How many points does Utah need against USC?

[SalUteopia]

Before watching Slovis, I thought 30 would be enough. I think we need around 40 now. Do you think our O is up to it?

[Tony (admin)]

My hope is that their QB hasn’t seen a D like ours and that throws him into a tailspin. They’re going to be way wired for our game. 

[SalUteopia]

I have it on good authority that TDS’ 3-man rush is going to give him fits.

[Puget Ute]

I am a huge fan of David Shaw, but he never adjusted and dropped more back into coverage. That 3-3-5 scheme Bronco and Rocky Long invented would be very effective against USC.
We will see in coming weeks if USC can keep it going. They certainly have the talent and capability to beat anybody.

[EagleMountainUte]

Utah needs to get to 30+. I am that confident in the defense. Utah has been game prepping for Usc all year. That one game mantra sounds cute but it feels like they are more on the ALL IN or respect the process mantra. I am excited so much for the season to finally start. Wazzu and USC.  If Utah wins those I only feel like Washington and Cal stand in our way. Matchup wise USC and Wazzu are the most dangerous. 

[SalUteopia]

Yes, if we’re undefeated after Wazzu, I will start to believe the hype.

[EagleMountainUte]

The USC oline looked pretty porous to me. Stanford isn’t what it used to be. In fact they are fourth in the north according to my eyeball. Maybe third I need to see more from Washington. The USC defense is bad. Out of position. Undisciplined.  

Now I am not trying to downplay USC they can put it together 1-22 and they are hard to beat at home. Wazzu is dangerous because Leach. He just has Utahs number. I feel like Utah is in a better position now than last. Utah has a lot of experience and there is no panic. 

[SalUteopia]

Yeah, I wasn’t really impressed with Stanford outside of their TE. And Leach has been a nightmare, but not sure what to make of Wazzu yet.

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

I agree. They’ve played two pretty terrible opponents that most teams would destroy. 

[Chidojuan]

Just depends. Same WR’s from last year, so we know we can match up with them. SC was always going to be a tough game. If we can wear out their D, which Ludwig is great at doing, then I like our chances. We beat them once with Darnold and Juju, who I think are better than Slovis and the current WR’s, Pittman and St. Brown, and I believe all of our positions are better now than they were when we beat them. Last game at the Coliseum came down to one play with Troy having a rougher game, and they still had Darnold. I’m cautiously optimistic.

[SalUteopia]

Good points. We came so close to winning that game. And the year before that was such a great win (Williams to Patrick TD!) Wish we played them at RES this year.

[UtesRule]

One more than USC!

[SorryWife]

I would be surprised if we don’t start game planning for USC this week(though they would never admit that). Especially now that we have some tape on Slovis. We will be at full strength with our offense and should be able to expose their young defense. It will definitely be a shootout which makes me nervous but the last 4 years we’ve competed with their superior talent really well. Also our in game adjustments have absolutely been on point this season which has given me a lot of confidence in these coaches. That’s where we have the advantage and should give us the victory. 

[Grimmetal]

There’s no doubt we already have eyes going through Slovis’ tape. Next week will tell us a lot more after BYU gives them different looks.

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

I actually think BYU might upset them on Saturday. They’re riding a stream of confidence coming off their win @ Tennessee. Plus this is USC’s first road game of the season. How will their young defense and true freshman quarterback respond in a hostile environment? Especially with a team in BYU who likely will drop 8 into coverage to take away their passing attack? However, BYU won’t be able to stop them solely via dropping more guys into coverage. That’s what Stanford tried to do and it didn’t work. The key to stopping passing attacks is to put more pressure on the quarterback. That’s why Utah took over the 2nd half against NIU. They started pressuring Bowers more, which made him less effective of a passer, leading to bad decisions. If the quarterback is running for his life all game (due to the increased pressure), it becomes much more difficult to orchestrate a pass-happy offense. That’s why Stanford couldn’t stop USC: because they never put pressure on the quarterback. Instead of that, they just tried to drop more guys in coverage, and it didn’t work because USC countered by running the ball against their now depleted front (like Utah did at BYU). 

[GameForAnyFuss]

I was a little confused by your post. Your first sentence stated that you think BYU-P may upset USC this week…and the entire rest the paragraph was about why they won’t. Oh well.

Anyway, I’m definitely pulling for USC to win big this week. I want them thinking they’re all that so maybe they go on cruise control mentally. If they lose, they’re going to be focused and p**sed for our game. Plus, it would have the added benefit of bringing BYU-P back down to earth a bit – they’re starting to think they’re world beaters again after pulling out that 2OT win against maybe the worst team in all of FBS.

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

They need one more point than USC scores. That’s how many points they need.