Biggest fears going in to the new conference.

I upvote any post that doesn’t use the name of the new conference. It’s like not saying the name of the team down south.

I would also add that no team in P5 since 2000 I believe has won their league since joining there new league. Example: Nebraska hasn’t won the big ten yet after leaving the big xii. This only applies to P5 to P5 movement. I could be wrong though on this stat.

The heat/humidity will only be a factor in Stillwater. But it won’t be as bad there as it was last year in Waco.

The next “hot” game we’ll play won’t be until mid-October, when we head on down to Tempe. But we’d have done that anyway in the Pac-12.

We play @ Houston next, but that’s the weekend before Halloween. So it’s not like there will be any “heat advisories” in that game. The average late-October temperatures in Houston ranges from 60-80 degrees, depending on the time of day. The closer to evening kickoffs, the lower the mercury, and closer to “60 degree” football weather.

We get Baylor and TCU in SLC.

Not sure I agree with playing in a racous stadium for the first time. Autzen is as difficult and racous a place to play as there is. The BYU game in 2021 in Provo was nuts, etc. That said, the Big12 will have it more consistently.

But looking at our road games this season, only Oklahoma State will have that atmosphere, maybe Colorado depending on how the team is doing (but we are familiar with CU). Houston, UCF, and ASU aren’t anything crazier than we’ve experienced in the pac-12. The schedule really does do us a favor.

When we have a season with @ISU, @TTU, @KSU it will be kinda nuts.

The humidity in Big12 country is no joke. Nothing takes a toll like humidity. Just like sea level teams playing at high elevation is no joke. Both are an effective home field advantage.

Injuries are my biggest fear. Keep Cam healthy and the team will have the best chance at winning the conference.

Sipping the Koolaide until the OSU game. Utah has everything in place to win the B12. Mostly all good for Utah to run the B12. Some of my fears/questions. How do Rising and Kuithe respond being out of football for so long? Can KW coach his team to play high level football throughout the season in the limelight? How does Utah respond to critical game situations winning the routine 1-2 WTF games Utah fails to show up and play to their potential?

As long as Utah shows up, Utah’s non-conference schedule is a series of organized scrimmages considering the state of BU and Utah State. Three games to get Rising mentally back in game shape and help keep a rotation of players on the field going into the OSU game. From a play-off and business perspective, the OSU game is a huge game for Utah going into the B12 season. One of the most intriguing, exciting seasons in Utah football history.

WHAT!!!!! Don’t buy this stadium bulls**t. Utah has played at Michigan, Autzen, Florida, the Rose Bowl, Husky Stadium.

This stadium nonsense is just that. Nonsense. The crowd noise will not be a factor because it ain’t that abnormal.

Utah will struggle at Oklahoma St or Orlando Florida…lol. Give me a break.

S**t, we went to Baylor last year, with no offense and beat them. I guarantee you that no stadium will be intimidating to this team or coaching staff. We’ve been there before and conquered much bigger giants.

To me, it’s less about the stadium itself, but the road trips where it’s all new. Cognitive load taking away from the focus on the game. We have a great logistics staff and they are visiting these locations and getting tips from the schools and conference (where to stay, eat, etc.). But each player may feel a little off in knowing simple stuff like where the bathroom is. Not a huge deal, but new situations 6 times is more than prior years when they maybe had one ‘new’ road game out of conference and they could figure that out since it was a one-off.

Overall, same concern with learning the tendencies of the new schools that just comes with time, prep, and repetition. No big deal doing that once or twice a season, but we’ll have it more. At least there isn’t an Air Force or some different offense to learn. We also have to figure out how to best figure out their signals quickly ;).

I think the stadiums on road games will not be a big factor. It is so helpful that both the offense and defense set callers have already experienced getting everyone lined up and in assignment before in hostel and loud stadiums. The only exception is QB2 which is common and Loma. I expect Loma is getting much attention and is working with the LG. It will be game 4 which is much better than rolling a new starter out at Florida. That place was insane with, I expect, nothing close to it in the Big-12. Other new starters like WRs brought experience with them, only Lyons and Lohner will be new to stadium chaos. The C is somewhat settled in and should be good to go by game 4.

As to weather, wind and rain effects both teams pretty much the same. Whitt did learn from a average Az team that RichRod had practice under lawn sprinklers and upset a favored Utah team on a very rainy day. As for heat, we learn about the readiness of the 2s. Most important is the DL and that rotation could not be better, OL just does not see much rotation. The skill players are deep in WR and TE groups, S and CB depth we just need to see. But even teams that see heat more also may not have 2 that can rotate in without weak spots. The Houston and UCF games should be out of the high heat windows, ASU does not matter.

Utes should be fine. Show up to games, be loud, and support on the road if you can. Utes will have a target simply because many media outlets and personalities have their championship pick as OSU, KSU, or Utah. Plus it could always be worse – imagine how weird it is to be an ASU/BYU fan getting off the plane and seeing you’re the only one walking on all fours.

None, except for seasons in which we get unlucky and draw all the farthest road destinations. For example, @UCF, @WVU, and @Cinci.

Big 12 fans saying stadium like Autzen or Husky stadium aren’t loud. The noise will not be significantly higher. It’s not LSU or Florida.

Big 12 fans saying that the 3-3-5 defense is something that Utah fans will struggle with don’t know what they are talking about. Utah coaches obviously know what the 3-3-5 is, and will prepare for it accordingly. Do they expect our coaches to just come in unprepared for the 3-3-5 and be shocked when they see it in game? If the 3-3-5 was so amazing, teams like UGA, Ohio State, or Bama would run it as their base defense. The 3-3-5 is not some god tier scheme, or else every team would run it. It’s a scheme that can allow lesser talented teams to potentially slow down higher talented teams with explosive offenses, particularly spread and air raid teams. Utah doesn’t even run that offensive scheme anyway. I’m not a football coach or analyst, and maybe OnlyU or someone else can provide insight here (or maybe we can start a thread about it), but I imagine that Utah is probably very well equipped to deal with the 3-3-5 with our TE’s and the mismatches they can create.

1- That our conference opponents will be better than we think they will be while being nationally underrated. Texas has produced a lot of tremendous football players. Football seems to be something of a religion with huge high school stadiums, devoted fans, and well coached players. We have brought in a lot of fantastic yet underrated TX prospects that have excelled. Players like 3* Brant Kuithe from Katy, TX.

TCU was always a tough game when we were conference mates and I thought a big part of this was their ability to recruit excellent yet under recruited players from TX and develop them into studs- just like Utah does.

2. That our recruiting could fall off if we don’t dominate the conference.

I am not predicting that these will happen but this my attempt at listing
fears for the new conference. I am excited about the conference, the year, and Utah’s future.

Biggest Fear Number 1 – That neither Rising nor Kuithe are the same players that they were before their injuries. This being football, it would not be the first time something like this happened. If that’s true, particularly in Rising’s case, then we’re in for a rollercoaster season, to put it mildly.
Biggest Fear Number 2 – That Utah gets every opposing team’s best effort in their conference schedule. If this happens, especially in the away contests versus OK ST and UCF, it could be problematic.
Biggest Fear Number 3 – Lack of familiarity with opponents leads to mistakes by the coaching staff or key players during in-game situations.

I think that it’s the 1st time vs [team] thing and we’re going to be getting a lot of teams best shot.

Sometimes Whitt etal. have been phenomenal on a 1 game basis (bowls) and sometimes it has been a massive dumpster fire of a game plan.

He’s a grinder and so over time, and multiple game sample sizes he’s found ways to grind it out and beat equal or better teams and not lose to many worse ones. But these 1st time games have been a coin flip… You saw this in the early PAC12 years when we’d lose to ASU and Colorado when we should be beating them but lay eggs.