What Are Your Concerns for Utah Football Going Forward?

Whit has one more year (my opinion) but also based off of what he’s said. That being said I think he wants to go out on top and get the team to the playoff much more realistic next year.

No. Recruiting wise. However, the state of Utah is solid with HS recruits. Utah is a unique place with RM also. Until Whit is gone we will never get elite WR. But college football is made with a QB and on the lines. Out lines are usually great.

Our oline needs to be elite in 2024. Way underperformed this year.

To me, Last night’s Vegas Bowl game showed me the beginning of the end of the Whittingham Era. Whitt looked beaten and out of touch with reality. He looked lethargic; no energy, fire, or passion to be there. Regardless of QB availability between Barnes, Rose, and the other QB, Whitt was dead set on winning or losing with Barnes no matter if the guy threw eight interception in the game. I know injuries has taken its toll on the team as well as the coaching staff. I hope that’s what it is and not the fact that he’s ready to hang it up. Unfortunately, this doesn’t send a good message to the 2024 class who signed and future recruits that Utah doesn’t look like a good solid team anymore, but a team losing its luster, its mojo and regressing. IMO, perception is everything. If I was the athletic director and the school president, I would start looking at a replacement for Whittingham, because I see it coming very soon. Like next year soon, if that. What also doesn’t help is Whitt has a history of poor offenses, but great defenses. That simply isn’t going to cut it going forward and recruits see that and why Utah has struggled to recruit 4-star QBs, receivers and OL, because history proves the offenses under Whittingham for years has been pathetic. That tells me Whitt is a control freak and afraid to change up and try new things which over time has caused his offensive production to suffer greatly losing games they probably could have won or should have won. Just my observation. I believe he’ll be considered a good coach but not a great one, having lost two Rose Bowls and missed out on a few opportunities to play in the CFP, and maybe even win a national championship. He’ll win you conference championships, but short of winning the big big games on the biggest stages of college football.

Wide receivers. We need elite ones.

I’m not interested in any other chicken little theories.

Generally speaking it is NIL landscape with a whole bunch of things going on that contribute to that.

My concerns are the growing trend of athletes opting out of the postseason. Because if they’re not expected to play, why are “we” expected to show up in support? And if “we” don’t show up to the games, we won’t get the good ones. It’ll be like the WAC years all over again, where we were easily bowl eligible, but left out of the postseason. Or like the MWC where we’d deserved “Auburn” in the “Sugar”, but got stuck with “Pitt” in the “Fiesta”.

One of Utah’s biggest advantage had been our “culture”. But what kind of “culture” will we have if “we” stop supporting the team?

Going forward, Utah fans will be fine. Fans of winning will struggle much more. Not all of us are one or the other and even as a mixture of both it is hard to see yourself as a fan of winning. Both like a quality product on the field but the differences come into play during adversity. A fan of the UofU is more likely to see this year as less then the two previous but simply starts looking forward to next year.

This has a feel much like ’19. We went down to Santa Clara for the CCG and got worked by Oregon. The mood leaving the game was awful, many suggested the gap between Utah and Washington or Oregon was just too much to overcome. Lots of analysis of their advantages and our disadvantages. As it turns out, even good programs have periods of adversity. There were questions around these players, these coaches etc.

Going forward, sure we may need to deal with all the Big 12 teams and their advantages. Or the Big 12 teams may need to deal with what Utah has going. May as well find a way to enjoy the ride.

1) NIL/Portal are going to make Utah a prime ground for farming by the SEC and B10. Utah can scout and develop the crap out of players, but we won’t keep the ones that shine in this current broken system. That’s not just us but since we have always been a team that thrived on finding and polishing diamonds in the rough it will hit us particularly hard.

2) When Whit does leave, reality is going to hit a lot of people very hard. He has been a once in a century coach for a team like Utah based both on his ability to win and his willingness to stay. We may see a year or two with a fresh Urban type but finding someone to really sustain as Whit has done is so damn unlikely that it makes me sad to even contemplate.

3) Injuries…something is going on. Either the worst luck of all time, or we have some kind of issue. The lack of transparency around injuries and healing is problematic this year. We can’t treat injuries like we have this year. Rising, Kuithe, Bernard, JJ, and on and on is probably a whole different thread but it’s a big concern for me if we don’t see a big change next year.