Preseason Hype and BYU game

[Trailgoat]

It’s been a fun preseason with all of the attention on Utah football. Not sure any of this means anything for future recruiting. Once the season starts it comes down to whether or not teams are true to form. I think we can all agree these predictions although fun rarely play out as predicted other than Alabama, Clemson, and a couple of others. 

Hearing Lee Corso pick Utah as a dark horse NC contendor is HUGE PR for the school. Utah’s student section is recognized in the top 5 best every year. When I went to school at the U we walked up at halftime and sat on the 50 yard line. 

The BYU game, IMHO will tell us a lot about how good this team truly is living up to expectations. This should be at least a two touch down win if the program is that good. A close game tells me this is probably a three loss P12 team with 1-2 WTF losses needing help from another team to get in the South Championship. Point is, based on KW’s history as head coach along with all of the amazing program improvements, has yet to get over the playing as winners hump at Utah. He has been out coached in close critical games against good coaches and struggles at times to get his team to play as a championship team when the spot light is on them. Some sort of mental block about playing as winners. 

One thing about the Urban era against BYU, he clearly had the players tune out the rivalry hype making the distinction that Utah is a better program than BYU. Players played to their capability beliving they were the better team. Very cool UM took time to meet with the team last week. Clearly UM has a heart fot the Utah program and KW. I am sure he and KW had some good conversations about how to prepare for the season.  

If this game ends up close it tells me the team may not be as good as the hype and may not be prepated to play up to all of the predicted expectations. Utah more than ever has a huge player-talent advantage at almost every position against BYU. Don’t get me wrong, this could be an amazing season, just going off how things have played out in the past when expectations are high or Utah is playing as a high ranked team. I like all Ute fans cheer our Utes on to win it all. The table is set to take the next step. Go Utes!

[Sweetness]

A win is a win in this rivalry and especially this week.

A) I never read too much or draw many conclusions in week 1. There often are a ton of head scratchers, both good and bad.

B) As a fan base, we are vastly underrating BYU. They should be a good team. Much like two years ago we went 6-6 while breaking in a new QB with a lot of additional youth on the roster, I see them as being a team in a similar spot that is ready to make a jump. I don’t know that their depth would hold up over the season, but I think their day 1 roster is a 6-8 win pac12 team, similar to an Arizona State or Cal team from last year.

This is absolutely a loseable game for a good team. If we don’t give a solid effort, we will lose.

I think the Vegas line of 5-7 points is pretty spot on.

[Central Coast Ute]

I don’t buy into this KW hasn’t coached as a winner. 2008 he definitely did along with a few years after that.

[ironman1315]

2010 broke us in terms of front running and such.