MIsc. thought on Utah football

[ProudUte]

I am proud with the way our Utes played last Saturday and we were in that game until the end.  But, here are a few of my concerns.

– On the three drives where UW scored TDs, we looked horrible on defense.  They were making 10 – 12 yards a play.  I think this had a lot to do with UW’s innovateive play calling.  One play – they put all of their wide outs to the right (wide side of the field).  Utah only had a defensive end on the left to defend any run to that side.  UW pulled a lineman and double the D-end.  The next thing you know – they gained 20 yards.  I was very impressed with UW’s play calling.  They switched things up and kept us on our toes.

– Troy Williams lacks consistency.  He made a few beautiful throws in the second half.  But, he made some horrible throws in that game which stopped drives.  I would say it was a matter of being too hyped for the UW game, but we have seen this virtually all season.  So, my question is – Is Troy Williams good enough or consistent enough to get us to the PAC 12 Championship?

– Once we got inside the 30 at the end of the game, there were some questionable play calls.  KW hinted that was the case in the press conferfence and then backed off because I’m sure he didn’t want to call out his offensive coordinators.  The third down sack was the killer.  I don’t blame that on play calling, but likely poor execution on our players.

I am optimistic that we can and should beat ASU next week.  But, we have been in the South race on 3 of our 5 years in the conference and we have lost games we should have won.  Most notable was year one.  We beat a CU team which hadnt won on the road in three years and we are the South champions.  I blame that loss on poor preparation by our coaching staff.  I think we had 2 first downs at half time agains a poor CU defense.  We need to treat ASU like USC or UW.  We should win, but cannot take the game lightly.

We should also beat Oregon.  But, they have some skill players on offense that make it possible for them to score in just seconds.  We need to put them away early like we did last year.

Colorado is not an easy game.  We will have to be at our best to win this game.  I hope we are healthier by that game than we were for the UW game.

Go Utes!!!

[svatos40p]

I get what you are saying about Troy but I think the biggest issue with the pass game are the drops. There were at least 5 drops in the Washington game that would have been first downs or big plays. On third down from our 1 or whatever it was if Simpkins catches that 15 yard pass the punt return never happens but he dropped an easy catch and an easy first down. I also think that Tim Patrick needs to have the ball in his hands more. I saw numerous occasions where he was open but wasn’t the first or even the second read. He should be the first option as much as possible.

I hate to say it but the Linebackers are not good at all. Washington was able to run the ball easily because the LB’s would get caught chasing and not doing their job. Chase has basically become and linebacker to try and help out in the box.

Utah should beat ASU and Oregon, especially if they get Marcus Williams, Falemaka back at center, Tevi should be fine, Handley will be back, Troy and Zack should be healthy as well to take the load off of Joe Williams in the run game. Considering all the injuries Utah should have been destroyed by Washington but they are a good team with depth in the right positions.

Honestly once again the play calling seems to be the downfall of the team on the offensive side of the ball. On the last drive they took a lot of time off the clock for no reason making it impossible to get the ball back after the failed 4th down. Running the trick play with Simpkins was dumb and the 4th down play was a joke. All they needed was 15 yards and they call a hail mary? Why???? Along with calling the same plays too many times in a row, making it easy for teams to stop them. I think Whitt should go looking for a legit offensive play caller and let Harding and Roderick be position coaches.

[Anonymous]

I counted the drops against UW and there were 4. The Simpkins one was crucial. There was a 5th which was a screen pass that went off the outstretched fingertips of the receiver, but I put that on Troy Williams as the placement needs to be far better than that on such a short pass.

Reality is that the claimed dropped passes are grossly exaggerated. Troy Williams has simply been really inaccurate. Witness the final pass in the UW game. That ball sailed over the reach of leaping players who were already several yards out of bounds. Translation: NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A CATCHABLE BALL. There was another short pass where 6’5″ Tim Patrick grabbed the ball at his ankles while in stride. Tim’s a pretty big target and that pass was not even 10 yards, or 30′. His target should be from the waist up to slightly extended hands, which on Tim is probably a 5′ expanse. Yet he completely missed that target and forced Tim to grab it around his ankles in stride from just 30′ away. SMH.