Just My Thoughts…

These games allow us to kick some rust off. 1stQ was a bit concerning. Also got our freshman QB some game time. I think these games have quite a bit of value.

Coaches say that the biggest improvement comes between game 1 and game 2. I hope that this is the case. I think we need to play better against Baylor. I think we will. As I said in a different post, we did not use half of our many offensive weapons. This game gave Rising a chance to get a feel for playing again. So this game served its purpose.

Go Utes!!!

My thoughts – don’t read too much into them, they are just random thoughts.

1. Kenan’s injury is really sad. I’m more sad for him than the team. That being said, how did we not get a veteran to come in and be CB 3? I hope that is an indication of how they feel about the rest of the group (IE, they didn’t need another guy), but the fact that Randle was listed on the depth chart worries me.

2. Cam and Kuithe are 90% back. Kuithe looked more his old self than Cam did by a slight margin. Cam still has great touch on his throws. He still has that instinct on where to go with his feet when things break down. He has clearly lost a step though. I worry that Cam still has his signature tunnel vision. Loved seeing Kuithe score a bunch, but I wanted to see other guys get in on the action. Oh well.

3. Glover is the same guy he was before. No ability to gain YAC whatsoever. He runs great until someone touches him, he immediately stops. I think he thinks he’s playing freeze tag.

4. Stanley – He’s going to be fun to watch

5. The other Glover – RUN UP FIELD FOR HELLS SAKE. Man, I miss Covey. He could make dudes miss while running upfield like I’ve never seen before. He could cut and move upfield at the same time. He would almost always gain at least a couple of yards on returns. Sadface.

6. Lohner – he should have made this switch to football years ago.

Final thought: This team kind of reminds me of the Karl Malone Lakers. For some reason it just feels kind of cobbled together. It could go really well, or completely fall apart.

1. I think this is a perfect starting game – starting against UF and the fall camp is amped up to get ready for the physicality. An FCS or even lower level G5 is great. Rising out by halftime? perfect. It’s a preseason game essentially, a live scrimmage against a team calling their plays and defenses. It’s a final dress rehearsal. Any injury can happen in any game. For us to blame a ‘low-level’ game as a waste because someone (Keenan) got injured is a copout. He could have gotten injured in the 1st half of Baylor. Same early season injury.

2. Cam looked good, but didn’t really need to go through progressions much. We have so many weapons, SUU doesn’t have the talent or schemes to cover them all. Kuithe had great routes, great hands, and LOVED the drive through 4 defenders to get the TD. On his 2nd TD, he was squatted down pretty far, blocked, and then released out. On replay, I was most encouraged by deep his ankles and knees were bent – to me that showed he is fully confident in his healing.

3. RB didn’t have to do much and the load was spread. A couple decent 5-7 yard runs, but we will need to continue to improve on blocking and cohesion as an OL. Some missed pass rush assignments. Lots of passing game, which, with our depth at TE and good WR might shift the run mindset to short pass game. But again, hard to tell since it was vanilla offense against a far inferior team.

4. DL needs to clean some stuff up and LB missed some holes allowing for a few decent plays by SUU RB. But, no points, low yards, so good practice

5. Stanley was a surprise to me frankly. I would have thought Money would get that route. For Stanley to do it twice was awesome. I’m guessing Ludwig called it a 2nd time because why not, hoping for a 1st down and then it was more open than the 1st time.

6. Glover returning that punt would have gained like 2 yards going forward. I think he got surprised by a faster coverage guy than he thought. If he broke that tackle or spun, he probably would have had a TD though. It was ok to take that risk at that time, so I’m fine with losing some yard there mid-field.

7. Lohner?! Dang our TEs are deep. What an athlete to make the switch. The 1st Wilson INT was to Lohner and I thought, ‘what if Lohner is a mole?’ JK – it’s fine. The TD throw was a little too far to the inside, but Lohner went and got it, kind of like Travis Hunter’s 3rd TD last night.

8. Wilson – I’m kind of glad he threw the INT right before half. Learning opportunity, get settled back down, realize you are in college fb now, and get back to work. For a true freshman, great job. That’s the type of experience that he needs to get. A full half+ with new plays, players, against the next level of competition.

9. ST was good, but not really tested. The kickoffs are to the 0. Seemed like the strategy. Hopefully we can kick it out of the endzone when desired. Last night, they usually tackled them around the 20.

10. Officiating. Meh – who were those guys? I hope they weren’t Big 12. They weren’t terrible, but not great either. It did seem like a few times they spotted the ball shorter than where the guy was tackled.

Looking forward to Baylor and opening up the playbook a little more. Establish the run game a little more with Bernard, Glover, Mitchell (loved the power to get the 1st). Use Singer more, 3-4 TEs, Bernard, Stanley, Pittman, Parks. I’m hoping Cam can process the defense and just take what the D gives. Not sure if he can check/audible, but I remember Peyton’s Denver years where if he was X look, short pass; Y look, run and it was easy to march down the field.

Actually, I think these FCS games are good when you view them as preseason games but they can bit you if you lose or play poorly. They are hipped up and trying hard to make an impression. In a strange way it is a taste of someone that just does not want to lose a game. Get ready because USU will bring that odd emotion to try to make some statements even while knowing they are down a league. Finally, the Y will play different against us, different than their actual placement in the conference pecking order. We need to be ready for teams that are anxious to show something against us to make a point. That will be common as a top 10 team and we will see these elements again especially on the road. Love that now we are the guys others want desperately want to show something against after years of most often being the one to try to get attention.

Singer had a lot of attention from the defense. That can’t last but for now the offense benefits from that point of worry.

Cam did look good when hitting open receivers that he does not expect to see like that the rest of the season. Good starting game if we build upon this. Got the fist hits for him out of the way.

I also thought ST looked good. Catches at the 1 and contained will maybe provide more big plays for Utah than we give up. I expect the the KR is a threat the ball will come down in the back of the EZ.

Don’t compare beginning Rayshawn to on a roll Covey. Covey had his moments in the beginning losing yards trying to find open space and even trying to catch high on the shoulder in traffic. I am still expecting a similar process of learning and refining. I am hoping to see him give a couple of yards and find the open space to see what he can do. From the cover team perspective, he is just the kind of PRer that can create stress even after you have covered him well a few times. Be patient.