What I saw in the PAC12 that bothers me about the Utes offense

[ProudUte]

Two PAC12 backup freshmen QBs had great games yesterday. Fefita from Arizona and Mendoza from Cal looked great. It was the 2nd game for Fefita, but he looked good against UQ the previous week. I think what bothered me the most was that Mendoza led Cal to 40 points against the same Oregon State defense that basically shut us out until the game was over.

Why is it that our four-star backup freshman QB who had game experience looked so bad against OSU when a two-star freshman with no game experience basically scored at will against OSU?

Obviously, there are a lot of things that contribute to the success of an offense. Cal is not known for having a potent offense. In the two games they have played against P5 teams, they have scored a total of 31 points, including 21 against ASU. (I know that it’s difficult to use comparative scoring. But, really …)

So yes, I am bothered by what I saw yesterday. Many on here including me at times have blamed much of our offensive woes on not having Cam Rising. OSU has given up 38 and 40 points the week before and after our game with them last week. They are NOT a defensive juggernaut. I am sorry for being negative, but our offense is beyond pathetic. If Cal can take a two-star freshman QB and score 40 points, why couldn’t we score against OSU?

Sure, we have also lost a couple of running backs. But when they were healthy we were not racking up points. Our offense only generated 24 points against Weber (with Jackson). Weber was shut out the following week 40 – 0 by an FCS team.

I am not smart enough to know exactly what the problems are, but I am smart enough to know that we have very serious issues on offense. (Heck, we were better on offense in 1974/1975 when we went 1-10.) We shouldn’t be using the excuse that we have been forced to use a redshirt freshman QB. We have seen that lesser-recruited freshmen have excelled in this conference. We still have a four-star running back starting and a bunch of highly recruited freshmen running backs on the team. WHY???

I am done ranting. Go Utes beat the Bears this Saturday!!!

[The Miami Ute]

I think with Oregon State it’s mostly about effort and desperation. The Beavers were coming off a loss, playing at home, and knew that one more defeat would essentially kick them out of the PAC race. So they came out more focused and played harder. I’m certain that the Beavers probably didn’t take Cal as seriously as Utah. That mentality allowed Cal to stay in the game until Oregon State started pulling away in the 3rd quarter.

[Tony (admin)]

Desperate Beavers…

[The Miami Ute]

In what context 😲😲😲

[Anfernee]

Legendary DVD

[2008 National Champ]

Welcome to the season 🙂

The explanation is coaching and play calling. WSU calls a lot of quick plays to the flats so that they can open up their vertical pass game. OSU showed that they were susceptible to that approach. I didn’t watch the CAL game but they have Jake Spavital calling plays who you might remember from the Jared Goff years. He is very capable of calling a passing game that will stress the perimeter while mixing his all-conference back and it looks like he succeeded (241 yards rushing, 207 passing).

Ludwig saw that Oregon State came into the Utah game giving up 69 yards rushing per and said let me have some of that. He called the same game he does every week. Designed runs between the tackles. 5 receiver pass plays where 4 run to the sticks and either dig or cross, while the 5th runs deep into two high coverage. And I believe that the QB has been told daily all year to take what the D gives him and nothing more.

In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with Ludwig’s scheme. It is risk averse and he is capable of mixing up his run/pass calls. But it is also predictable what the play call is based on formation, personnel and down/distance. Rarely do we see a receiver running free because the defense knows the route tree. I watched the 2nd half of the ASU/Colorado game and Dillingham was running the same type of scheme Ohio State did in the Rose Bowl. Multiple receivers forcing the DB’s deep and his best receiver, Badger, wide open at 8 -12 yards all day on a crosser. Just like Smith-Ngiba. Devote resources to the underneath and the 50/50 or back shoulder ball down the sideline is there all day. But it won’t happen if the QB has been coached to not throw the ball in that spot.

The next time I see a Utah receiver running free and it’s not because a DB fell down this season may very well be the first. And if the QB thinks he’s only allowed to throw the ball once he sees separation, it limits his ability to make plays and affects his confidence. Toss in injuries and poor line play and you very quickly get what we are seeing now; an offense trying to do things that it is not capable of.

[22Ute22]

Yeah, as the games go on, I’m starting to believe the rumors that Whitt’s offensive philosophy stunts QB growth. Receivers don’t need 3 steps of separation for them to be targeted.

[2008 National Champ]

There are two Whitt’s. There is the game is close until the 4th quarter or Utah has the lead. And then there is behind in the 4th quarter Whitt.

4th quarter Whitt allows an largely untested backup with 7 career passing attempts take over in the 4th quarter against Baylor and throw 5 passes on the game tying drive. Ludwig doesn’t change his play calling pattern unless Whitt tells him to.

Normal Whitt is what we saw 2nd half UCLA or Florida. 6 drives, 6 punts, no drive more than 34 yards or taking 4 minutes off the clock against UCLA. 5 drives, 3 punts, TD, missed FG, FG drive 38 yards, TD drive 11, longest drive 3:23.

Try to get the lead, turtle if you do, hope the time runs out. He’s won 68% of his games doing that. He’s not going to evolve into a different coach at this point in his career.

[RedRocks]

Someone needs to ask Kyle Whittingham these questions…

[EagleMountainUte]

Are they splitting game week preps with the GOAT of their programs?

There is your answer.

[RoboUte]

Nobody in our program has been doing that so moot point right?

[Utah]

Whittingham firmly believes if he doesn’t give up points he can win every game.

He has three goals every game:

Give up less than 100 yards rushing.
Get more than 100 yards rushing.
Win the TO battle.

Throwing, in his mind, hurts all three goals. If you throw a lot, the clock stops, which gives the other offense more time to score.

If you throw a lot, you can’t run as much, and you extend the game, which hurts your defense.

Throwing leads to more turnovers than running the ball does.

Whitt throws because he is forced to. And he’s going to do everything he can to limit the “damage” (in his mind) that throwing the ball causes.

It’s why we don’t ever throw to WR’s, but focus on TE’s and RB’s.

Then you tell Whitt he has to play a FR QB with less than 2 years experience at the position?

Nah. He’s not about to do that.

There is a reason why every OC has the same issues at Utah.

[2008 National Champ]

Utah doesn’t have any Wide Receivers on the roster. They have:

Inline Tight Ends
Slot Tight Ends
Tight Ends who split out wide
Tight Ends who play the H