Trailgoat

From a somewhat related perspective, IMO, what’s going on in college football is a last phase, gold rush money grab considering the long term trajectory decline in football participation and viewership. Youth tackle football over the past 10 years has declined roughly 30% nationally. H.S. football in the US last year had the lowest football p…[Read more]

7-5 seems reasonable at this point. KW over the past 13 seasons (minus covid) averages roughly 5 loses a season. After the past two seasons of a 7-11 conference record and all of the coach and player turnover on O, man, I have no idea what to expect. Factor in the annual 1-2 WTF losses and 2-3 road losses, 7-5 record should be about right.

Interesting Cam not mentioning KW in his farewell letter. Some WTF head coaching moments not pulling CR out of the ASU game when he was clearly injured then stating he left it up to Cam to stay in when clearly he was struggling. The knee injury debacle. KW did not do a good job protecting CR on and off the field. Cam deserved better. Good for Cam…[Read more]

Agree he’s a loss if it’s your 3rd or maybe 2nd talented player in the WR rotation. I have a hard time endorsing ZW as a top level play maker loss based on a breakout game against UCF and 15 days of Spring football. I was somewhat surprised ZW, per KW, emerged as the #1 WR considering WR was a top portal priority.

Good point RU. If Utah’s #1 WR going into next season compiles a whopping 10 catches for 101 yards in two games last season, 70% of the production against an unmotivated 4-8 UCF team. WR recruiting and utilization is an inherent program problem that has not changed and never will under KW’s leadership. This is really nothing new.

This late in the portal game, Utah BB has little choice to fill a roster. AJ’s going to take some risk with bad attitude talent. He’s dealt with plenty of mental hopscotch with players in the G league and NBA. He will set expectations with players and not tolerate toxic behavior. Probably a last chance for this kid. Alex and his staff have dee…[Read more]

Maybe a dumb question. What is the ROI bucking up $1M for a kid to play 1 maybe 2 years? Hopes of a championship? Pride seeing the FB or BB make it to the playoff and March Tourney? Seems to me this is all fun money.

Man, cleaning house might be the right move for AJ, coaches included. Plenty of players in the portal as good and better than what’s left over. The entire program needs a reset.

Every Utah player should test their market value. Utah is a huge risk going into next season. Smart move jumping into the portal before Mondays game to get more PR on Fox Sports. If Dawes finds a program with established NIL, a stable culture, and in the mix for NCAA postseason play next season, it will be hard to keep him. Worked out well for…[Read more]

Alex must have a solid euro connection after all the years he played pro over seas.

Man, GM did everything asked of him and more on a crappy team with very little help. Madsen on a team with better talent would have been fun to watch. Ball handling and driving to the basket is not his game. When no other player can handle the ball, drive to the basket or make lay ups someone has to step in. Watched the BYU game and spots of other…[Read more]

Solid post MU. Seems some schools are already on it or at least out in front of everyone else. Houston from a BB perspective is doing something right. Kelvin Sampson with solid NIL support has turned Houston into a power house. UH’s been making deep runs into the NCAA tourney the last 6 years straight.

Agree on expectations. Looked back to see…[Read more]

Agree MU. The JG interviews seem calculated right after the announcement. Josh was no BS. Solid interview. Football needs a stand up player to call out what’s been going on with football instead of all the lay down local media and ex players afraid to call out the BS like JG did for BB. Harlan needs a win hire or he’s next. All the AJ noise fly…[Read more]

Bowl wins, no question. Combining the Rose Bowl games with the BB titles in your scenario, I would still choose the Fiesta and Sugar bowl wins. Football > BB all day. That said, my interest in college football continues to fizzle.

Agreed. Growing up in P12 country surely skews my bias towards the P12 teams. UCLA game is the only Utah game I am attending this coming season. Outside of Utah games, way more viewing interest in the old P12 teams play vs. the non-Utah Big 12 games. Some of the MWC games, USU, BSU games are more interesting. No disdain for the B12, it’s more a…[Read more]

Crazy. I remember skiing Alta pow on a weekday for less than $20 a pass back in the early 90s while attending the U. The 2002 Olympics was a blessing and a curse for SLC.

Utah sports talk radio 101 content is capturing both BYU-Utah, and the hybrids. Kall 700 is very protective of KW. Occasionally poach the Utah football specific guests, Weddle, Mitchell, coaches, pressers, etc on the podcast rewind. Other than that, OC’s program is hard to listen to live. I imagine filling 3-4 hours of talk radio everyday is c…[Read more]

He’s earned the right to turn it round. He’s also primarily responsible for mismanaging the program over the last two years. KW’s not going to walk away from that big contract amendment he attained in 2022. If year three ends up of more injury blaming, and sabotaging the offense, he needs to hang it up. He looks MS sounds much more refre…[Read more]

Agree MU. 5 conference wins from here on out should be considered a success. Can’t believe that’s how far the program has fallen. The athletic department has systemic issues no one really wants to address. As a fan, I am ready for some new, forward thinking leadership. Time for KW, Harlan, and Smith to move on in 2025 for a fresh start in 202…[Read more]

Good for him moving onto a fresh start with a new, younger, up and coming coach. Assuming he’s on full scholarship, gets the opportunity to resume playing football and finish his degree. He gave it a shot and unfortunately stepped into a dysfunctional situation at Utah. Smart move.