Utah posted below

[ProudUte]

That many of us thought the sky was falling a few weeks ago and now all is wonderful.

I think all fans had a right to be upset when we had only won 3 of our last 13 conference games.  Now we have won 5 of our last 15.  Still not impressive IMO.

I have been very pleased with our performance the last two weeks.  None of that makes up for the first 4 games of the season.  I think we could and should beat USC this Saturday.  I feel good about our chances after watching USC play this season.  However, we should have beat ASU at home last year and they simply kicked our butts as did Oregon.  Whitt has a way of not getting the team prepared for some of these games.

As of today – we are picked to win all of our remaining games.  I think we can beat anyone on our schedule.  However, because of our past history in the PAC 12, I would give us a less than 5% chance of winning out.  This is the season we should win the South.  We had everything in place to do so.  Am I disappointed with KW?  Yes I am, but that is just me and I cannot speak for anyone else.  Will he be fired if he doesn’t win the South?  Of course not.  Should he be fired?  That is a matter of opinion and there are a lot of things that play into that decision.

Since I beleive we can all agree KW will be around next year, I will totally support him.  The schedule favors us next year and we will have many key players back.  But, I am only concerned about USC for now. 🙂

Go Utes!!!

 

[Utah]

I think a lot of us need to re-examine our place in the PAC-12. Our budget is awful. What Whitt has done with a crappy budget coaching wise is fantastic.

We have recruiting issues. We are in a smaller state with less local guys and all the local guys want to leave. We have had issues in the past with getting kids to come here, but Whitt has done an amazing job overcoming that.

Realistically, if USC, UCLA and ASU ever figure their crap out, resource wise, we are the fourth best program in the south, arguably the fifth behind Colorado.

How I’d tier the PAC-12:

Top tier (competes for national titles every year): USC
Next tier (competes for national titles every 5 years or so): Washington, Oregon, Stanford
Next tier (can win the conference every decade or so): Utah, Colorado, ASU, Cal, UCLA
Bottom tier (really shouldn’t expect to win anything): Arizona, Washington State, Oregon State

How I’d rank the PAC-12 in terms of potential:

Top tier: USC, UCLA, maybe ASU and UW
Next tier: ASU, UW, Oregon, Stanford
Next: Utah, Colorado, Cal
Bottom: Arizona, WSU, OSU

We vastly outperform where we should perform all things considered. We don’t have a big budget. We don’t recruit in the top 25, we have to play USC every year, etc.

Whitt took a MWC team and has turned it into a P5 team. Not too many coaches have done that (and as far as TCU goes, put Utah in Dallas and Whitt would have done the same).

Since we had a full recruiting cycle in the PAC-12 (our team should have P5 talent from top to bottom), we have gone:

9-4
10-3
9-4
7-6

We were ranked three out of the four years. Odds are, we finish 10-3 again and ranked.

If you think Utah can do better than that….I have some beach property to sell you near the salt lake.

Yeah, I wish we were USC or Ohio State. We ain’t. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we will enjoy a fantastic season with 3 losses and a ranking.

[UtMtBiker]

I was with you until you said ASU was top tier.  

[Utah]

I said the have potential to be top tier. 

Top 5 city, population wise, good location, good money. 

2016-2017, UW’s budget was 120+ million. ASU was 100+ million. Utah was 83 million, 40 behind UW. 20 behind ASU. 

That’s a huge hole. 

[User Suspended]

[EagleMountainUte]

Budget and blah blah blah lead to underperforming only two games later to say. Well Utah got beat by ranked teams..forget that they beat Stanford who was ranked. 

The web of deceit you spin for yourself whatever. I am enjoying the good times as much as the next guy. Don’t try to sell me this bs for why Utah blew the Washington and Wazzu games. They had chances wide open drops and poor play is all coaching. 

[Utah]

Huh? Where did I say any of the things you said I said?

[EagleMountainUte]

https://www.utehub.com/forums/topic/what-a-difference-two-weeks-makes/

Excuses excuses. If you listened to Arizona pregame you find tons of players saying Huntley was going through some things and it took the bye to regain his confidence. They also specifically mentioned the talk around the team after failed expectations again showed up. 

Washington was a failure because the same formations are working. It is irrelevant that Washington was ranked it was a winnable game and Utah blew it under Whitt again. 

[chinngiskhaan]

“They had chances wide open drops and poor play is all coaching.”

LOL… Funny thing about players is that they are the ones playing the game (see: catching the football/not dropping the football). To say that those things are all coaching is comically inaccurate.

I agree that coaching is part of the problem in those situations, but to say that it’s all coaching is just plain old stupid.

[EagleMountainUte]

Bringing up budget and the fact that Washington and Wazzu who is now ranked as contributing to those losses is also stupid. Utah loss because of poor choke job performance. We saw it carry over from NIU. 

[PlainsUte]

What does WSU’s budget look like?  UCLA’s.  Budget doesn’t seem to correlate too well with W-L.  Maybe over the long term, but not this season.

[ProudUte]

You bring up some valid points on budget, etc.  However, there was no excuse for some of our PAC 12 losses.  The worst one was in year one at home against CU.  What a joke.  CU hadn’t won a road game in years.  We were out-coached. There are many other examples including 2 years ago at home against a bad Oregon team. That loss took us out of the PAC 12 race. We have lost many stupid games to WSU teams we should have beat.  Upsets will happen.  But, we have blown way too many opportunities IMO.

Many smaller markets than SLC have been successful in college football.  I understand that it is much more than Whitt’s issue.  But, I personally believe we can and should do better in PAC12 football.  I want more and believe it is indeed achievable.

But, for now I am totally behind Whitt and this team.

Go Utes!!!

 

[EagleMountainUte]

Budget is 100% irrelevant to the two losses this season.

Edit: Based on your Op I don’t see the point he is trying to make other than a bigger picture excuse.

[PlainsUte]

Note: Whitt did not administer the eye exam to the ref who thought he saw a block in the back vs WSU.

[EagleMountainUte]

Coaching again don’t raise your hands like you did something. Coaching coaching coaching. 

[ironman1315]

And yet I have seen it work successfully. Depends on the ref, the angle, and so forth. Perhaps if he had his hands up sooner, maybe, the ref wouldn’t have called it, but I have seen body blows to the back called illegal before.

[EagleMountainUte]

I watched that Pettis run back on Utah too many times. You watch how they just follow their blocks and it isn’t called. 

I don’t want to try and understand the mind of the average P12 ref. Like I have said many times I don’t know what any call is anymore. Targeting is all over, Gustin’s being one of the most textbook versions you can call being overturned and then double downed upon twice makes no sense. “Control the controllable”. Don’t make it easier for the officials by raising your hands is all I am saying.