My thoughts on the game, plus an apology with a massive caveat

[chinngiskhaan]

First off, the aplogy… well, I don’t know about apology, but I need to give Harding kudos. The offensive line blocked much much better today. Olaseni is still hot garbage, but the blocking was mostly excellent in both phases of the game. Great job coach! The caveat: WSU is not a good team at all. They might be the worst team we’ve played all year. I’ve said all offseason that the USC game will be the measuring stick for Harding. If we can get anything close to the blocking we did today against USC, I’d be happy to keep Harding around. If not, he’s got to go. If it were up to me, the USC game would make or break Harding’s job.

***KEEP THE CAVEAT IN MIND FOR THE REST OF THIS POST***

The defense: Heck yes! That is the Utah defense I’ve come to love in my time as a Utah fan. HOLY COW do we have a lot of young talent on that defense. That was an absolutely dominating performance by our linebackers, and to a somewhat lesser extend our defensive line. Our defensive backs played well also, though I don’t know what they heck they were doing lining up so far off the line of scrimmage so often. At the very least they didn’t give up anything over the top other than the one touchdown IIRC.

Devin Lloyd: He might be our best defender ever. Certainly the best linebacker to ever suit up for the Utes. He does it all, he stays within the system, and he makes the rest of the team look good while doing it. Nearly every sack we had today was because of something that he did. He is the complete package at linebacker and teams would be STUPID STUPID STUPID to pass let another team draft him. Absolutely amazing!

Fillinger, Carlton, Phillips, #58, Reid, REID!!! and SO MANY other dudes absolutely stepped it up when the offense was completely crapping the bed. AMAZING performance by this defense.

I think it’s clear that Scalley/Whitt held back on calling blitzes during the OOC games to gain a competitive advantage in Pac12 play. Well, the cat is out of the back, and our defense doesn’t actually stink.

The Offense: On that same note, I think it is clear that Ludwig was also keeping things vanilla. We hadn’t seen much of any screens or sweeps until today, and we saw plenty of them. We also saw Jackson make an impact.

THE FUMBLES! HOLY EFFFFFFFING SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT I absolutely lost it when Curry fumbled into the endzone, then went apes**t crazy when Covey fumbled not long after that. What the hell guys? HOLD ONTO THE DAMNED FOOTBALL FOR HELL’S SAKE!!!!!! That is literally the first thing you learn when you pick up a football for the first time. How many times did we put the ball on the ground (all the times, not just the one’s that counted as fumbles and were lost to WSU). Thomas (1), Bernard (2), Rising dropped two snaps I think (2), Jackson dropped one in the endzone that didn’t count as a fumble, and had an actual fumble later (2), Curry fumbled into the endzone (1), Covey (1), Kuithe had two drops, we’ll count that as one since they were iffy passes (1). The phrase “mind blowing” has never been more appropriate. OMG, WTF, FML… They all apply here. Did Whitt p**s in the equipment managers cheerios or something? W….. T ……. EEEEEEEEEEEEEF!!!

Rising: I can see why Brewer started over Rising TBH. He is better overall for our offense, but he ain’t it. I’m sorry guys, but he’s a smaller Travis Wilson. Also, we should have known he was going to be the guy as soon as he started growing his stash and his hair. It seems like every time we have a white dude with ugly ass hair and an even worse mustache they end up starting, doing a poor job throwing the ball, yet still finding ways to win football games. Rising obviously has time to improve, and it could have been nerves, but he only had a half dozen passes the entire game that weren’t at least a little off. If he is the best passer we have on this team, Ludwig needs to be fired. I’m not saying Rising should be benched. I’m happy with him now, but is it too much to ask for Ludwig to recruit a QB that actually knows how to throw to a wide open player more than 10 yards down field? That being said, I’ll take what Rising gave us today over what Brewently gave us every single time. I’m used to having a mediocre QB who mostly makes smart choices, and keeps the offense motivated and ready to win the game. If below average QB play, with escapability, moxy, and a solid run game… combined with an aggresively dominant defense is just who we are going to be because it’s who we’ve always been, I’m totally fine with that.

Special Teams: This is the one thing I harped on all offseason that I was ONE HUNDRED PERCENT WRONG about. Redding is absolute dog s**t wrapped in a casing of flaming, AIDS infected monkey scrotum. He has plenty of time to improve and get his crap together over the next few years (if Whitt allows him to stick around), but he is the Brewer of kickers. Doesn’t have a power leg, accurate in practice (presumably) and when it doesn’t matter, but has the nerves of a 12 year old boy going through puberty who is attempting to address a stadium full of the hottest bikini clad women on the planet (and all of them are mocking the zit on his forehead).

The punter had a better game. His nerves seem to have calmed down significantly, I haven’t seen that be an issue since the first game (maybe BYU, I don’t know, I was sitting too close to the field to really see much of anything going on).

Coaching: A FREAKING PLUS GUYS! The coaches all had great game plans. The players were put into a position to absolutely throttle WSU, and the offense crapped the bed by not holding onto the ball. The play calling was fine (maybe not perfect, but solid), the defensive playcalling was masterful, and the team played with energy despite shooting themselves in the foot more times than I’ve ever seen.

[GreatNorthernUte]

Lets not kid ourselves.  This was WSU with their backup QB and their best offensive player Borghi out early with injury.  This was a hot mess.

The offense was awful in the first half.  Better in the second half only because the first half was so bad.  Its not just the turnovers.  Every red zone offense series had at least one bonehead play.  Great example is the terrible read and throwaway by Rising on the second and goal to Kincaid.  That was an easy TD. You just cant operate like that at this level.

I agree the pass protection was actually pretty good today.  Which makes me shudder to think how the offense is going to fare against the rest of the conference.

Yes the defense showed up.  But MAJOR caveat playing at home against the backup QB and RB of probably the worst team in the conference.

Special teams has been consistently poor now 4 games in a row.  This is not disputable.

Folks this was two bad teams on the field.  We were less bad by the end.  

[chinngiskhaan]

I think you are being a bit harsh, their backup is a solid QB with tons of experience. If we held onto the ball even a little better the result is the same as USC did against WSU.

[GreatNorthernUte]

Except we didnt hold on to the ball better.  And we havent been holding on to the ball better.

Rising 12-23 for 137 against WSU with food pass protection.  This doesnt cut it in the slightest. 

Everyone is just happy that we won.  I get that.  Im happy too.  A loss turns this season into an unmitigated disaster.  But in no way would a casual observer say that we had even a decent performance on offense.

 

[chinngiskhaan]

Meh… until today Thomas was the only fumble prone guy. The coaches are getting the job done. We showed a ton of improvement in many ways today.

[belli1976]

One of Coveys weakness has been fumbles. He has twigs for arms, ever year he has had multiple fumbles. I think he has been lucky and hasn’t had be turnovers.

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