Long Winded 2¢

Bryson Barnes is not a starter in my eyes. He is a serviceable backup. He provides maturity and stable ness right now that Nate Johnson not Brandon Rose could provide in this very moment.

But I doubt he starts next year.

The times I noticed Barton he just always seems to be a step behind where he should be. He needs the experience and has more potential the karene. So keep him out there, but as of now he is just a body and needs a break out game.

I thought Barnes did great all things considered. He got the W. It was his first collegiate start. He had limited reps leading up to the game I beleive since Onlyu said Rising practiced all week. Barnes was a bit jittery throughout the game but had some nice throws to Money, Dixon, Kincaid, and that first down to Vele on the clock-killing drive. Whitt said on Monday that Wazzu’s D was first place in the Pac-12, so our offensive backups did just enough to win on the road. Last year, ironically, it was Rising’s first collegiate start vs Wazzu at home. He seemed a bit jittery in the first half of that game but settled in, especially in the second half. We coughed up the ball several times that game and won 24-13 last year with a much better front 7. My jury is still out on Barnes, but I love his heart and grit! I like your $0.02 on many points and agree on the linebackers; Landon has a very high ceiling… thank you for sharing. Go Utes!

Thanks for the post. Did you paste from Word or something? I removed a TON of garbage HTML from the post.

Good analysis.  

I don’t think Barnes is our future at QB.  However, I cannot judge him based on last night.  He did not take QB1 reps because Rising was planning on playing.  I think he did well for his first start without getting the reps.  He has already surprised everyone by coming from a 1A school and starting in major college football.  Look at Alabama’s backup QB.  I am sure he was a highly-rated recruit but he was far from stellar in his two starts.  By the way, I think Johnson is our future starting QB.  But, I wouldn’t count Barnes out when he gets the reps and experience.

I agree with you on Jackson.  He is a great athlete, big and fast.  He needs playing time to perfect his RB skills.  If Thomas doesn’t come back, I hope Jackson gets 8-10 touches a game.

I think (hope) that Bishop moves to LB next year.  He needs to put on 15-20 pounds as Chase Hansen did back in the day.  He could be a difference-maker at LB.

With all due respect I see these types of posts and wonder “do we really think we know better than the coaches”? If we do, we should be contacting Mark Harlan for a job interview. Do I think Barnes is the next QB1, no. Do I believe the coaches want to make him QB1, no. Fairly certain they watch these kids and practice and are better able to make to right call based on the body of work they see as compared to the rest of us. I was bummed and nervous when I saw him enter the game last night but I was also equally confident that Kyle thought Barnes gave him the best chance of all his other options to compete last night. 

Two more cents.

Not a pretty game, but its nice that our program is at the point it is. 10 years ago we had to show up with all our starters and get lucky to beat a team like Wazzu on the road.  Now we show up with whoever we got and have enough to pull it off. Although in those days, it seemed like we could win it with decent place kickers, and now well….

The refs were bad, their microphones, the spots, the holding calls, the cameras were bad. Light years from the quality of game that Utah had vs USC.  

Strange that after our bye week the team was as banged up as they were.  

Targeting- I understand why the rule is in place, but I wish there were two types of infraction.  A more serious call merits the current penalty, and a lesser infraction gets 12-15 minutes of game time off in the current game.  I don’t know…?

I don’t understand why Dixon is not more involved either. Then again, none of the receivers get many touches in this offense. What do I know.

I’m really surprised at everyone’s apparent expectations for a young QB playing their first full game. We’re Utah, not USC. Since when did we start believing we should have a bunch of top tier backup QBs just waiting to reveal their elite talent first chance they got? We’ve had to grow every good quarterback we’ve ever had. 

I’ll have to go back and watch Cam’s and Huntley’s first games but I don’t remember them being any better than Barnes was last night. 

Whit said Barnes didn’t know he’d be starting until 30 min before game time.