it, for what it is worth. Every year I have a party at my place for the Y game (except this one). you know why? I knew we were going to lose. I didn’t even bother to watch it myself. Couldn’t stomach what I knew was coming. Theory: We have about 60 True, Redshirt or Covid Freshmen. Have you seen these baby faced athletes?? WE ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY YOUNG!! The ceiling is huge on both sides of the ball but other than Tafua, Llyod, Covey and Kuithe can you tell me anyone who has stood the test of time and proven themselves as elite?? Honestly even the transfers who have playing experience haven’t done anything in a Ute uniform. That is why this year is going to be a long struggle IMO. Now next year and even better 2 years from now look out….

We will sorely miss Ty this year. He had a knack of making something out of nothing…