I give the team an A for Saturday night

[ProudUte]

I have posted a lot of the positives from the game on Saturday night; i.e. Huntley’s best game, great overall defense, DHC’s play, play calling, etc.  However, there are a few things that need to be corrected IMO or they could cost us a close game as they did against USC.  We will not dominate all our remaining games like we did WSU.

– Still too many boneheaded penalties (stop the trash talking and late hits)

– We did not pressure Gordon much.  WSU has a great offensive line, but we did not put a lot of pressure on their QB.

– Still too many dropped passes.  This cost us, but we dominated, so, in the end, it didn’t seem to matter much.

– Kicking game.  I don’t know what we can do about this right now.  We have had great kickers for over a decade.  It’s hard to stomach what we see out there now.  We just need to score TDs when we are in the red zone.

 

[AgouraUte]

Great post, agree with everything you have said. I would add that the offensive line is still struggling and has allot of work to do before ASU.

[Yergensen]

Regarding points 2 and 3; 3 man rush against Wazzu and I generally think Anae is being double teamed and held and sometimes both at the same time. Said it before, we don’t get near enough pressure from Tafua…he can’t get off a block. Regarding drops, I posted at the beginning of season I didn’t like Simpkins starting ahead of better, younger talent and noted drops as one of the reasons. Got push back from some posters on that point. Regardless of what we think of Simpkins’ past, I think we can now all agree that he currently has a problem catching the ball. Both issues can be helped with a change in reps and/or personnel.

[EagleMountainUte]

The defensive plan was to not get to the QB it was to confuse Gordon with coverages. Anae and Tafua would play corner.  Hell I think I saw Penisini running around in a zone look which didn’t work that time. Gordon releases the ball so quickly so they never really wanted to hit Gordon. They did start to get pressure on him with three. I think Anae got held 3-4 with no call. Hans Olsen talked about it on his show in the first hour.

 

I agree with your other points but hitting the QB wasn’t ever going to happen with the plan. 

[chinngiskhaan]

I looked at the WSU SB Nation site, and their biggest complaint was in regards to their left tackle constantly getting false start penalties. What they failed to realize, is that he was getting them because he was scared to death of Anae beating him. If that guy wasn’t starting early, he was holding Anae every time they passed.

[utefansince79]

I think maybe the penalties were partly due to the intensity the team played with.   But while playing hard is admirable, you have to be smart.      Once the play is over, go back to the huddle and get ready for the next play.