Next 
USC – Sat 10/20 6PM – Pac12 TV 
Work with a guy who played football at Bucknell, die hard Penn State fan. (Apparently Bucknell has a football, ha.) We talk B10 sports a lot. He believes Michigan will be the team to beat next year. Their QB Wilton Speight looks solid. Offense as a whole looks to be moving closer to what Harbaugh likes on offense.
Hard to predict the B10. Sparty doesn’t look to be taking a step back next year. Buckeyes always reload and Meyer doesn’t accept positions he can’t have success at. Penn State, well, not so much. Think Franklin might be in his last year with the Nittany Lions after his twitter post about ‘no talent required’ for playing at PSU. Chris Ash is an interesting hire for Perdue. Overall, B10 looks to be on the rise. The coaching level alone in the B10 is formidable. Certainly glad we played Big Blue last year rather than this year.
I would love to see the rise of Big Blue and that rivalry turn red hot again. But I have to tell you if Harbaugh doesn’t beat Meyer soon his momentum will fade. Urban just doesn’t lose rivalry games…
There’s a lot on the plate this year with Meyer, Dantonio, and Harbaugh. I think things will be very chippy in the B10. The PAC and the B10 go back far with different styles of play. The traditional signature of the B10 is blue collar tough ass, old school, play. I’d love to see a return to that. In fact, I’d love to see both conferences remind the SEC of their delusion that football is and always was the SEC.
I think Michigan can will with a good HC and win championships with a great HC. It remains to be seen which Harbaugh is. I do think he has to win big in his first three years or he will fade away because he thrives on controversy and attention. As Steve Spurrier said in answer to a question of why he was not saying controversial things about Tennessee and Georgia any longer, “When you are not winning no one cares what you think. When we start winning nine or ten games a year I will talk smack again.” And, he did talk smack when he started winning. I think Harbaugh will be the same.
I caught the final 3 minutes on the radio, coming home from visiting my mother in the hospital.
I missed the whole thing. Was on a plane.
I missed the whole thing. Had to organize my sock drawer.
Right. Lost interest completely when the Utes dropped out.
My mother was admitted with advanced stage cancer. We’re still awaiting test results to determine course of treatment. We’re in for a tough challenge that will consume all my available time. I have the ability to put DISH on suspension for up to 9 months a year and simply pay a $5 per month fee. Thinking of suspending DISH until football season starts.
Oh man WestSlope… I’ve been there before. Nothing I can say will help much but if you need advice or whatever, let me know.
I like the hire. I’m not as knowledgable about the ins and outs of his talents and deficiencies in the coaching realm but I will say, players respond to him. Maybe rigid and militaristic in practice, he is all passion to win in the games. I don’t have much good to say about Dave Christenson but Harding landed at Utah with him. Though I don’t like the two OC system, I like Harding in the program.
I really like Harding too and believe he’s much much better than Christenson. Playing devils advocate on Christensen. I think he believed or knew Travis Wilson could not make reads fast enough, wanted a QB change and was overruled, then spouted off his opinion about Travis and burned a bridge against everyone in the program. As the OC he didn’t have his system or his guy so it was a no win situation that he handled abruptly and defiantly.
I agree with your thoughts on Christensen but in the end, it seems he could not play well with others as you alluded to. After watching KT play in the Fresno game I didn’t want to see him again and I was glad the QB merry-go-round ended. I have a very high opinion of Travis Wilson and his parents, but TW’s strength was not between his ears.
There must have been either huge coaching room battles or high tension or probably both during the Dave Christensen year.
I only have a few minutes to get something down so here it goes. Saw Wishnowski punt for the 1st time. No worries here. Looked just like Hacket, in fact, picture Kyle Fitts punting with Hacketts results. 45 yards, backspin, same old same old. All the punts were caught so I could not see if they hit and stick. Phillips punted too. Very impressive, I was surprised. High backspinning kick.
A fake punt was practiced. Wishnowski took the snap and ran off tackle. Damn, he is fast. This is a very serious play. It’s going to work, the guy can run. Picture a 6-2 Troy McCormick. It was an eye opener for sure. I would not be surprised if punt defenses keep more people in the box rather than having two returners which mitigates the misdirection type punts. Wishnowski is a serious weapon. Punts are going to be exciting.
Scrimmage started with red zone situations. Huntley shined by throwing two TD passes. One was a terrific, one handed catch by Fulks with Hobbs defending. Fade route to the corner of the endzone. Huntley dropped it right over Hobbs and Fulks pulled it in with one hand. It was a wow play for sure.
Damn … gotta go, will try to get the rest down later today.
Huntley’s 2nd TD was to someone wide open in the corner of the endzone. Both Huntley’s red zone TDs were from about the 15-20 yard line thrown.
Williams did poorly in the red zone drill. Wiffed on a short swing pass to either the slot or RB by overthrowing it, didn’t move the offense at all.
Cox threaded the needle accros the middle, I think to a TE. Very impressive play. Neither Williams or Cox could get the offense in the endzone, only Huntley, twice!
Pita Taumoepenu had a nice play on Manalo. Pita T. took him down one on one in deep in the backfield.
Pita T. is a monster. I read somewhere that he put on 17 pounds. He certainly did, but to my eye, I swear he’s put on 50. If he didn’t have his jersey on you would not recognise him. No way he’s just a speed rusher anymore, like last year. He’s still a speed rusher, but he can contain the edge. He is unbeleivable to watch. He is ALL OVER THE FEILD. I watched him take down the RB from behind with the play going toward the opposite side. Let me explain, Pita is playing end toward the east side of the field. RB takes the hand off and goes to the outside gap from the tackle, toward the west side. Pita shot into the backfied and chased him down from behind with the RB only gaining about a yard. It was pretty damned amazing. I also saw him bull rush Tevi and put him on his ass. His spin move is impressive too, I’m not kidding, lightening quick. He batted down a pass or two and altered the throws of some shorts rout that lead to imcompletions. As you can tell, I spent a lot of time watching him. The guy is a one man, offensive wrecking crew.
About a month ago I heard Trevor Reilly singing the praises of Pita T. The host said something like “who going to be the big difference maker” or something like that “on defense this year,” Trevor said without hesitation “Pita T.” I can now see why. Trevor went on to say he’s only played football for a couple of years and has a lot to learn and he needs to put on weight to hold the edge. My eye says he’s done both, in a big way.
Got off on a Pita T. tangent, so back to the red zone stuff. I guess the only thing I need to add is that the run game did nothing in the red zone.
After the red zone stuff they started the offence about 65-70 yards out. Over all, a lot of give and take. I don’t think one side dominated the other, but if I had to call it, I’d give a very slight edge to the defence.
There were a few dropped picks, one I remember in paticular was Cody Barton. He played it well by jumping into the passing lane and grabbing the ball but just didn’t reel it in. Brian Allen put a hard hit on Kenrick Young which caused him to cough up the ball on impact.
Huntley threw a swing pass to McCormick who all most took it in for a TD. It was an electrifying run. McCormick ran up the sideline then cut across the feild, shaking and baking, picking up blockers, jukeing and jagging but only made it to about the 5 yard line. It was about a 50-60 yard pay.
Another nice Huntley-McCormick play was and option that went for about 12 yards.
Jmaes Gray has fully recovered from his ripped up knee. He had a couple of nice long runs. He’s a ways down on the depth chart and probably not well known. McCormicks knee ripping last year definitley overshawdowed what happend to Gray. Gray’s happened in the spring as well.
Offensive “play of the day” was actually a two play series that resulted in a TD. Williams to Butler-Brid, about a 30 yard in the air pass that went for about 45 yards before BB was tackled. Next play, Joe Williams breaks through the line and scores from about 20 yard out. BAM, two plays, TD! That’s the offence we need.
Huntley had two turnovers, I think they were both misshandled snaps. Those may have been the only turnover/loose balls.
gotta go again, but this is pretty much all I have.
Thanks for the great report. Loved the coverage on Wishnowski. Can’t help but wonder when they’ll try to covert him to defense. 6’3″ and 225 lbs, runs a 4.55 for the 40. That’s NFL level for safety or linebacker. They’ll have 3 years with him to figure it out.
The Lightning scoring strikes on offense are good to hear. That was so lacking the first 5 years in the PAC. Couple that with a stout defense and the mind goes giddy.
Great report
Great read to end my Ute sabbatical. Love the wrinkle having an athlete at punter gives. I want to see a multiple fakes around midfield. Make the opposing team cover it. Free up some of our guys. So excited to hear about Pita. What a freak. NFL draft 1st round physical toolbox….and if he can round out the skill set…..sky is the limit for the kid.
Yes totally agree. From just a recruiting standpoint having him is great.
IMO – he should still be the offensive coordinator. I think that is his opinion as well…
Couldn’t agree more though, he has been an unbelievable recruiter the last few years. Hope he hangs around!
I was going to post a really bad April Fools Joke here, but changed my mind.
http://www.utahutes.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/032916aab.html
Really don’t want to jinx it. But it sure seems like it is two deep with NFL guys.
Fitts has been a great get as a transfer. He’s a pass swatting machine. Lowell Lotulelei is following and developing in his brother’s foot steps. He’s a tough can of nasty. In last year’s game against USC, Lowell owned Damian Mama who was a highly touted recruit. On the other end, you’ve got Dimick. Any QB staring down that might as well suit up with a pair of Depends cause they’re going to need it.
All of this makes me happy in the pants.
7/8 guys from the 2008 2 deep made it to the NFL, Greg Newman being the exception.
Kruger, Shelby, Newman, Misi
Shelby, Eliapo, Siliga, Cox
I guess 6/7 since Shelby is on there twice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Utah_Utes_football_team
SLTRIB is reporting that Reyes and Wright are transferring.
http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/uofusports/3719708-155/utah-basketball-isaiah-wright-chris-reyes
Your comments on this subject are welcomed.
Neither are a big loss. They should be able to reload.
Totally agree. I think they saw the writing on the wall. I actually had high hopes for Wright, post-Taylor.
I know they’re college guys just like me at the same institution, but I was excited to see that they’d be leaving. Best wishes but we need better talent than those guys’ productions. They were nowhere near the pac 12 caliber we need. A big question mark for me is that Mawien kid. How good is he?
It is always a bummer to see players leave but I understand. Hopefully they find a program that fits them better
I think this is a casualty of just how quickly Kodiak has rebuilt this program into a powerhouse. The incoming talent is coming because he did such a great job so quickly. Reyes and Wright are quality guys that were great team members, but yes… the talent level just wasn’t there.
Reyes had a wide frame, but had a hard time making close-to-the-rim shots and also had a height disadvantage for the positions he played (C & PF). He could bang… but that’s kind of it.
Wright… I don’t know what happened there. His season stats say he made 20 of 52 shots, but I don’t recall seeing more than 4 or 5 shots made by him. It seemed to me that everything he threw up clanged out. He just couldn’t get the offense in a flow, and wasn’t a threat by himself offensively. His Assists-to-Turnover ratio was similar to Brandon Taylors, but again, it seemed like he was always turning the ball over.
Kuzma is going to be an animal.
You know what surprised me? Bonham had more blocks than Kuzma. Go figure.
Upgrading the passing attack is an offseason priority for coach Kyle Whittingham. With a stout defense and ground game, the Utes don’t have to be overly prolific through the air, but improvement is needed off last year’s offense (180 ypg).
http://athlonsports.com/college-football/college-footballs-top-10-impact-juco-transfer-quarterbacks-2016
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