“Grade the 2019 Utah Football Season” poll

It’s all about expectations.

If your expectation was to win the Pac12 South then you were satisfied.  If your expectation was to win the Pac12 and go to the Rose Bowl, then you were unsatisfied.  

It is a tough call. We have never had a more dominant string of P5 wins, 8 conference beat downs in a row. I am not sure we will see such a stretch again. However, this was followed by two absolute shellackings in which the team was outclassed and looked thoroughly defeated by halftime. I can see feeling “unsatisfied” because the buildup and potential were there, the table was set, then nobody showed up for dinner. 

Honestly, most years 11 wins and a south title is a satisfying season, this year was different. 

I am satisfied with the season, while still disappointed with the Oregon game. I spend most of my time on the road with clients, and it was fun throughout the season to have conversations with people about Utah football. They knew about the team, spent time talking through scenarios, etc. It was fun being in the conversation.

Getting to the playoffs is hard. Especially with our recruiting vs the top programs – they have more talent. I hope to continue being in the conversation.

what is there to be confused about? The team had a goal, the team had the horses to reach that goal (except for one position group), the team played well enough to reach said goal for most of the season, fan expectations were that the team would reach said goal… said goal was not reached = unsatisfied with results of season. Pretty logical conclusion TBH.

I think the idea that a fan could be satisfied with what transpired this season, while a valid position to take, is far less logical.

11-3 with a humiliating loss in the Pac12 CCG, and an even worse loss to a 7-5 team in the Alamo bowl?

If you just heard 11-3, you likely would have assumed that we won the south, and maybe possibly won the CCG as well, only to lose in the Rose Bowl. You may not assume that, but it would be a possibility, therein lies the reasoning for being satisfied only knowing the team’s record.

If you were also told that Huntley was 1st team all pac12, we had multiple all americans on defense, Moss broke every Ute rushing record there is to break… and we finished with 3 losses. Would you be satisfied then? I think not. You would more likely be thinking, how in the hell did we manage to lose three games when fans have (over the years) repeatedly said, “if we had an all conference QB we would be undefeated/in the playoff/pac12 champs…”

In what world is failing to reach an absolutely attainable goal satisfying in any way shape or form?

If, at the beginning of the season, you were just told that we again won the south, and lost in utterly miserable fashion to Oregon, would you be satisfied? No no no you would not. In reality, you would probably assume that a team had taken a very slight step in the wrong direction, or at most remained stagnant compared to the year previous.

“satisfied”.

What that word means to some it means something else to others. If you are satisfied do you want more? I would say no. I want more from Utah Football, I am thrilled about their success – but I want more. I’m not satisfied.

Great season, disappointing finish.  I think it’s hard to be satisfied with how the last two games went, but I’m more than happy with the overall season.  

Personally I want to say I’m satisfied. At the beginning of the season I picked the Utes to finish 9-3. 11-1 is an great year for Utah football. I just feels like they should have finished better. Even close losses in the last two games would have made it a little better. But the beat downs just made it feel really bad.

I think what happened with the last two games just soured everyone’s outlook. The more talented teams kicked the ever living s**t out of us and there was nothing we could do to stop it. Obviously if this poll had happened on December 1st 100% of the answers would be “extremely satisfied”. But, the last two performances just soured everything. 

AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.

If the inverse had happend (say we lost the first two games of the season in a similar fashion but went undefeated the rest of the way out and won the Pac 12 Championship you would likely see a similar change in attitude about the season. 

I have to be happy with a second place finish, best yet since last year we were not the second best ranked team. Can we be happy on the way up? Are we at the point that finishing second is not good enough? I think we have learned that the frustration factor is much greater for the team finishing second, much greater than that for all the other teams down the line.

It was fun to watch. Utah football promised to entertain me, and I was entertained. Therefore I vote “satisfied”.