I don’t know what offense they want at Utah

Did Ludwig buy a new book on offensive play calling in the off season? I really don’t know what’s going on.

I appreciate you mentioning Harding here, the offensive line has had good moments but feels terribly inconsistent overall. There were some egregious misses on blitz pick ups tonight that got Wilson absolutely killed

The OL is a big issue, I am just wondering if bad OL play is the cause or the result of other issues or both. However the current state is bad enough to lose our best recruit for next year. First, Defense 101 will tell you to attack a young freshman QB relentlessly until they give you a clear reason to rebalance the defense. Last years experience reinforces this approach. Not at all helpful is each time we play someone coming off a bye week which gives them the opportunity to refine this attack rather than use the more simple week to week adjustment. We are now playing teams with a base defense set of a loaded box with various plays of run blitz.

In the past, Utah has had a physical runner that was able to sometimes exploit this defensive position when the RB broke the initial rush. Utah also has had RB options that allow changeup and put some pressure on this attack to force more thinking. Bernard is a great RB and is clearly our bright spot in the offense, however we do not have the physical RB or the complement RB options which is almost overwhelming given that I think Bernard is on a pitch count of about 20.

I have been looking for options to counter this attack like screen passes, quick 2 second passes like slants and TE routes, or more run plays following TE doubles to find spots with numbers. Wilson seems to be comfortable with quick throws to help counter these defenses.

Ludwig needs to avoid the collapse that can result and was witnessed in the complete failure of Brewer. I think Wilson is actually doing quite well given the situation. We need a reset like we had when we replaced Brewer but this time we can’t get it done with a QB replacement, we need to get it done with play calls. This will be much tougher without RB options. The loss of JJ without replacement may just be the biggest problem we have faced in years and I mean that with zero disrespect for Bernard which is an awesome RB option but can’t be the sole option.

Back to the OL, sadly they can’t focus on the majority of their practice book for a balanced offense, they need to refine becoming the defense from an attacking loaded box pressure package and Lud needs to refine the attack of a defense out of position. We are already inviting this attack big time and will have it in spades until we punish this type of attack.

The defense is fine for the most part even without dominate line play, lack of a stud cover back, and LBer and safety play that we have become accustomed to. They will come to life at a different level if the offense can simply score at a league average pace.

ludwig came back to utah with the hopes of getting the HC after wit. retires, now that Scalley has been named the HC in waitting, AL has said fck. it!