As frustrating as 2023 was with Bryson Barnes, I’d happily go back to 2023 and the Bryson Barnes led offense. This sounds nice for the wins and losses but if Utah still had Bryson Barnes in 2024 would that just be putting off the underlying offensive and QB problems until 2025?
What’s interesting is that the 2023 offense actually finished statistically ranked just as bad the 2024 offense currently is. But it sure felt like that team had much more of a “know how to win” factor. Outside of the bowl game, they beat the teams they were supposed to beat, which is a trait that this 2024 team seemingly lost the ability to do. I don’t think anybody would argue that 2023 team was more talented than 2024 (at least offensively), so the fact we are now losing to teams we shouldn’t be raises a lot of questions as to what happened.
I miss guys like Bishop, Vaki, Vele etc. None of those dudes would go on social media and bitch like Singer and King did. Even if they felt that way. They’d handle it in-house. This is the most un-Whittingham team I’ve seen. The effort, attitude, accountability.
I’m one of those fans and I still feel the same way. We know a heck of a lot more about the QB room now than if he had stayed and there is a high possibility the team would look the exact same.
I was one of the fans who wanted Barnes gone. At the time I think many of us, me included, assumed Rising would come back at full strength and do what he did in 2021 and 2022. How many Ute fans didn’t drink that kool-aid?