Please explain

[ProudUte]

How did our Utes lose to OSU?  Their offense dominated our defense.  Our offense did not play badly against OSU.  (We did miss a couple of goal-line opportunities.)  But, our defense was pathetic.

Is Colorado improving and finding themselves? IMO they have improved some but OSU just isn’t as good as I once thought.  Remember, they were beaten by a poor Cal team just a week ago.

Oregon is beginning to back into the north championship like us.  WSU is now the only real opposition after yesterday.  AND they are a team without a coaching staff.

[chinngiskhaan]

Poor player execution. Bad route running, poor throwing at the wrong time, dozens of missed tackles…

[noneyadb]

Utah gambeled and lost. Three red zone trips with zero points isn’t winning close games.

[ProudUte]

I understand that.  But, how did we allow this team to score 42 points?

[noneyadb]

Oregon state at home after a bye week is a different team then on the road at 5000′ 🤷

[Hellhound152]

Teams have not ran the ball well against Colorado.  They have an experienced D-line that keeps Landman free to scrape and tackle.  OSU has to run to move the ball, their interior line had their way with our young tackles and they moved the ball.  

[GameForAnyFuss]

Wait…we’re backing into what, now? Last I checked we had one conference loss and just laid a beatdown for the ages on a respectable team at their house. I don’t think Utah is backing into jack s–t.

[PhillyUte]

I agree we are not backing into anything but Stanford is not a respectable team by any means. 

[krindor]

Based on context, I think he meant that Oregon is now reaching a state (like Utah) where they could basically still back into it, even if they collapsed down the stretch. Not that either team will do so, but that they could at this point.

[ProudUte]

Yes.

[Larry B]

IMO, that loss was all on the defense. Even with the failed Red Zone attempts, our offense scored enough points to win the game. We knew they had the best RB in the conference and yet, we didn’t look ready for him.

[alUmnUs]

Offense, not Defense, wins championships.

Utah finally tasted some offensive prowess in 2019. It’s coming together again in 2021 with many more weapons. Right now Utah has the highest scoring offense in the conference. When have we ever been able to say that….in November!!??!

Utah left 17 points on the field at OSU – straight up. Coming away with nothing at the goaline just can’t happen and is worse than what the D gave up. But Utah fans still aren’t used to offensive firepower so we cannot compute when D gives up tons of yards on the ground.

Besides this, OSU’s maddening blocked punt for a TD was worse than anything the D gave up. Those are reasons #1 and #2 why Utah lost is Corvallis.

If you look at past PAC12 championship games, the majority of the winning teams put up over 35 points. It’s not a given to say 30+ points should be enough to win a game – especially against an opponent who can also put lots of points on the board.

[ProudUte]

We left ten points on the field.  One of the goal line failures was followed up by a fumble recovery and a quick TD.  So, ten points were left on the field because of the offense and special teams.

Regardless, our offense did not give up 42 points.  Our defense was terrible and made worse when Lloyd was kicked out of the game.  Our special teams was also terrible that night.  Our offense was very good except for a couple of red-zone failures, which made their effort less impressive.

[alUmnUs]

Instead of arguing with you, I just gave you a thumbs down.

[MDUte]

Wrong. Offense + Defense wins championships. The point I think you’re trying to make is that Utah has always been a defense 1st program and although it’s allowed us to always be competitive and win games, our lack of great offense has kept us from taking things to the next level and win a championship. 2019 was the year where we added a good offense to our elite defense and we found ourselves knocking on the door of a Conference Championship and place in the CFP.

The same way elite defense can allow us to be competitive and win games at a high level, having an elite offense will allow us to be competitive and win games at a high level. But 1 without the other will NOT lead to championships.

We displayed great offense in the Oregon St game. That side of the ball was not the reason why lost that game. Our defense was terrible against Oregon St and gave up nearly 300 yards of rushing and 500 yards of total offense. That poor of a defensive performance makes winning very difficult.

Could an elite offensive performance still have delivered a win against OSU? Yes, the 2 missed opportunities within the 5 yard line are valid evidence of that. However, your post stated that Offense, not defense, wins championships. And although offense could win a game like that, it will not be enough to win a championship. Teams that are 1 dimensional are always going to lose games through the course of a season, like the OSU game. And this season is no different. We have a legitimate shot to finally get over the hump and win a conference title this year. But ironically, this will depend on whether or not our young, inexperienced defense can continue getting better and rise to the challenge of playing and beating a good Oregon team.

[Tony (admin)]

Sometimes teams just have unique matchups that do or don’t work. 

[UteFanatic]

Young defense still trying to figure things out.

Special teams execution (two blocked punts, one returned for a TD).

Road game.

OSU just came off a bye week.

Poor red zone offense.

[Mule]

Who cares that we lost to OSU at this point? It was a better loss than our other 2. Besides, we’re in a good place, knocking on the door at locking up the division. It’s not like we’re in the natty discussion. You learn from it (which I think the team has) and move on. It was clear the way the Utes came out against UCLA that they weren’t going to let the beavers beat them twice. They learned that lesson from the BYU/San Diego St combo.

[UteFanatic]

Oh, totally agree. The loss has no impact on the goals of winning a P12 title and getting to the Rose Bowl. 

[Charlie]

We had a number of issues with OSU but 2 stand out to me. We were leading in the game when Lloyd went out, next we were quite awkward in the LBer play after. We showed we did not have a good plan for Lloyd’s presence which is understandable since he is the best defender in the league. The second was the breakdown on special teams. The offense overcomes 3 and outs and TOs every game, the defense overcomes a big chuck TD almost every game. Special team breakdowns are magnified because most games do not have such significant impact errors on special team plays. All the other issues alone would have been overcome.

Colo, like all Pac teams not named Az., always seem to have a stretch of games that they play well a few games. In addition, they have the best LBer not named Lloyd.

To me, backing in is done when you rise while playing average aided by contenders loosing games to others. Utah has won games against the south challengers, Oregon has still to play their two significant challengers. The Pac with lots of parity will see close games with lead teams continually pressured which, unfortunately, is bad for national rankings. I am feeling like Utah and Oregon do not have a WTF loss coming but still have some shots to take.