I want to talk football

[ProudUte]

I love Utah football and am looking forward to a complete season in 2021.  It’s tough to know what we will be IMO.  Just a few thoughts.

We know we have some very good receivers like Covey, Enis, and our tight ends.  But I suspect we will have some depth issues, especially if someone gets hurt.

I trust Only.  If he says Brewer is a stud – I believe him.  Plus we should have depth.

Only also says that our Oline should be solid.  If this is true, it could be the difference-maker we need on offense.

We have a bunch of running backs.  Will one or more step up?  I think one will because that almost always seems to be the case with the Utes.

Secret weapon – I hope with the talent we have at QB, that we develop a wildcat package.  We really haven’t used this as a weapon since 2008.

The defense is still very young but talented.  If we want to compete for the PAC12 championship – we will need to significantly improve our pash rush IMO.

IMO – I think the floor is 3rd in the south and the ceiling is a conference championship.  However, I do not predict that.  Oregon will be tough to beat.  I worry about ASU in the south.

Just my two cents.

Go Utes!!

 

[Utesbyfive]

I worry about everyone in the south. I think USC still has all the talent to win the conference, if the coaching can be up to snuff.

[UteBacker]

Until we get over the “Colosseum slump” we’re going to have a very difficult time winning the South.  Those losses put us two games behind in the loss column because of the tie-breaker.  I do think we’re going to be putting an awesome team on the field this fall, but I think it may be 2022 that we’re in the national mix.

[Central Coast Ute]

If $C fires Helton and hires the Cincy head coach, 2022 might be difficult too.

[2008 National Champ]

Helton has a 4-2 record against Utah including 3 of the last 4. Not sure SC needs a new coach to make life difficult for Utah.

[Trailgoat]

Utah is not beating USC in LA. As much as I would love to see it happen, Utah does not have the offensive fire power to compete with USC’s athletes. USC has a solid plan to slow down Utah’s offense. It will be much of the same eight USC defenders on the line of scrimmage pushing Utah’s Oline around, stopping the run and giving the Ute QB less than two seconds to get a pass off while the USC DBs lock down the receivers.

[2008 National Champ]

I respectfully disagree. I was at the 2017 game which came down to a missed two-point conversion where in real time, I thought Williams had a receiver open but decided to run. I believe that there was also a game in LA where Utah lost on a late blocked field goal which could have been the game winner.

Notwithstanding games where Travis Wilson developed color blindness and hit a wide open SC linebacker multiple times, the games have always been competitive with Utah having the ball late with the game on the line. The onus is on Utah to make the plays they need to but it is premature to say that Utah won’t ever get it done just because they haven’t yet.

[Onlyu]

As excited as I am with the direction of the program and the overall talent and depth we have I’ve always believed 2022 and 2023 could be special. Open with a win against Florida either of those years and your in the mix even with a Pac12 loss.

2020 was incredibly tough for so many reasons but step away from the heartbreak and the pandemic challenges and we were able to take some serious strides forward. Our young guys got experience and are getting better everyday. We crushed the portal and the talent brought in equates to a top 20 overall class.

Is the pass rush a concern? Yep. Is WR depth an issue (today)? Of course. Do we have 80 underclassmen in the program or have we EVER won in the Coliseum? Big issues man but the positive additions along with the experience gained gives us a chance to get a little crazy a year earlier than we thought..

Here’s the thing though. The next 3 or 4 years we have a chance….a real chance to make some noise, win the conference and maybe even play in the playoff.. That’s all we have though…a chance. SC is Uber talented, UCLA and ASU are improving…Washington and Oregon aren’t going anywhere so we’re still gonna need a break or two along the way regardless of how talented or deep we are. Injuries, tough games against tough opponents in tough places to play…in the Swamp, at Washington, against Oregon or USC??!! It’s daunting!! CoVid and the portal sped up that process some from an experience standpoint but we are still very young and young kids get exposed sometimes. IMO we have a 4 year window (minimum) where we are a top 25 team and where we win 9+ games and if we see Carrington in the end zone to win the game we’re playing for some high stakes.

Can’t wait to see who wins the QB job or the RB job. Can’t wait to see the O-line improvement or which young backer or safety steps up. Can’t wait to factor in the WR additions or see how JQJ makes an impact. Can’t wait to be in the stadium come September! Gonna be a damn long Summer wait!!

And I double space on purpose. My college roommate (baseball player) who got his degree in Poly Sci …pretty sure without reading a book for 4 years, taught me that if I did that on a 5 page essay it was the equivalent of an entire paragraph!!

[ProudUte]

Yeah, I honestly worry about every team in the South except possibly Arizona.  UCLA is getting better every year.

 

[AlohaUte]

I think we are going to have a great team this year and will certainly compete for the Conference title. The biggest challenge to me is that the Pac-12 South is deep. USC, ASU, and UCLA will be right there with the Utes. Whichever team makes the fewest mistakes and takes advantage of opportunity will win the South. I don’t think there is really much separation at all between the 4 teams.

The biggest question mark for me on the team are the Wide Receivers and O-Line. Our Defense will be stacked, special teams seem fine, QB is apparently going well, RB is glut of riches, and we may have the best TE tandem in CFB. If the O-Line can massively improve over last season and the WR can get separation and catch the ball we’ll win the South.

[//r00t4Utes]

For me My biggest concern or x-factor is the pass rush and how much it hopefully improves

[chinngiskhaan]

Meh… Whitt + defense = me no worry.

offensive line + Harding = skepticismX1000

[Yergensen]

Whit was worried about the pass rush.  Called it out himself.  So, does that worry you?

[Ghost of the HEB]

The pass rush was underwhelming last year. Hope to see a jump from guys like Fillinger and Carlton. Also need vets like Maxs, Mika and Moala to show up big. Maybe Kaufusi can also make some noise.

[Duhwayne]

https://xs.pac-12.com/styles/crop_16_9_large_1x/s3/2021-03/2021%20Pac-12%20Football%20Schedule%20v7.png

The out of conference games for PAC include Notre Dame a couple times as always, TCU, Texas AM, and UCLA’s game against LSU looks to be pretty key. Oregon’s game against Ohio State is probably the most important for conference clout. Stanford picked two middle to lower tier teams in B1G and SEC. I just want the conference to show well in these games.

Utah has a good schedule. If we can get past USC and ASU, the game with Oregon in November could make Utah a CFP team this year. Don’t want to get ahead of myself because we are talking about 18-20 year olds other than Covey (I kid), but the pieces are there and this is the strongest star rated team we’ve probably ever had. Secure the pass blocking and get some edge pressure and this year could surprise people. Add that experience and our schedules the next couple of years and this could be a peak for the program if things break Utahs way.

[MinnySunDevil]

This upcoming season’s ASU team is, at least on paper, probably the best roster they’ve fielded since Utah joined the conference. Probably the best since the Plummer/Tillman era.

A few areas of concern like WR, backup QB and the usual general offensive and defensive line depth that every team not named Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State have, but they’ve got high talent levels at WR and the OL and DL depth chart is more or less the same, and they were pretty good. The defense is just crawling with guys who’ve been starting 3-5 years and they’ve never lacked for skill positions. There were probably 3, maybe 4, that would have been drafted if they’d gone out with Lucas projecting 3rd round or better.

If they don’t lose Daniels to injury or get an outrageous injury streak at a specific position, they’re going to be really hard to stop.