Long winded thoughts on 2023

[ALUF]

On a walk right now and need to type out something or watch something so I picked typing out my thoughts on 2023 game by game. This will be long forewarning.

Florida
Revenge game. A lot of Florida and sec fans pointing to this game saying how Utah and the Pac don’t belong because Utah lost to a fairly bad Florida team. Ar-15, and poor execution at the goal line beat us last year and I don’t see that happening again

At Baylor
For those of us online in message boards that have a national audience or are around a lot of byu-p fans, this is big for us in the Pac vs xii conversation. Aranda is a good coach and I understand last years baylor team was underwhelming but they are probably going to be a challenge for us. Thankfully this game has no bearing on our three peat but does matter for any potential cfp berth. I’m very anxious for this game as it is our first road test and I’m one of those people who always point to how bad we are away from slc against good teams. We win this and we are looking pretty darn good for 10+ wins, three peat, cfp potential etc. lose, and it’s Pac-12 sucks, what does Utah bring for football expansion, typical road loser narrative until we go to Corvallis. I think Utah is the better team though and I think we win

Weber State
It’s Weber and coach hill isn’t there and even if he was.. it’s Weber

UCLA
Another revenge game, goodbye to ucla and the conference opener. I really don’t see us not winning by double digits. We are at home, they’re coming in with a new qb and I don’t think ucla is at all like last years team. This program blows and will struggle with new conference foes like Rutgers and Indiana for years to come.

At Oregon state
This game is gonna be interesting. Road game in a raucous environment like new reser stadium, tough osu D, their coach has a good thing going for them. The X factor in this game to me is what does DJ U look like for them? I think Utah is the better and more experienced team and with the win in Waco putting road woes behind us and our defense getting to DJ U I think we win a close one. I do not believe DJ U is any better than he was previous.

Bye

California
Cal is for nerds and nerds like me aren’t good at football. Utah by a million and play the backups for next weeks biggest test.

At usc
I can’t decide who I hate more, byu-p or usc. I hate everything about LA and all their teams. Worst fanbase in all my dealings with sports fans from the lakers to the Trojans. Lincoln Riley teams have a lot of common themes year to year. Crazy offense with a heisman qb and little to no D. Yes he has been to the cfp and yes his teams average 10 ish wins EVERY year but unless something changes with the D they will never win a natty nor do I believe they win the Pac this year. However they are good enough to beat Utah at LA and they have us circled 100%. There is a chance that are offense is still light years ahead of their D and our D gets enough stops on Caleb fingernails Williams that we run away with a win but I don’t think that is likely. I would love to end this rivalry with 4 in a row since we likely never see them again except the off chance of a bowl/cfp meeting. I think we lose this one and it’s gonna suck hearing these bandwagon fans who probably couldn’t name a single player from the Helton years.

Oregon
We get it rod Gilmore, you love you some Bo. He is pretty damn good but I wonder how much of it was the previous OC. Oregon will be better than last year outside of that imo with another year of lanning. They had their revenge last year buuut this is in SLC. Utah will be looking to refocus from last week and the crowd will be loud as always. I think we win

Arizona State
The scum devils with a new HC who I believe pulls them out of their funk isn’t ready for SLC. I can’t imagine them being much better than last year and we beat them easily in the desert last year. Utah by 10+

At Washington
Seattle is rough and Washington is a rough team for Utah. I think we have only beat them twice since 2011. But both times were in Seattle and our teams were pretty darn good those years. Utah is going to be darn good this year too. Penix and their defense be damned. We win this game. Yes penix is a heisman contender and yes it’s on the road but this same team lost to asu of all teams. Washington will be tough but Utah I think is way more put together in all facets relative to them.

At Arizona
Usually I would pick this type of game to be our what the hell loss. It feels like this would be for sure THE game for it with who the opponent is, on the road and after a huge win like Washington. But this is a 3 peat minded team and maybe cfp type team. Those types of teams don’t lose wth games hardly ever. Arizona has a great offense but their defense leaves a lot to be desired. They are usc lite. They are the DI version of usc and Utah owns DI as well as Arizona as of late. Utah wins.

Colorado
Neon Deion in salt lake. This team is still dog s**t. And a week from the CCG for the 5th time in 6 ish years (damn Covid). However it’s hard to say what a portal team looks like in game 12. And Colorado has effed us before at home before a CCG *2011*. This would be a bigger WTH loss than Arizona but is very very possible depending on how well Deion does.

CCG
With us having 1 loss, I believe usc loses to Oregon and UW, so Utah makes it vs take your pick of usc, Oregon and Washington. I like our chances against Oregon and since we do well in beating teams twice in a year, I think we would beat UW too. USC would be interesting in that does their D improve enough to win in a neutral site against the Utes. Three peats are hard for anyone and I think Utah isn’t an exception and I don’t think we would win regardless of who we play of the three actually in the given situation. However a win would mean a cfp berth and maybe, get ready, a third straight rose Bowl appearance lol. But I don’t think that happens here in this year. Who knows what bowl an 11-2 Utah team lands..NY6? Alamo bowl? We will see. I’m usually pretty close on my preseason picks for Utah but rarely does Utah exceed mine. I thought Utah last year would win the CCG and the rose bowl but that didn’t happen. Sooo we will see.

What are your thoughts? Sorry this was so long. But free country dammit *eagle screech*

[Charlie]

Washington’s turn to get beat twice by Utah in a season. Maybe we can look for a breakthru following the CCG.

[Roy Rangum]

My short winded thoughts on this upcoming season:

Our fortune good or bad this upcoming season will largely come down to Cam Rising. If he’s healthy and playing at his peak, this feels like this could be our best year ever, as it seems like we’re in a pretty good place at most other positions. If he’s not playing or limited by injuries, this could be a really long and painful season.

[Utah]

Man, I don’t get all the Oregon State love. They are so hot right now. /s They can’t throw the ball. They are Utah a few years ago.  

They lost to USC, UW and got blown out by us. They were getting absolutely whipped by Oregon. And it wasn’t until Oregon decided to skip the second half that they were able to come back. 

As for the Baylor game…it’s a stupid game. Saban would never schedule a game like this. Florida the week before? Then on the road to Baylor? It’s as close to a guaranteed loss as there is. There is a reason why Saban tries to always have a bye or FCS team the week before Auburn/LSU and doesn’t go on road games outside of the south. Look at the Alabama/Texas game last year. Hell, look at us vs Florida last year. Road games are HARD. 

And you have a SEC team the week before? Fuggetaboutit. Don’t put too much stock in the Baylor game. It’s as close to a scheduled loss as there is and a great reason why tough OOC schedules are stupid. They don’t make you look good, they only make you look bad. 

If Utah beats Baylor, get excited. If they lose, don’t worry about it. It will have little bearing on how Utah’s season will go. You can’t set someone up to fail then act shocked when they fail. 

[Hellhound152]

2017 preseason UWdawgpound: “I don’t get all this Utah love, they are so hot right now but they can’t throw the ball.”  haha

Ergo the OSU love.

[BD]

Excellent analysis. It was a pleasure to read.

My biggest worry is Rising’s health. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has at least a minor injury that either causes him to have an off game that we lose that we otherwise shouldn’t, or he misses a few games, resulting in a loss or two that normally wouldn’t be losses. But if that doesn’t happen (fingers crossed) and Cam stays healthy, this should be a super fun, and successful year, with CFP as the goal.

[Charlie]

I agree, Rising’s health will impact every game but Weber St. We need him at his highest level but that most comes into play in the USC, Oregon, Washington stretch. That then makes QB2 important. A home run would give us a QB that comes on as well as Rising did in ’21. Any QB2 would be a mystery to Florida, Baylor would get a heads up, for Weber we could play QB3 and it would not matter, UCLA at home could push QB2 but he would have several games under the belt. At OSU would be a tough first game but the first league game where he may be needed. The Bye and Cal can provide time to rest. At USC we will need Rising and we don’t want that to be the first game back. If QB2 is capable, Rising could play parts of a few games to work back into the lineup, not take risks, and lean on the other QB. We need to be at full strength when we play USC. Can we get there using max protect some, quick passes, and lots of RB and ease into the season? I expect there is some strategy to win games and roll to full strength before mid October.