[Charlie]

Well, in the Pac UCLA didn’t seem to be a team to worry about other than on the road in 2022. What I do remember is the Rose Bowl can be quite hot early in the season so I expect it to be. Like Utah, UCLA has a lot of new pieces to get working together. Who is more in sync will have an advantage. Very likely it will be hot so the rotations of 2s will be a factor. I like Utah being set with good experienced LBs and Safeties to bother UCLA, the defense will be fine if the UCLA WRs don’t go off and the QB does not run all around. When Utah is on offense the RBs and receivers are unknown, no reason to be confident or reason to be concerned. But if the Utah OL has their way with UCLA I like Utah’s chances. If Beck can game plan at this level than it is all good. Two years with awful QB luck should not give us overwhelming PTSD, let’s just see if solving that issue returns us to the last half decade trend. I’m thinking it does.

[BeachUte]

I was surprised to see Utah favored by nearly 7 points.

My concern is the offense taking time to jell. Opening up on the road vs any P4 team is a challenge when there is so much uncertainty on the offensive side of the ball. I would much rather flip the Cal Poly game with this one just so that Dampier has some real game experience at Utah under his belt.

But I guess it’ll be a good indicator game. If Utah does win, I think they might be in pretty good shape as I think UCLA is on, or close to the level of teams like WVU, Colorado, Cincinnati and Kansas… maybe BYU if they struggle a bit and that, coupled with wins over Cal Poly and Wyoming, puts Utah at no worse than 7, or 8 wins outside the real tough teams (and winning out at home gets them to something special).

But a loss? While it won’t upend the season at the start, it’ll likely leave me lacking confidence in Utah getting things turned around.

[USS Utah]

Regardless of the changes, Whitt will not change his basic offensive philosophy of establishing the run. There may be times when he will be happy going up tempo, but there will more than likely be times when he is going to want to chew up clock. Capable backs behind a solid O-line should be able to establish the run; add in a dual threat QB who ran in 19 TDs last season. If the QB can throw fewer interceptions and more TD passes, Utah could be very good.

[USS Utah]

Some BYU fans poisoned the well, but also some Ute fans talked a lot of crap, and then Utah badly underdelivered in its first season, a perfect storm, if you will.

At this point, I am just hoping Utah finds a way to win more games in 2025.

[HoosierUte]

The 6-7 pt road spread does seem odd to me. fUCLA finished with a meh record last year, but their only badish loss was probably UW. They had a 5-game skid but come on, IU-LSU-Oregon-Penn State-Minn. Seriously? Can’t blame them for dropping the Minn game (who are a pretty good team) on the back end of that stretch. Both teams will be installing new offenses. I would call this game a toss-up, with the edge to the home team. No way the team is overlooking these guys.

[Charlie]

I like the wildcat with someone other than QB1 to lower exposure to QB1. I also like the wildcat with a creditable threat to pass. A productive wildcat option is a headache for defensive preparation. Nate in a sweep also becomes an RPO. Against a zone Nate can create matchup problems simply attacking LBers particularly as space increases. Nate very well may be one of our top options in space and we want several athletes that can get the ball in space. I am trying to remember how good Nate was going thru QB progressions but I remember him doing well running the ball in space. I think the WR room has to be very good to push Nate out of rotation, assuming he is reliable catching the ball.

[Central Coast Ute]

I hate to say this but I’m just trying to force myself to care at this point. I have heard that UCLA is the first game several times but I forgot that until I read this post and will probably forget it again. In years past I would take one look at the schedule and know the order of the games exactly. I hope the Utes win every game but at the end of the year if players are just going to bail and then I’ll get blamed online for not donating a ton of money to the collective, it’s just hard for me to have my usual fandom.
Like others, I have had too much to drink from the Kool Aid too. It’s just exhausting.

[bopahull]

Seeing as how we usually come out of the gate in super slow mode, a loss to UCLA wouldn’t exactly shock me.
My hope is that the offense comes out on fire and the defense is the best we’ve ever had. My guess is we will see something a little less spectacular than that.
I think we win this one but it does look like a 55/45 type of game.

[Tony (admin)]

Looks like we are close to having one sponsor lined up. Need more.

[Tony (admin)]

I’ll send an email to the email on your account! THANKS

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