With all the NIL talk, the unmet expectations, and weaknesses in certain areas this season I’ve begun to wonder if the Rose Bowl year last year was as good as it will ever get for the Utes. I’m sure someone here can explain to me why that’s not the case.
All I can say is that until the Sugar Bowl I thought the Fiesta Bowl and the BCS busting season was about as good as we could expect. So who knows, I kind of think good things can still happen.
I think we have more to show this season and hopeful it is not over. I know I am a UTES homer but I think the UTES will beat USC this next week with it being a home game and if they do that will get us back on track and finish strong. I still feel we have a good chance to go to a big bowl, but maybe that is the homer and wishful thinking in me.
Agree with all the NIL’s stuff just hope it doesn’t wreak college football. All the money and big contracts being signed like in the NFL has rein pro football for me and I don’t watch it other than the Superbowl. I have not watched one pro snap all year so far.
I don’t think so. I also don’t think it is the best year we have had. I will take 04 and 08 over last year.
I think it comes down to consistent fan engagement and focusing on our core while pumping money into the kids and less into the program. We will need help in NIL, but I think we have the right culture to keep good kids coming and then bolster it with rhe eight money. Utah isn’t going to win by outspending others in NIL. We need to continue ro be one of the best development programs in the USA. If we can do that while ALSO finding ways to help kids get some cash, we will be great!
Yeah I mean more in terms of the Pac-12 CFP era.
Tony, I understand your thoughts and it may indeed be true. However, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, et al. can only have so many players. They get the best of the best today. We need to work hard to get the best players we can. Then we need to develop them.
One thing to keep in mind – of all the 5-star QB recruits over the years, only one of them won a Super Bowl. That was Matthew Stafford. This tells me that lower-level recruits can develop into superstars. We have never had a 5-star recruit come to Utah and we may never get one.
I hate what has become of the NIL and the transfer portal. I hope this does not destroy college football. Maybe rules will be implemented that can control these.
Not sure how sustainable everything will be, and you never know future changes.
I think it will be a looong time till we get something great again, if we even do with Kyle retiring. I would think another 10-15 years.
There’s a lot of coming to realization in your question, Tony. For me, it boils down to this: as soon as Utah develops a Devin Lloyd into one of the best LBs in the country, only to have him transfer as a Junior to Texas because they’re a blue-blood and they serve him up a giant NIL pile of cash, I’m out. I understand that Texas is going to sign the five-star recruits that we never have or never will sign, but it’s the three-star players that WE develop and then they leave for $$ that will end my fandom.
It’s already happening (see Jordan Addison, Biletnikoff winning WR at Pitt who now plays for USC).
For me, it boils down to this: as soon as Utah develops a Devin Lloyd into one of the best LBs in the country, only to have him transfer as a Junior to Texas because they’re a blue-blood and they serve him up a giant NIL pile of cash, I’m out. I understand that Texas is going to sign the five-star recruits that we never have or never will sign, but it’s the three-star players that WE develop and then they leave for $$ that will end my fandom.
It’s already happening (see Jordan Addison, Biletnikoff winning WR at Pitt who now plays for USC).
Absolutely, 100% agree with this.
The NIL, transfer portal, and conference realignment has already put a pretty significant dent into my interest in the game (plus kids getting older so Saturdays are now lots busier with more important things). If we see acceleration of the trend of players chasing the $$ at one of the 25(ish) schools in the country who can shovel piles of money at them, I will likely just be done entirely.
It’s partially that way now, but every once in a while a team like Utah can rise up through excellent player development, coaching, and the stars aligning like they did last year. If college football keeps consolidating the talent to a select few teams, I fear that no one outside of those teams is going to care.
Killing the goose to get the golden egg, and all that.
I don’t think the NIL stuff changes our situation much, except for this extremely valid point.
The ‘blue bloods’ were always signing players that we could never dream of. NIL did not change this. However, the day one of our star players leaves to play for a blue blood because they get paid more; burn it all down.
It’s so uncertain right now. We don’t just know. I don’t think a national title is a realistic hope. The BCS was created to keep teams like Utah out, and it did. And the playoffs…well, it’s just too hard. I don’t think a Utah team could ever beat 2-3 P5 champion level teams in successive weeks. We just aren’t deep enough.
So, what is our goal? A Rose Bowl? Yeah, Utah can win a Rose Bowl. I wonder is Whittingham can, though. He seems to be a little…settled. And if Scalley is the HC in waiting…I am not sure Scalley is a good enough coach to take us there. Our last losses: UCLA, Ohio St, SDSU, BYU, USC…they have all demolished his defenses.
Playoffs? With the expansion, yeah, I think that is a realistic goal.
College football is just so different now. Give me the bowl games and 2 national champs once every 10 years. Those were the days.
people thought that the iphone was ‘unrealistic’ or ‘delusional’ until we had it. Getting to the level of competing for the CFP year after year won’t be easy, it will require a lot from both the admin, staff, players and donors, but it can be done if we want it bad enough.
It isn’t just about wanting something bad enough to achieve something. Many want it as much as Utah. It requires an incredible amount of luck and probably infinitely more important:MONEY.
Yes
Same sentiments for me. What made last year special was what the team went through to get there. 2004, 2008, 2021 is the order for me. Agree with Utebacker’s point, the combination of transfer portal and NIL with no oversight or contractual agreements is a killer for a team like Utah. Do not blame the players one bit. A lot of these kids come from very little financial support and with roughly a 2% chance of being drafted and even a smaller chance making a career income playing football, makes sense to grab whatever financial support the market gives them. Sadly, the big dollar booster shelling out cash for these players don’t give a rats ass about them beyond their talent as a football player.
Personally, as some have stated as well, I am losing interest in college football. In years past I would get up early to catch Game Day, watch a couple games before the Utes kicked-off. This season I’ve watched the first episode of Game Day and have not watched it since. Watched one episode of P12 After dark following the ASU game. Other than the Utes, have not watched more than a half of any other game, in most games less. Usually hit 1-2 Ute games a season, this year too much going on. No pity party here or bitterness, just truly losing interest with all that’s going on. Football out West especially seems to be fading. Youth football in my home town, once the biggest sport has fallen 60-70% in participation over the the past 10 years. Just six years ago there were five, 25 kid Pop Warner teams in our area, now there are zero. Either way, will always cheer on the Utes. Could not get worse than my first Ute game, Utes losing to Idaho at RES in 1993. Go Utes!
I have this same fear. I’ve thought all year that this season was our one and only chance to win a Championship. I am concerned that we can’t keep up with NIL, etc. As long as College Football remains the wild west, Utah will have real difficulty competing at the highest level.
That said, the 12 team playoff coupled with the depleted Pac-12 gives me a little more optimism.
Unfortunately, my guess is yes for all the reasons stated. Especially if the Pac 12 or 10 folds and we end up in the Big 12 or 16.
Ever? Certainly not. But it might be a while. Little birds are starting to chirp about the end of the Whittingham era.
Whitt is one of the greatest UTAH MEN our college has ever seen. But he (and I too) remember a time where student athletes came to play for a school seeking a quality playing experience and good education (sticking out all four years) to prepare them for the future (possibly playing their favorite sport for awhile, but then having a longer period of having a career helped by their studies).
Now it’s becoming ‘how much can I make RIGHT NOW’ and they aren’t looking 10-20 years down the road and don’t really think about the fact that NIL $$$$$ ends when they are done playing. And indeed there will be players who a play a year or two for a school that invested time and resources in them who then move onto a higher paying school waving a fatter pile of cash in front of them.
Can be rather depressing
The interesting thing to me is people get caught up in this “P2” version and think that it will be this low number of teams…that already exists on Sunday’s. The final allotment will be 48-64 teams, period. I have no doubt in my mind. With a growing market, AAU status and a bunch of research income it’s my belief we will be included. It might be close at the end of the day but we won’t be the last team in.
I also believe that once that final shift happens there will be some sort of “salary cap” put in place that limits or pools NIL. Don’t get me wrong, this number will be large and something that only the bluebloods and/or significant boosters can max out but there will be competitive limits to allow for more teams to be competitive. No one wants to see the same 4-5 teams play in the CFP every year and they know it.
Do I think Utah can win a national title? Is that realistic? Almost assuredly no. They’re are only 8-10 programs that can reach that level HOWEVER we do actually have the depth to compete we’re just really young with 85 underclassman in the program. We can make a run, can be a top 10 team and upset someone to make a semi final here and there. The landscape is and has changed and frankly it’s out of control today but the GameDay audience for Kansas had the best ratings so far this year. People are still drawn to watching and pulling for their school and that is not going to go away.
We had an opportunity pass us by on Sat…it was a real head scratcher how we played. Unbelievable assignment, alignment and competitive mistakes and that taste in our mouths really makes everything taste sour this week. It happens to every program in the nation. Doesn’t make it hurt any less.
Let everything play out and watch – Utah football will be fine. Go beat SC this week and you’re right back to where you want to be. Get in that crazy ass, loud environment and enjoy the s**t out of Saturday night.
That’s a tricky question and not one I’ll answer in a traditional way.
For an old guy like me the Rose Bowl is the pinnacle of college football. So if we’d won it I don’t believe there is a higher peak.
However many would think a National Championship is the pinnacle, for me not so much. But with the changes coming I think there will soon be only one team who will be happy in the top 12 each year. The national champion.
I also saw NIL discussions. I am not sure NIL has really regressed to what will be the norm. UCLA, USC, both vastly improved due to NIL. I think NIL may settle out with more of the blue bloods losing five stars who don’t “get their contracts renewed” for additional NIL money. Why sit on the bench at Bama or Texas when you can play your way into the NFL at a Utah, or UCLA and possibly get more NIL money at another school.
So in my humble opinion last year was the pinnacle minus that victory in the Rose Bowl. But it was about as close to the pinnacle as Utah football could get.
The probable outcome of the Rose Bowl going the way of the dinosaurs due to either the UCLA/USC exodus to the Big10 or the CFP relegating it to an inconsequential part of the cog or a combo of the two makes last year very likely the pinnacle for me.
“Ever” is an awfully big word, Tony. Who knows what college football will look like in 10, 20, 50, or 100 years?
Under the current set of circumstances, I think the Rose Bowl is pretty much our ceiling. But I have to think that at some point smarter people will take over college sports and there will be a new set of circumstances. So will the Rose Bowl be the best we can do right up until the day the sun consumes the earth? Almost certainly not.
We didn’t see 2004, 2008 or 2021 coming. We may not see the next great year coming. In between there will be years that disappoint. There are a bunch of schools in the conference with more money, tradition and more advantage than Utah so it will not be a regular occurrence but our turn will come more often than is our share. We are 5 of 6 against UCLA, who would have thought that was coming 6 years ago? A playoff appearance would be awesome but personally, a Rose Bowl win against a top 10 team would be my ask and it remains likely going forward.
For me, no matter what happens with the college football landscape, there will always be 4 or 5 Ute players that will be my favorites for the season and that I will just love watching do what they do.
It will always be fun seeing what those players can do, even if the team can never reach the highest levels of winning.
I agree with you, DrahtUte. Thank you for saying this.
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