PAC-12 Thoughts

[ProudUte]

USC is a big surprise.  This Slovis kid looked excellent. This being said, I though5 Stanford was a bit overrated.  They lost a lot from last year and they were not great then.

UW loss at home is a surprise. Losing the turnover battle was huge.  

It’s really tough to tell how good WSU is because of their competition, but they appear to be as potent offensively as ever. 

Oregon bounced back as I would have expected. Nevada’s D was pathetic.  How did they beat Purdue?

i am getting tired of PAC-12 teams losing to MWC team, two more losses yesterday.  UCLA is bad!

So, USC should be a tough game. I’m not bothered by that. This is how it should be IMO. It wouldn’t be nearly as fun to watch us plow over a bunch of bad teams. If we are what they say we are and we believe we are, then we will take care of business in LA. A win against a ranked 3-0 USC will mean much more than a win against a USC team is disarray. 

 

[ProudUte]

Bytheway, someone suggested that USC might host Gameday when they play us.  That is not possible, since we play on Friday night. 

Now, if we win in LA – I think Gamday in SLC would be a good possibility the next weekend. 

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, since Nebraska’s loss to Colorado dropped them out of the rankings, I am making the bold statement right now that if both Utah and Washington State are 4-0, their game is the FAVORITE to host College Game Day that week. Utah would be coming off a huge victory @ USC, and Washington State has a four-game winning streak against Utah. Plus Utah likely would be in the Top 10 and Wazzu somewhere in the Top 20. Their really only potential competition to host would be Virginia @ Notre Dame. However, the shine might have come off the Irish by that game because they will have played @ Georgia the week before (a likely loss). 

[SkinyUte]

Cal beats Washington in Seattle, USCs new QB is apparently the second coming of Peyton Manning, and Colorado looks better than expected through two weeks.

Good to know that utter chaos still reigns in the PAC 12, and that the conference is doing an excellent job of cannibalizing itself right out of postseason contention. Some things never change.

Utah will be fine if we take care of business, but I have a sneaking suspicion that we drop one or two through the year. Lots of good teams still to play.

[MFury]

The formula for a dropped game in my mind:

Explosive opponent with big play talent,
Utah starts slow, down early in big plays,
Has to play catch up, gets pass heavy,
We lose our ball control, run-you-over identity

I guess wazzu and usc concern me more than a UW slugfest – but I didn’t get to watch usc/stan or cal/wu – so might be totally uncalibrated and just reacting to the Slovis love-fest online

Either way I wish we we start faster.

[UtMtBiker]

Arizona is horrendous. Gave up 40+ to a losing team from the Bigsky. The bottom of the Pac12 (AZ,UCLA,OSU) is as bad as any conference.

[whitlessham]

I would feel much better about Utah if I could trust the passing game to deliver on a consistent basis. As it stands now (and for the last 12 years) anything we get thru the air is bonus…. this mentality needs to change real fast.

Utah offense need to become much more DYNAMIC to beat all these teams in question. The pound it on the ground works when you have the lead or within a score… but there will be times this year Utah will need to score points quickly, and I just don’t beleive kwhitt has built a team to do this.  

[jp31]

Tried it your way last year, a little more Moss/Shyne in a couple of those losses and we probably would have won. Really easy to throw yourself out of a game.

Pound the rock! Run power over and over until they prove they can stop it and then punish them with play action.