Utah – BYU game

[ProudUte]

I am very pleased we are the South champions and I wish we never had to play BYU in football because there are no advantages for us.   But, we do play them and unlike some of you – I see this game as very important.  We have a chance to complete a magical season and even end the season in the top ten.  In fact I am sure if we win three more games – that’s where we will be.

So, we need to take care of business next Saturday night.  At first glance, you think this should be a blowout because of the level of talent we have compared to BYU.  But, we should not be taking this game for granted.  In 1988, BYU had a much better team on paper and was already headed to the Holiday Bowl.  Utah was playing for pride and a chance to upset a better team.  It was our bowl game.  We came out and blasted them 57-28.  Things have never been quite the same in the BYU – Utah game.

Let’s take a look at BYU’s games this season:

– Beat Arizona.  Turns out they are a bit better than we then thought after that night.

– Lost to Cal.  We all laughed.  Turns out Cal isn’t so bad.

– Beat Wisconsin.  Wisconsin is not great this year.  But, it’s still a road win in Big 10 country.

– Three victories in gimme games McNeese, UMass and NMSU.  They took care of business as they should.

– They got beat badly by UW on the road.  They looked bad that night.

– They only scored 6 points against NIU.  But, our offense only scored 10 points against NIU.

– They were taken to the woodshed by the Aggies.  Turns out the Aggies are pretty darn good (outside yesterday) and they were still playing Mangum.

– Almost beat Boise on the road.  In some ways this may be their best game.  Boise rarely loses at home and BYU was inside the 5 at the end of the game and blew it.

I have to give BYU’s coaching staff credit for over-achieving with the talent they have.  They only have a few players who would get significant playing time at Utah.  Yet, outside of UW and USU – they were right there in every game.  Yes, we should destroy the Cougars.  But, this is a trap game for us, they are over achievers, their defensive strength is against the run (ask the Badgers), BYU has everything to win and absolutley nothing to lose.  There is no way I can predict the score of this game under the circumstances.  However, I hope it’s something like 42-10.

Go Utes!!!

[Puget Ute]

I don’t mind playing byu. But I wish we could rotate with USU.

[Utah5410]

Lucky for you, Whitt will not allow the team to overlook BYU. Whitt starts every year saying “we don’t lose to these guys”. If we show up we win. Wilson will be rattled. And there running game will be stopped.

[Anonymous]

They don’t have any offensive weapons to compete with Utah’s Defense. Their DBs can’t hang with the Utes’ WRs. The only thing that concerns me is whether we can establish the run. That’s the one place they’re strong. That has to be addressed. 

[ladyinred]

I don’t know, I think people are maybe overthinking this game. tds is so overmatched this year, i don’t think it willl be close enough to get worked up about. I’m aware all these games have been close recently, but I think this one won’t be. Just my feeling. 

[RiseasUtes]

I may be in the minority, but I think the BYU game is good for us right now.  Shelley needs as many reps as possible before the Pac12 champ game.  He only has 2 games under his belt and a heated rivalry will be a good game to get ready for the big game the following week.  Gets us more time for our QB and WRs to get their timing right.

This is also a chance for our team to just beat them up.  Too many games we have kept them within 1 score.  This team is much better than them and we really need to just destroy them.  Recruiting in Utah will continue to get worse for them if they hover around the 6-6 mark.

[Ma’ake Kava]

Great point.  UW or Wazzu will want to pressure Shelley, I expect BYU to bring both kitchen-sink blitz pressure, and to lay back in 8 man zone coverage, maybe even in back-to-back plays.

Shelley is a much better reader of defenses than Ute fans knew, but this will be a good exercise, good preparation.

[Anonymous]

Counter with quick strike dink-‘n-dunk. 300 yards passing, five yards at a time. When they play up, burn them. 

[Ma’ake Kava]

One of our WRs BYU won’t have an answer for is Siaosi Mariner, who quietly got another catch yesterday, after struggling with injury this year. Bryan Thompson appears to be healthy, too. There’s nowhere near enough speed in the BYU secondary to deal with Dixon and Mariner at the same, downfield.

Shelley can spread the ball out to so many different targets. This is a good game for him to work on looking safeties off, keeping defenses on their heels.

Then let TJ Green & Brumfield do damage on the ground.

BYU has a pretty good run defense – this might be a good game to let the pass set up the run.

[TheOCUte]

First, I would like to congratulate every player and coach in the organization on this achievement.  I’ve been in the critical camp as it relates to OC Taylor, but I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the in-season improvements this year, especially given the teams annual QB and RB injury that historically has derailed an otherwise promising season.

Second, I’m in 100% disagreement with ProudUte and that’s perfectly fine, but this game with byu is so meaningless to me that truly I hope no player that sees the field in Santa Clara plays a snap against byu. I understand that’s unrealistic, but that’s where I’m at.  If Utah was undefeated or a one loss team with possible playoff aspirations then by all means go make a statement, but that’s not the case.  All I want as a fan right now is a Rose Bowl appearance and a win against byu does nothing to advance that objective, but a costly, key injury could be devastating. After all, someone is going to get hurt in this game, someone gets hurt in every game it’s football and the opponent next week is going to be highly motivated if not borderline reckless.

Maybe my feeling towards byu and this game is different because I’m no longer living in Utah and dont have to hear the myopia first had from family, friends, coworkers and every media source?

And none of this is meant as a knock on byu either, it’s just timing and reality. The rivalry still exists, but not like it did when it had an impact on a conference championship…a late November tilt was outgrown with the separation in conference affiliation. This is a September game at best for both teams.

Congrats again on the South Championship everyone…two more wins and we can celebrate a South Championship, a Pac Championship and a Rose Bowl Championship…a third win and it’s bragging rights from Nov 24th til Dec 8th…when they claim a basketball victory is more precious than one in football.

[Ma’ake Kava]

If Mark Harlan finds a way to skip scheduling BYU in football, I support it, 100%.

Because the Legislature might melt down and lash out, a better option might be to alternate scheduling USU and BYU.

This game, this year, can be used as a relatively consequence-free way to work on parts of our game against a pretty good opponent who would do anything to beat us. I’d like to see more of Lisk, since he was an all-state QB. For that matter, let’s see heavy doses of Brumfield, TJ Green, Bryan Thompson, Mariner, Enis, the TEs.