A few thoughts…

[UteBacker]

I know.  I know.  I’m sure everyone is getting worn out reading takes on the game.  Allow me to throw a few thoughts in before I mentally move on from this.

– The odds caught up to us.  Even Utah State took us out a few times in the last thirty years.  

– This game reminds me of UNLV 2007.  We lost that game 27-0 after beating the living hell out of UCLA.  Talk about a WTF game.  Saturday night felt like that.

– We ran into a buzzsaw Saturday night.  It was the perfect storm for those guys.  They simply wanted this game more and it showed.  Covey was saying on his show last week that they were having issues getting the youngsters to understand what they were going into and that showed too.  

– Honestly, I’m not that p**sed off that we lost to BYU.  They were due.  I AM p**sed that we just lost a game to a G5 team, but it looks like the Pac 12 should get used to this.

– And THIS is why, in my opinion, it sucks to play these guys every year.  We win and it’s not even a blip on the national radar.  We lose and it’s a disgrace.  There’s no upside for us.  This will change when BYU joins the XII.

– I’m scared: BYU just gave our conference foes the blueprint on how to beat us and those teams are a lot more talented.

– I hope we don’t let this game beat us twice.  SDSU will come to play.

– We can still have a good season.  I think all that talk of 9 wins being our floor can be put to bed now.  No matter what happens the rest of the season, it’s just not going to be quite as bright after losing to our in-state rivals.

– This is going to get me some thumbs down, but I think Ute Nation was probably due for a little humbling concerning this rivalry (including me).  I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve felt pretty humble the past couple of days.  

– THIS game is what makes college football the absolute best sport in the world.  I love it.  It just sucks when you’re on the wrong side of the game result. 

That’s it.  Back to my social media strike until the end of the week.

 

[SantaVaca]

Great post. Especially comparing this game to the UNLV game. I remember thinking before the game that BYU didn’t stand a chance. And I’m sure the players and coaches were thinking the same thing. 

I think we all needed to be humbled a little and realize that other teams, especially BYU will give 1000% of their attention to beating us now. We can’t afford to have let downs like we did on Saturday. 

I also remember how we used the 2007 UNLV game as a springboard to bigger and better things. 

Let’s hope that losing to BYU last Saturday was just the perfect storm and we use it to refocus and help us realize what we need to do to make sure a game like that doesn’t happen again. 

I think Whit has shown us a million times that he can fix a problem. Maybe this loss is what we needed to help us recover and win the conference title.  

[Crazyforu]

Going back to that UNLV game. I remember there being a Gordon Monson piece the next day where the title of the article was “Clueless Kyle”. I might be mis-remembering the name of the article, pretty sure that was the name though. Just over a year after that article, Kyle was National Coach of the Year. Point being, sometimes you needs some garbage to happen, for the good to take place.

 

I think the problem with college football right now, is one loss feels like the end of the world, especially in terms of something like the playoffs. 20+ years ago, just making a bowl game was awesome! I think we can all be honest in saying that Utah was pretty fortunate to win 9 in a row. The Burton Block game could have gone another way, easily. The 3 field goals at the end game could have gone differently, the Taysom Hill 2-point conversation could have been different, even the 20-0 game a couple of years ago could have been different, with just a couple bounces. Utah obviously won those games, it isn’t as though they were clear blow-outs though.

 

The last few years, it honestly feels like the passion for this game from the team just isn’t there. Gone are the days of Stevenson Sylvestor walking over to the Cougar side like terminator, ready to roll some heads. Now we just walk in expecting to win, with little emotion. I am not sure if that is on purpose, the passion from the Utah side certainly doesn’t appear to be what it once was though.

 

We are a spoiled fan base, there is no question to that.

[younglurch]

Totally agree. The rivalry was losing its luster and this definitely injected some spice back into it. Sucks we’ll have TDS fans holding this over our heads until 2024, but we’ve finally got some great out of conference games lined up the next 2 seasons to help ease the pain.

As for this season, our goals remain unchanged. It was shocking to see how we got manhandled by an athletically inferior team, so lets hope this wakes our guys up and we can head in to PAC-12 play with some juice. I still believe this team can contend in the south, especially with USC looking shaky. 

[AlohaUte]

– And THIS is why, in my opinion, it sucks to play these guys every year. We win and it’s not even a blip on the national radar. We lose and it’s a disgrace. There’s no upside for us. This will change when BYU joins the XII.

I disagree with this, but otherwise you are spot on. BYU is not G5, no conference considers them so, they all (with the exception of one or two, consider playing BYU and P5 game, even if they are also not directly P5. But losing to BYU doesn’t hurt Utah like losing to UNLV would and it is not a disgrace. I hate losing to them and as fans it is a disgrace, but it’s not to anyone that actually matters. Also, as you said, all this is moot anyway as next time we play them they will be in the Big12.

Also, I am in the camp that we should be playing BYU every year. Rivalry is the spice of CFB life. Both fan bases are still very passionate about this game. I was at the game on Saturday and Lavelle Edwards Stadium was lit up for the game (and I’ll also add that with the exception of one guy who was kind of douchy, BYU fans were very nice and welcoming). I don’t like the NFL for a reason, it is too professional and they take themselves too seriously. I love college football and one of the best things about it are regional rivalries, in-state – even in-family division, etc. Utah-BYU is one of the best rivalries in college football and it is one of the few games each year where the national media even sort of cares about Utah. I wish we played the game every year.

[PlainsUte]

I disagree a bit, the Cougs going to the XII is not that big of a deal.  Elsewhere (I am in Big12 country) there is respect for BYU because they have knocked off a number of P-5 teams over the years, including some high profile teams like USC and Oklahoma.   Just last week they beat P-5 Arizona (agreed, they are potentially the doormat of the Pac-12 this year and Vegas is practically a home game for them).  Also it is known UU-BYU is a big in-state rivalry game, so similar to games like Oklahoma-OkState, Iowa-ISU, anything can happen in the rivalry game regardless of what the teams look like on paper or accomplish in other weeks of the season.   Message to the Ute players, learn from what went wrong and remember you are still 0-0 in the Pac-12 this year.

[MDUte]

Totally agree Aloha. I flew in from the East Coast to attend the game. And it obviously sucked to lose but the atmosphere and the experience being there with my “divided” family was awesome. All the BYU fans I interacted with before and during the game were great and very respectful. Rivalries and tradition are the bedrock of college football and what makes it so unique and special. We’re lucky to have one the best rivalries in the country and I too am of the opinion that the instate game should be played every year possible.

[Central Coast Ute]

But they’re not P5. They have no path to the playoff, unlike ND. That makes them G5 equivalent.

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