Help me feel better

[ProudUte]

I was shocked by how bad our D played today. Also, Baylor only has about 100 total yards at half time against a bad AF team. So, I don’t think we can say we played great D against the Bears.

I started to sip the kool-aid, and now I have thrown it up. As it sits now, my expectations have been lowered. I think we are probably 8-4 or at best a 9-3 team. I hate to be negative and maybe this is an over-reaction.

Someone tell me why I should not be worried. 🙂

[GameForAnyFuss]

Help you feel better? Well, we won the football game by 3 scores.

[ProudUte]

Sorry, that does not explain the pathetic defensive effort.

[GameForAnyFuss]

OK…in spite of the pathetic defensive effort, we still won the football game by 3 scores. On the road, with a backup freshman QB making his first start. Better?

[PhiladelphiaUte]

That really does sum it all up.

[Ute Dub]

We were playing against a QB that knew our defense very well. Do you think any of that factored in?

[PebbleStar]

I think one of Whit’s comments was since Barnes knew the defense so well, Scalley tried to throw some looks at him that he hadn’t seen. It didn’t work, so they went back to their standard defensive sets and things seemed to settle.

Sounds like the D had a harder time adjusting to these new sets.

[AlohaUte]

I suspect the D took the game for granted and that Scalley kept things vanilla. The last two games our D was nasty before this. I don’t expect this kind of performance next week.

Also, on the road against a rival is always dangerous. I’m not happy, buy I’m also not panicking. Isaac looked a lot better and I’m cautiously optimistic.

[RoboUte]

We really don’t look great but we have shaped up as the season wore on in the past.

[ProudUte]

I hope we do what Notre Dame did after their loss last week to a G5 team. Sometimes the best thing that can happen to you in sports is to pull out a win when you played ugly. It serves as a wake-up call. I hope this is the case for Scalley and the D. Also, we need Reid back BIG-time!!!

[SteelUte]

Had some starters out, but it wasn’t all that great. We won the game, and that is the main objective in a game. So there’s those things

[EagleMountainUte]

I can make you feel better. But it’s gonna cost ya.

[RoboUte]

Sea bass, is that you?

[GreatNorthernUte]

Look at the drive chart. Two of the
Aggies scoring drives included long bombs where Barnes threw a mediocre ball and the receiver made an amazing catch. The actual defensive play was not bad.

Worst drive for our D was the 3rd quarter scoring drive where we gave up the two long runs. That was poor.

Rest of the drives we shut them right down. Look at time of possession. Aggies put up 350+ yards on 23 minutes of possession, most of that in the first half. That tells you the story.

Defense did not play an A game, I agree. But I did not see a defense that was physically overwhelmed or in over their heads. It is correctable stuff.

[EagleMountainUte]

I would say it shows a pattern where Utah needs to figure out their coverages. Dline has to get home quicker next week. These corners are young and losing poorly thrown 50/50 balls.

[2008 National Champ]

For me it’s definitely an over-reaction but I said 9-3 months ago and haven’t seen anything to tell me different either way.

If the expectation was that Utah would dominate in all facets in every game, that’s on you. Georgia has been the best team for the last 3 years and their fans are disappointed at least half of the time.

Only advice I can give is to not let the minutiae distract from the result. Could’ves, should’ves and would’ves are great for internet traffic but the scoreboard doesn’t give a damn.

[Dallas]

9-3 felt like our floor at the beginning of the season. Now it feels like our ceiling.

[2008 National Champ]

Barring an injury deluge, there’s really only ever been 4 games to worry about on the schedule: OSU, Arizona, Iowa State and uCF. Split those and you’ve got 10-2. Add in one game where nothing goes right and that’s how I got to 9-3.

If you put me in the patented figure-four leg lock and forced me to make a prediction, I think Utah does no worse than split OSU/UA with Wilson at QB. I’m also not convinced that Utah wins both with Rising.

So I still feel like 9-3 isn’t the ceiling, just the most likely outcome. Win next week and I’m playing with house money

[UtesRule]

3-0

Won by 17 on the road with an 18 year old true freshman getting his first start.

Didn’t have any serious injuries.

What’s NOT to be happy about?

[RedUte14]

you seem dramatic. Baylor is doing fine.

[ArcheryUte]

I think this game was overlooked by the team and fans. This was in every sense of the word a trap game with OKST coming up next week.

I look at Oregon struggling heavily with Idaho the first week as a good example – sometimes you play terrible but no matter how terrible you play you still win these types of games

[Miles E.]

I’m not sure our defense is better than last year even considering all the injuries. I underestimated the loss of our two stud safety’s from last year. USU had a lot of open receivers. We’re lucky Barnes sailed a lot of his deep throws.

[Charlie]

Maybe some forgot because it has been a while playing in Logan, but for eons we have had tough games there. I believe they really get up to play Utah and the Y and seem to make it a game most the time in Logan even with a big gap between us and them.

[Utah5410]

Easy. We cane out flat and looked lost and scared. However, instead of crumbling like last year (See OSU), Wilson let us down the field throwing dimes and a TD to Parks. He looked in control from then on out. Yes he threw some balls high. But, considering that was his first start and first road game in a hostile environment (this was USU Superbowl) he grew up. In one start amazing.

Whitt mentioned that we got cute to start the game on D. Guys were thinking too much and were rattled. But, look how they bounced back. One drive was terrible middle of the third where they basically let them convert 12 4ths and forever but it is what it is.

Historically we tend to play down to our competition on the road. I have never understood why. Must be a Whitt thing. But we get fired up on the road when we play teams that we are not supposed to beat. See UW last year.

I think everyone will be ready to go next week. Games matter now. And OSU is no joke.

Rising will be playing and hopefully Reid and O’Toole.

[pedro]

Honestly Proud, as long as we have been around, I’m surprised you’re not just enjoying the ride. During the game, that is impossible to do. But as each season comes and goes, I’m just glad the Utes are where they are and the Kyle is at the helm as that assures us success at this point.

Best wishes

[Kolya]

Drink blood eat raw liver and butter
You’ll feel really really good

[Anfernee]

That’s pretty soft.

[Virginia Ute]

I don’t know about the D, but man Wilson looked awesome to me yesterday, especially coming out of half time. Makes me happy about the future at last and also makes me more secure if Rising should go down again.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

I think these first three games have exposed a few weaknesses. Going 3-0 is the goal. This week will be the true test of what we have on defense and offense.

Our coaches will make some adjustments and have the team ready to go. We developed our backup qb and figured out what our running game will look like. Our “throw game” looks like our strength and we have some playmakers on offense. Look for a more open passing game going forward. A lot more on the line going forward.

[AZUTE]

This was a classic trap game. Utah was overlooking USU towards Okie St.

Utah came out flat and USU was excited and motivated. I’ve been saying this was their bowl game and Barnes has something to prove.

The Ags dominated the first qtr but when Utah focused and started to play they blew out USU. Down 14-3 Utah outscored them 35-7 and out gained the Ags something like 400 yards to 200 yards.

Next sat Rising will be back and Utah will be focused from the opening kickoff.

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