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Whitt’s presser

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    • 11/06/2023 at 11:22 AM #204078
      12
      ProudUte
      Participant

      Great response by players and coaches on Saturday. Great game plan and execution of the plan.

      Big challenge on the road this week. We can’t just play well, we need to play great and we need to be prepared.

      UW has excellent personnel with a great QB. Their focus is throwing the ball and they do it better than any other team in the country. (It’s not even close.)

      Pass defense starts at the line of scrimmage. This is probably the best Oline we have faced this season. They have great protection. They do have an outstanding RB as well.

      Jackson has battled his ankle injury all season long. His availability is a question mark.

      UW was able to rebuild its program quickly in part because of the portal.

      UW gets great crowds and it is loud. It is a great setting to play football.

      ASU and UW are totally different in personnel, style, etc. There isn’t much to carry over.

      ASU held UW down because of four turnovers.

      It’s all one week at a time. We aren’t looking at the big picture at this point.

      He had zero input on the Big 12 schedule including Baylor as a nonconference game. But, he is not thinking about next year.

      He will not give away any secrets as to what they will do on offense. Vaki is probably about 70/30 defense and offense going forward.

      Barnes had the best game of his career last Saturday.

      Vele is a great team player and we need to target him more. He has a big catch-radius.

      He was asked about no-huddle. It was as much for us. UW will have to prepare for it. It’s not as effective to do it the entire game.

      He thinks that the day games have helped recruits watch games. Recruiting is going well. We have to save some spots because of the portal. Our HS recruit list is not large by design because we need to save spots.

      We are always looking for speed. Speed may be the most important skill.

      Smith Snowden had 37 reps on Saturday and played very well. Tao Johnson will likely move to safety or corner next season and Snowden will become the Nickle Back.

      We have 12 guys who can play on the Oline.

      We talk to the guys during the season about the portal, NFL, etc. We need to be prepared for quick changes.

    • 11/06/2023 at 12:05 PM #204081
      Rick
      Participant

      Does Johnson’s move to safety next year mean Vaki is moving to offense exclusively or does it mean that Bishop will enter the draft?

      • 11/06/2023 at 12:59 PM #204087
        2
        Utah
        Participant

        I think the answer is…maybe. Johnson is playing Nickelback, which is basically a LB/S/CB hybrid. Johnson is 6-1, 200 lbs. He is the dream size for outside CB. I’d bet money that is where they want him to be.

        BUT if Bishop leaves (he shouldn’t) or if Vaki moves to the offense (he shouldn’t), then they can play Johnson at Safety.

        Ideally, we’d start Snowden, Johnson, Bishop and Vaki next fall.

    • 11/06/2023 at 12:52 PM #204085
      RedRocks
      Participant

      Washington feels like a match-up nightmare for Utah. If their offensive line is better than Oregon’s, the game could get ugly.

      Utah’s pass defense relies so much on pressuring the quarterback and their downfield pass coverage has not been very good. This is a bad combination if the Utah defense can’t get QB pressure against the pass-heavy offense at Washington.

      However, this is college football; sometimes things don’t go as expected…

      • 11/06/2023 at 1:01 PM #204088
        5
        Utah
        Participant

        I think you have to study the crap out of the ASU game and find out how they got 4 TO’s. That is the key.

        Also, if Jackson can’t go…we will get blown out.

        Finally, we have hope. Remember, only three things can happen when you pass the ball and two of those things are bad for the offense. Pass heavy teams, while they have their advantages, are easier to scheme for and beat than run heavy teams.

        • 11/06/2023 at 2:06 PM #204097
          9
          2008 National Champ
          Participant

          ASU forced those TO’s. They dropped 5 or 6 each play and brought pressure over the center forcing Penix to move. He’s at his best when he is throwing in under 2 seconds which keeps the sack numbers low and makes their line seem better than it is.

          The change they made in their run game against SC was going away from the RPO/Play Action mesh which had been blown up most of the season and instead utilizing 80’s style toss sweeps. That took the pressure off the interior of the OLine and got their RB in open space on the perimeter. If ever there was a game that Utah needed to be assignment sound on D, it’s this one. It’ll be interesting to see what Scalley dials up because UW forces you to defend the entire field.

      • 11/06/2023 at 2:25 PM #204102
        5
        The Miami Ute
        Participant

        A couple of things…Washington’s defense isn’t much better that USC’s. They’re currently ranked #100 in the FBS so Utah should have little to no problem moving the ball on them. Heck, I watched that ASU vs UW game, and the Sun Devils had no problem generating offense. So much so, that they actually outgained Washington 341 yards to 288 yards. Two, when Whitt is talking about Washington’s OL, he’s really talking about their ability, so far for most of this season, to pass protect. Until this past Saturday’s eruption by Dillon Johnson, UW had one of the worst running games in the PAC. I’m pretty certain that Utah is going to be studying hard what both ASU and Stanford did against UW to put the Huskies in so much trouble.

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