What I saw in the PAC12 that bothers me about the Utes offense

I think with Oregon State it’s mostly about effort and desperation. The Beavers were coming off a loss, playing at home, and knew that one more defeat would essentially kick them out of the PAC race. So they came out more focused and played harder. I’m certain that the Beavers probably didn’t take Cal as seriously as Utah. That mentality allowed Cal to stay in the game until Oregon State started pulling away in the 3rd quarter.

Welcome to the season 🙂

The explanation is coaching and play calling. WSU calls a lot of quick plays to the flats so that they can open up their vertical pass game. OSU showed that they were susceptible to that approach. I didn’t watch the CAL game but they have Jake Spavital calling plays who you might remember from the Jared Goff years. He is very capable of calling a passing game that will stress the perimeter while mixing his all-conference back and it looks like he succeeded (241 yards rushing, 207 passing).

Ludwig saw that Oregon State came into the Utah game giving up 69 yards rushing per and said let me have some of that. He called the same game he does every week. Designed runs between the tackles. 5 receiver pass plays where 4 run to the sticks and either dig or cross, while the 5th runs deep into two high coverage. And I believe that the QB has been told daily all year to take what the D gives him and nothing more.

In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with Ludwig’s scheme. It is risk averse and he is capable of mixing up his run/pass calls. But it is also predictable what the play call is based on formation, personnel and down/distance. Rarely do we see a receiver running free because the defense knows the route tree. I watched the 2nd half of the ASU/Colorado game and Dillingham was running the same type of scheme Ohio State did in the Rose Bowl. Multiple receivers forcing the DB’s deep and his best receiver, Badger, wide open at 8 -12 yards all day on a crosser. Just like Smith-Ngiba. Devote resources to the underneath and the 50/50 or back shoulder ball down the sideline is there all day. But it won’t happen if the QB has been coached to not throw the ball in that spot.

The next time I see a Utah receiver running free and it’s not because a DB fell down this season may very well be the first. And if the QB thinks he’s only allowed to throw the ball once he sees separation, it limits his ability to make plays and affects his confidence. Toss in injuries and poor line play and you very quickly get what we are seeing now; an offense trying to do things that it is not capable of.

Someone needs to ask Kyle Whittingham these questions…

Are they splitting game week preps with the GOAT of their programs?

There is your answer.

Whittingham firmly believes if he doesn’t give up points he can win every game.

He has three goals every game:

Give up less than 100 yards rushing.
Get more than 100 yards rushing.
Win the TO battle.

Throwing, in his mind, hurts all three goals. If you throw a lot, the clock stops, which gives the other offense more time to score.

If you throw a lot, you can’t run as much, and you extend the game, which hurts your defense.

Throwing leads to more turnovers than running the ball does.

Whitt throws because he is forced to. And he’s going to do everything he can to limit the “damage” (in his mind) that throwing the ball causes.

It’s why we don’t ever throw to WR’s, but focus on TE’s and RB’s.

Then you tell Whitt he has to play a FR QB with less than 2 years experience at the position?

Nah. He’s not about to do that.

There is a reason why every OC has the same issues at Utah.