UTES Will be Really Good

[Anonymous]

I almost hate to say it, but this team is going to be really good this year. Seems no one wants to believe it, but we’re going to be formidable. 

[Tony (admin)]

I approve this message.

[ladyinred]

Me too. It is getting warmer and I really needed some nice, refreshing koolaid. 

[HoosierUte]

Agree 100%. o/u 6.5 is the easiest money out there right now. 

[gUrthBrooks]

Agree. The defense is legit. I have a scout.com account, every year I say, “this is the most talent Utah has ever had across the board.” And I say that again this year.

Tyrone Smith at 6’4″ switches to CB and then three 4* recruits are coming in:

Jaylon Johnson, 6-2, 185, Fresno, Calif., cornerback, four-star defensive back earned prep All-America recognition and was highly recruited. May make an immediate impact with the Utes.

Tareke Lewis&amp, 6-1, 175, Riverside CC (Calif.), cornerback, four-star recruit was considered one of the nations top junior college defensive backs.

Javelin Guidry, 5-10, 180, Murrieta, Calif., cornerback, four-star recruit had 31 pass breakups and six interceptions as a senior.

Jaylon Johnson:

[Stone]

Sheesh! He is built like a college senior, definitely not a high school senior.

[noneyadb]

The stats on Johnson are dated, he’s bulked up and gotten faster

[Rick]

Street and Smith’s has us in second place in the south behind USC.  I think that is pretty accurate.

[Utah]

I agree. I think the Stanford, UCLA and USC games determine the south. Whoever wins two of those three wins the south. 

[ladyinred]

Everyone and their grandma always talks up USC every year, they are talented, etc etc they are the favorite to win the south, the conf, the world. But they still don’t have a great HC, and that’s a yuge weakness. I just have a strong suspicion that they will start out flat again. Not saying any or all of the above won’t beat Utah, but for the same reason of coaching, UCLA gets dinged as well. Stanford has a really good HC though. 

[Utah]

Our defense is right there with anyone. I’d say anyone in the country. 

It’s all on our offense. Can Harding get an OL together and can Taylor get something out of our QB’s? 

If so…*excitement*

I think the BYU game will be very telling. We should blow them out. This should be a 21 point win. If so, whoa baby, look out. 

If it’s another close game, then we either have OL problems or QB problems and that spells a 7 win season. 

[noneyadb]

If the BYU game is close than Utah is likely in for a far worse season than 7 wins depending on how that game plays out. If Utah has 6 TO’s again and it’s another close game, okay, 7 is attainable. If it’s close or a loss and Utah plays a clean game, ru-roh.

[ladyinred]

I’m not sure that winning a close one, or even *gasp* losing against BYU should necessarily doom the season. It is an intense rivalry game after all, and strange things happen.

But for the love of god, could we PLEASE have another 54-10 type game? Because I think there is some shred of hope among BYU fans that needs to be stamped out in a decisive way.

[ironman1315]

Hope springs eternal with those dinguses. I remember at the 2013 game listening to BYU fans say how Hill would run and throw all over Utah. I argued with them with some stats I pulled up on my handy dandy phone and they scoffed saying that I was just an ignorant Utah fan. Taysom did neither of those things that BYU fans said he would. Wish I could have rubbed in their smug prick faces after since they faked like one of their crew would run into me as I was walking away.

[ladyinred]

I’m surprised they tried to argue that far. Usually when zoobs are confronted with unpleasant facts regarding sports, they resort to how much better they believe their university to be. Because people outside of Utah are supposed to be blown away seeing “that school” on a resume. Lmao.

[ironman1315]

They were undergrads, undergrads are dumb.

[RedLine]

Hate to disagree with you lady but Clay Helton isn’t incompetent.  USC went W W W etc after the loss to Utah.   Happened to be Darnold’s first start.  I love nothing more than a Ute win against USC, but this year I have concern with USC.  That team doesn’t stay down long. 

[Utah]

What worries me about USC is that they don’t need a great coach. They just need someone to run the ball and lean on their defense. 

I’m worried that Helton will do just that. 

Spread offense is a gimmick for teams that lack talent. USC doesn’t lack talent. They should be running a pro style, run heavy offense. 

[Anonymous]

Yup. And, I really like its QB. The poise and professionalism, besides fantastic skills, shown by Darnold were very impressive.

[KiYi-Ute]

After watching the Rose Bowl last season, I’m pretty convinced that Darnold is the real deal. At least at the college level, he’s one of the best QBs in the country. U$C Quarterbacks have a tendency to fizzle out in the pros.

Sucks that Utah wasn’t able to reel him in, we were the first school to offer him and pursued him hard. But, as always, you can’t out-recruit U$C.

[ladyinred]

Meh, he is not incompetent but mediocre might be fitting. Darnold kid is great, but why didn’t Clay choose him to begin with? The Alabama game was a huge embarrassment for the pac 12. I mean, most expected them to lose but THAT badly? And they looked so-so against Stanford. For so much talent they sure did start looking flat-footed. Wouldn’t shock me if that happened again.

[Mano]

I always have faith that Utah’s defense will be somewhere from good to elite. Even with all the turnover this year, have no reason to change my view there. The offense will determine how well this team does. If this OC is a homerun hire, then the sky is the limit ( although, it probably would also mean that he would be fairly short tenured and moving on to an HC job in the next few years ). If not, we will have more of the same, 6-9 wins, which is not awful, just can be a bit frustrating that the team is so close to being an elite program.