I feel like I've seen this set-up before…

[alUmnUs]

Sometimes the more things change, the more things stay the same and Utah and USC have certainly formed an annually expected intriguing division matchup since Utah joined the conference. So much of the build up this week sounds and feels familiar:

Utah riding a high ranking into LA.

USC reeling.

<Insert USC coach name here: Helton> low confidence index.

SC nation and pundits calling SC done.

Utah yet to showcase the playbook because they’ve been waiting for a bigger moment.

Can Utes finally win in the Coliseum?

Bigger moment arrives and the playbook looks the same.

Turnovers, laid eggs, oh my.

SC looks like SC – even if for a week.

Hopefully we get a sequel to last year’s meeting and Utah goes into the new and improved Coliseum and curb stomps SC.

 

[utefansince79]

I just hope it doesn’t go down like it did in 2015.  We were sky high after beating Michigan and putting up 62 on Oregon and fell quite hard in that one.

Need a clean game with few mistakes and we should then have a good chance.

 

 

[oc_ute]

if that was the game travis threw 3 completions to cam smith, i was there and lit.  go to the p**ser in the 2nd half and all you heard was fans yelling “over rated”.  what a p**ser that game was.

[SalUteopia]

As much as I hate to admit it, this is a fair take.

[UteFanatic]

The key to the game, IMO, is pressuring Slovis early and often. He looked pedestrian and started throwing picks after BYU hit him a few times. Can’t let him get comfortable like Stanford did.

[Utesbyfive]

Pressuring and a shutdown in the secondary, and USC will look a lot more pedestrian.

[Charlie Zulu]

Slovis looked legit against Stanford… but maybe Stanford isn’t a good measuring stick. They got obliterated by UCF.

And then they lost to TDS.

 

If we play a clean game, we win. No turnovers, no big gash plays… make USC earn everything. If we do this we win. Add in the Utes getting a few turnovers and then they dominate. 

[UM4G]

It’s all on the players and how they handle this situation – in 2015 Paul said after the USC game that they flat out did not expect to get punched in the teeth, so they clearly weren’t prepared mentally.

 

I’m hoping this time around will be different as most of the seniors on this team were freshman for that game and hopefully they’re doing their job and not letting any hype get to the younger players heads. Covey definitely remembers that game, so I’m sure the others do too.

[kowalski]

This year is different. The main thing I want to point out that is very different from 2015 is that the betting line had USC favored by 3.5 over Utah. This year Utah is favored by 4. This is the first year that Utah has been favored in the coliseum. In 2015, we were a surprise 6-0 team. 2019, we are expected to win the conference. This team is poised to win comfortably.

[alUmnUs]

“This team is poised to win comfortably.”

I mean, it’s possible; but nobody hardly ever gets out of the Coliseum with a win, let alone a “comfortable” win (in fact you’d probably have to go back quite a few years to even find a game where SC got beatdown badly at home).

What gives me some optimism is that the core of this team showed some real flashes of brillance last season, but then I temper that optimism with the reality that the switched turned on after adversity – with the Utes having opened conference play with 2 losses to the Washington schools.

This team hasn’t faced a speck of adversity this season and the going will get considerably tougher in LA on Friday. As a fan, I think that’s what gives me the most anxiety about this game. Utah hasn’t really had to extend themselves this season. Maybe the BYU game serves as some sort of barometer, but the truth is when Moss broke off a big run right before halftime in that game, you saw BYU completely deflate – they came out after halftime with a fork in the ass…they were done. I’m expecting USC to come out punching hard. I will be elated if Utah can put them down the same why they did BYU in week 1, but history says Utah is going to 1) get ran out of the Coliseum, or 2) be in for a fight that comes down to the wire.

If this team is the real deal, I don’t think we need to necessarily see a blowout Utah win; but if we can see Utah once more flip on that switch we saw last October, then I like our team’s chances of Friday and going into next the next week vs. Wazzu.

 

[tarheelute]

This is Utah’s year to break through at the Colosseum. We’ve come close, and this year USC is beatable.

2017 – USC made a second have adjustment, holding on defense, following up with a 98 yard touchdown drive. Utah failed at he comeback losing 28-27.
2018 – Lost to AZ State, Cal and ND.

I remember the AZ State game, losing after they just lost to Utah on the road. Similar circumstances, similar team, same coach – same result, first loss at home.

Utah wins 28-17.

[Charlie Foxtrot]

In 2017 Utah was a 2 point conversion away from a win at the Colliseum.  USC came roaring back in the second half of that game and the Ute D and O couldn’t quite pull it off.  This years team has a better D and at least on paper a better O than the 2017 squad.  If the O can show up and play consistent and make the right adjustments, Utah has a great chance of comming out of this game with a win.

[ironman1315]

Utah’s run O is better and will crush on the edges.

[Chidojuan]

Cody Kessler and JuJu were a different animal than Slovis and his big 3.  Kessler may not have been as innately talented, but he was a pretty good QB, and he was a Senior leading the team after a coaching change.  Ronald Jones I remember being a monster as well.  On defense, they also had Cam smith, who was an absolute nightmare for us that year, and Su’a Cravens and Adoree’ Jackson.  I dunno, that team was terrifying to me.  This one definitely has talent, but doesn’t feel like the sleeping giant being held back by coaching that that team was.

[AlohaUte]

I’ve seen increasing USC fans on Reddit starting to view the Utes as a rival – at least a budding one. I would love for this game to continue to be the first game of the Pac-12 season for Utah and ideally both teams. I think it would be tradition.