KW’s assessment

[ProudUte]

From KW:

“We’ve got to have a great week of practice because right now, based on (Thursday) we’re not good enough, so we’ve got to get better,”

I agree with the coach.  We did not look like a top-25 team IMO.  Too many mistakes.  As I posted earlier, I believe that most of the problems are fixable; ie dropped passes, missed coverage, missed pass blocking assignments, etc.

My biggest concern from last Thursday’s game was that we could not punch it in the endzone from 18 inches out.  We weren’t playing Ohio State for heaven’s sake. If we can’t punch it in against Weber – then who?

I think we looked better than Stanford, UW, WSU, and Cal. I even think we looked better than Oregon and probably at least as good as USC.  I didn’t see any of the OSU, CU, or ASU games.

Yesterday a BYU fan said to me, “I would like to meet at least one Ute fan that had any doubt about beating us.”

My response was, “I have doubts and concerns because BYU has some talented players and we have our own issues.  Should we win based on raw talent? Yes…”

[Central Coast Ute]

I don’t know. USC scored two offensive TD’s and turned the ball over 3 times. Plus Drake London was their only receiving threat. I don’t want to say that Utah will best them in the Coliseum until they actually do it. But I’d say we looked better than them. I know they played a FBS team while Utah played an FCS and a lot of people say SJSU is good, but I’m not convinced.

[EagleMountainUte]

The problem with USC is they don’t have a coach who can focus all of the talent week in and week out. When the players decide to show up though they become very dangerous.

[UtemanUtefan]

 ^ 

SJSU isn’t going to get that much praise even if they whoop em, but tell a team of 20 yr olds that a top 15 Utah is coming to town and some national media pundit keeps telling them Utah’s gonna win…. 

We’ve seen this movie before.

[Central Coast Ute]

I don’t think any national pundit will tell USC they will win. You’re right though, they’ll have a different mindset when Utah comes to town.

[Dallas]

USC doesn’t like losing to Utah, a team they feel they should dominate, but one that beats them now and again. They get up for that game if only not to be embarrassed.

[Tony (admin)]

“When the players decide to show up though they become very dangerous.” a.k.a. when they play Utah.

[EagleMountainUte]

It is the recruiting process that creates these rivalries. Getting guys who know eachother in high school or at camps.

[Trailgoat]

Agree, USC has the athletic bandwidth to overall play crappy then flip the switch at anytime in a game to take it over and win, a luxury Utah does not have against USC and UO (usually UW, not this season). Utah has to play almost flawless football and score points on defense and special teams combined with good coaching decisions against USC to win. USC needs to make mistakes as well.

Utah is 3-7 against USC in the P12, the same record as Oregon State in the last 10 games against USC (I know not a year to year comparison). Unless something changes in a few weeks, Utah’s Oline weakness will be a big problem like last season.

Brewer and a couple games under the belt for the team will be a huge help as long as Brewer has time to throw otherwise it will be more of the same. Hopefully the stars line up so Utah can break the LA curse and sneak out a win this year.

[ProudUte]

I agree that USC did not appear to play well.  SJSU had a great season last year.  Are they any good?  That’s what I don’t know.  But, I agree their offense did not look good.