BeachUte

I think that’s what some Utah fans fear: the cycle we’re entering is not favorable for the Utes.

Utah and BYU had not been on even footing conference-wise since 2010 – or 14 years before Utah joined the Big 12. That’s a cycle right there that Utah took advantage of by out-recruiting, out-revenuing and out-playing BYU (going what, 8-1 vs the…[Read more]

Correction: Yormark joined the Big 12 after the expansion of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF saved the league. He had no hand in keeping the conference together as that was set.

The only thing he did was reup their media rights without taking it to market, which did hurt the Pac-12 as they expected the Big 12 would play the market and up the…[Read more]

I think that’s an excuse. It’s simple: Utah was not fun to watch last year. Fans disengage when the team is bad – and boring in the process. It was very frustrating watching the Utes last season. Take the Arizona game. That crowd was jacked at the start but the energy evaporated pretty quickly when Utah had drive after drive stall with no points.…[Read more]

It’s simple: Utah has way too many questions for someone to day, “9-3 easily”. Love the optimism and I think 9-3 is possible with a few breaks but no, it’s not “easy”. That implies it’ll be the floor – and that Utah could even do better than 9-3. I’m extremely skeptical Utah can do better than 9-3 and it’s again because of the questions that we…[Read more]

The game that continues to give me pause is last year’s Arizona game. That was a really bad loss. The Wildcats were not good and they walked into RES and bullied the Utes. That wasn’t a loss due to talent – that was a loss due to poor and inconsistent coaching (as was rhe Houston loss). If that hasn’t been fixed this season, I really fear there…[Read more]

I think 7-5 is a pretty reasonable pick. Utah might be decently improved over last year’s team but certainly appears to have a harder schedule this year (Utah’s sos last year was their weakest since the MWC days).

I think if things break their way, they can potentially get to 9-3 but that seems very bullish for Utah at this point.

But I…[Read more]

I also assume the D&F will likely remain on the primary helmets (tho it does feel like the school is transitioning away from it more and more each year as it was only worn like half the games in 2024 as three other games had the interlocking Us + that special helmet for the ISU game) so this is more an academic transition more than anything, and…[Read more]

I’m confused as to where they caved to political correctness on this lmao

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable change for the academic side of the University.

Plus, the Interlocking Us are way better than the generic Block U.

No, you really don’t and it’s pretty hilarious that to backup your point, you’re quoting a comment from reddit lmao

Since we’re quoting things. Here’s FOX Sports ranking QB draft prospects since 2000. This is what they said about Alex:

17. Alex Smith, Utah (2005): Urban Meyer’s star quarterback intrigued scouts as a dual-threat playmaker with a…

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I think the issue here is that you’re confused what a playmaker is. It’s not just about making big plays. It’s about positioning the offense through the ability to make plays – either through the air or on the ground. It’s not just about making “big” plays and rather having a QB the coaches trust to make plays when it counts the most.

Alex Smith…[Read more]

Wilson was no where in the stratosphere of play maker, especially that 2015 season. Utah’s offense under Wilson was generally middling. Under BJ, Huntley and Rising, it was on a completely different level than anything we ever saw consistently under Wilson. I’ll concede of the game managers, Wilson was the best but he was far closer to the likes…[Read more]

This just isn’t true and downplays BJ’s career here. He was not a game manager. He absolutely was a play maker whose stats more mirrored Rising than Wilson.

In 2015, Travis Wilson threw for 2,095 yards and had 13 touchdowns. In 2008, BJ threw for nearly 3,000 yards and had 27 touchdowns.

In 2022, Rising threw for 3,000 yards and 26…[Read more]

This is why the sharing is pointless. Schools with extremely deep pockets like Tech and BYU are still going to bypass it with independent NIL deals.

That was Utah’s offense for most their time in the Pac-12 and it won them absolutely nothing of note. It’s a style that is low risk but also low reward. It’ll probably position Utah for 8 or 9 wins and a mid-tier bowl game and nothing else – not a NY6 bowl, not a Big 12 title and certainly not a playoff bid.

It’s not a coincidence that Utah…[Read more]

That projection is just not believable (and also doesn’t include the private schools). That ranking has Texas Tech at 5th and they’re at – or very near the top – of the Big 12 with their NIL deal. In fact, they just got the commitment of an OL with a reported NIL deal of $5.1 million. There’s no way Utah is competitive with that.

Utah isn’t NIL…[Read more]

It’s also talent that isn’t decimated by not staying healthy. Cam is a great example of this. He was not healthy for all of 2022. He came out of that USC game seriously banged up and the injury lingered with him the rest of the season (forced him out of the Wazzu game that year and was a big reason Utah lost to Oregon in Eugene as he struggled in…[Read more]

It’s also a different time than 40+ years ago. Everything is online now. Decades ago, it was much easier to sweep that stuff under the rug. Today? It’s all out there – from photos to videos to DMs.

There is no developing in the NIL era. The second that talent grows into NFL caliber type players, they will seek out better NIL deals that Utah can’t match. It’s a big reason why they lost some decent talent to BYU, Washington and Alabama in the previous portals – those schools all have more NIL resources than Utah.

The Utes will be able to…[Read more]

No? I think we can all agree that the 2024 season would have gone dramatically different for Utah if Rising didn’t get injured vs Baylor.

No coach is going to have a full and clear understanding of how things will go if they lose their best player.

If you want to be critical of Whitt over something, be critical of the fact he put all his eggs in…[Read more]

I’m saying Whitt had very high expectations for Utah entering 2024 and it was a big reason he even came back after the 2022 season (everything was predicated on a healthy Cam).

Whitt fully bought into the idea that Utah was the favorite to win the Big 12 last year and make the playoffs. Had they done that, he was set to hang it up.