2008 National Champ

I guess I’m just seeing a common theme that since the offense is bad this year, the people who are getting experience going through it should not be in the mix going forward.

What about the guys who have led you to your current 5-1 record? Who still have you in the conference title hunt and an outside shot at the CFP this year.

From what you posted, only people who haven’t played for Utah this year are the future.

Thomas was pretty disruptive to the locker room in ’22 and Whitt kept giving him chances.

Since he’s a mission kid, Vaki could go after this season if he gets a good enough grade. I’d hate to have to break in 2 new safeties in ’24

You can count on a trick play every time Utah drives inside the 40. Part of the reason they don’t work is because the D has seen them on tape and is aware that something is coming. The other reason is that they aren’t based on any other plays Utah runs.

Vele never fakes a reverse so it’s pretty obvious something is up when he heads in that…[Read more]

Charlie isn’t wrong. There seems to be new legislation every week codifying something that seems like government overreach in California.

I took all of the FCS teams out but there are still a lot of G5 at P5 games in that dataset which would seem to inflate the home number.

Tao will be needed at nickel. But maybe we finally see Smith Snowden this week

It was roughly the equivalent of driving 36 in a 35 mph zone and getting thrown in jail for reckless driving instead of just getting a speeding ticket.

I agree that the refs had the right to call it the way they did by rule but what really bothers me is when targeting is called but personal foul isn’t. On that play, the refs essentially said…[Read more]

There’s a reason that the oddsmakers give anywhere from 3 to 7 points for home field advantage v neutral field. When two fairly evenly matched teams face each other, that’s a huge advantage.

I also track the Team Talent Composite and the actual results say that since 2015, the more talented team on the road wins 56% of the time while they win…[Read more]

Now that we’ve established the rule, it’s time to start finding the exceptions. Saturday seems as good a time as any

there were two flags on the play. Offsides and roughing the passer. The offsides was declined and the roughing accepted. It was bang bang but Tafuna made contact just before the ball started moving.

TV showed it a few times and even froze it.

no fair giving me the heebeejeebies during game week

Ute Thunder is correct. Offsides with contact and/or Offsides unabated to the QB, the play will be called dead.

Even on the slo-mo replay, Tafuna got there faster than the refs could pull their flags or blow their whistles. The little man was movin’

I’m with you completely. Wake up, some hair of the dog, shower and head to the tailgate. Watch game, head for a power nap and then go out for the evening.

I’ve never wanted to fill my Saturday with honey-do’s and errands trying to pass the time until a game kept me up past midnight. Sunday’s are family day. Saturday is me day

Ludwig will have a wrinkle off the wildcat for this week’s game. Maybe speed option, maybe a rollout, maybe a throwback like he did with Johnson last year.

At the same time, Utah’s 7 wins are not very impressive.

’21 USC (4-8 and had just fired their coach)
’21 Stanford (3-9)
’21 Arizona (1-11 in first year with new coach)
’22 Arizona State (3-9 and had just fired their coach)
’22 WSU (7-6)
’22 Colorado (1-11)
’23 Baylor (currently 2-4)

combined record 21-60 (.259). With the exception of the ’22…[Read more]

Too small a sample to be definitive. Of those 7, there’s really only two that could be considered “bad” losses.

’21 parochial school (10-3)
’21 San Diego State (12-2)
’21 Oregon State (7-6)
’22 Florida (6-7)
’22 UCLA (9-4)
’22 Oregon (10-3)
’23 Oregon State (6-1 currently)

combined record of the teams they lost to is 60-26 (.697). Not many…[Read more]

I don’t know. Most people are petty good at telling you what they think. I think the bigger problem is that very few are willing to believe them.

Did you watch the SC-Notre Dame game? Notre Dame ran what looked like exactly the same game plan Utah did in the CCG. They didn’t need to put 7 DB’s in the game any more than Utah does.

Arizona has very bad linebackers, especially in coverage. They came up with a workaround based on the strengths of their roster. Utah has great linebackers…[Read more]