I have stayed away from college football for the last week

[ProudUte]

The last two games were very painful because we had the potential to do amazing things.  I am not here to debate what went wrong.  I have no clue. The bowl game could be as simple as the team was down because of the Oregon game and didn’t bounce back.

I am over it all now.  I will choose to remember the 2019 season as a season where we went 11-1 and dominated most every team.  What a fun season.  It ended badly for sure.  Oh well, we will have to pick ourselves up and get ready for next season.

Congrats to the team for a fantastic regular season and so many personal awards.  We have never had so many all-conference and all-American honors.  I think there may be 10 Utes drafted by the NFL.  That is amazing!

Go Utes!!!

 

[GameForAnyFuss]

Let’s also think about all those seniors on the football team (and the seniors in other sports) who are walking out of here with a degree from the University of Utah. That’s really what this is all about – kids who might not otherwise have had a shot at a college education now have that diploma, which will open doors to them for the rest of their lives.

I smile when I see a kid go pro in his or her sport, but I smile bigger when I see them with that piece of paper. If you haven’t gone to a commencement for a while, take the time. See the reaction from those students-athletes and their families. It’s a big, big deal.

[ProudUte]

Good point – I agree!!!

[sweetgrass]

I started to reply to this and then realized I didn’t have the heart or energy.

Grief stage #3 of 124

 

[ProudUte]

I totally understand.  As I mentioned – I took a week away from all college football.  It was just today that I decided to be excited about the regular season and move on.

[User Suspended]

What the Ute beatdown showed me (Similar to the TCU game) is that Utah has a big hurdle to jump.  When all the cards are on the table and a national audience is watching…..Utah craps their pants against better programs.

It’s pretty simple.  Motivated elite talent beats motivated, coached up (Rudy) talent almost every time.

 Utah recruiting classes are around 32  Oregon and Texas are often top 10…. do the math.

word to the Utah AD: How do you get past this hurdle?  Get the kind of coaches who can recruit within the top 20.

I drank the Kool aid this year… it won’t happen again. Until I see what 50% of the responsibility of a head coach is…. recruiting, Utah will be a “good” program but never great.

 

   

[UteBacker]

I gave a thumbs-up to Pace.  Maybe he’s a better fan than me.  He thinks, with the right coach, we can get a top 10 recruiting class.  I don’t think we can.  Maybe in 100 years we’ll be a blue-blood program, but I’ll be long dead.

For me, I look forward to the once-a-decade team of severely underrated Rudy’s that will at least get us talked about in the playoff/Rose Bowl discussion.

[User Suspended]

Have you ever been to Normal OK?  how about Sound Bend IN? I have- many times. – total flyover wasteland. Both have built a program and has basically ZERO to do with the  regional culuture. ZERO.

I get it, we are not OK or ND but you sell a place about the progam and not the place. The right coach can do this.

[pedro]

Geography and culture are two different things.  both those areas have a significantly higher population of African Americans.  Plain and simple.  Many of the elite athletes in this country are of minority decent.  

 

To clarify, please point me to one post where you exhibited the drinking of said Kool Aid.  You are a troll, nothing more.  

[ProudUte]

I understand what you are saying, but don’t totally agree.  Yes, I think we need to improve our recruiting and have posted this in the past.  However, I think we were a better team than we showed against Oregon (I am going to throw the Texas game out).  We dominated teams like Cal that Oregon struggled to beat and dominated an ASU team that Oregon lost to.  I know comparative scoring a lead you down a rat hole.  However, there is enough there to be a pattern.  We dominated every team in the regular season except USC and UW.

I do think we were good enough to compete with Oregon, but we didn’t on that day.  Oregon was the best team on that Friday night for whatever reason, but I am convinced we were capable of winning that game.

I do think there are a handful of coaches who could come in here and recruit better than KW; i.e. Meyer, Saban, etc.  However, we aren’t getting any of these guys.  I assume that someday Scalley will be our head coach.  He may end up being a better recruiter than KW, but it will take time.

 

[User Suspended]

I guess my point is this.

kwhitt has been the Ute coach for many years and has done a good job. But on the BIG stage against motivated elite good teams he has failed BIG time. 

Motivated top programs beat Utah every time.

better players = better results 

[Trailgoat]

Truly a dream season ending on a bad note. Looking at KWs full body of work 8 years into the P12 as Utah’s head coach, this was really an breakout season. KW before this season has a 34-38 P12 record. Two seasons ago, the Utes were 3-6 in the P12. 

KWs last 3-4 seasons will be interesting to see how the program moves to the next level or falls back to a couple 5th place seasons in the P!2. How does Utah football define progress and success moving forward? 

[Utesby1]

Occasionally even Pace makes a valid point.

Did you see the “Red Mamba” last night against Oregon? He played well but is selfish 1 on 3 drive and wild shot lost the game for them. The kid is very full of himself. Say all you want about Coach K but that would not have happened if the kid were at Utah. I assume he will be a one and done but the pros will eat him up for a few years. He is not ready.

[Utah5410]

Sadly I agree with PACE. The recruiting it is what it. I think KWHITT does so much with what he gets I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But sh***** the bee against the same or better quality opponent (WHEN FAVORED or it’s a pickum) I don’t know what happens but Whitt freezes and the team doesn’t play inspired ball. He needs to prove he can win the big game.

[noneyadb]

Fact is- As long as Whitt continues to beat Brigham most in this fanbase are content.

[User Suspended]

so true.  I don’t get thid mormon vs monron thing… but I guess it earns the pay check in Utah,

FYI: No on cares about this game outside of Utah.  

[Charlie]

It would be dumb to suggest everyone but the playoff teams should regret that they drank the Kool-Aid and got excited about football this year. Wait, Oklahoma suffered a beat down so is it all but 3 or should it be all but the champion? Good grief, should everyone not finishing in the top 4 or top 10 fire their coach and hire the ‘right’ one? How many ‘right’ ones are there?

I believe that getting to the top is about more than geography or local culture or money or momentum. Many things come together way beyond the understanding of random fans. So many programs are doing everything they can and they only progress a step by taking something from another program trying just as hard. Trouble with championship and bowl games is half of all the very best teams end the season with a loss.

As a suggestion, most all of the country’s football fans should get excited about each upcoming season, enjoy the ride and not pout when they do not go undefeated. If you are lucky enough to get ranked or climb into the top 10 or even to #5 before falling back into the crowd – there should be reason to feel it has been a great season. Try to imagine the list of others that would have rather had our season then their own.

But I get it. I found the Oregon loss to be a bigger disappointment than any I remember. I just don’t want to overlook the great job the coaches did getting us that far. I also would not feel bad about someone I know going to the Olympics, not winning a medal, not finishing in the top 10. We need to get excited about doing this all again next year.

[noneyadb]

Let’s put this Pac12 season into perspective.
6 of the 12 teams finished with a losing record. Only 2 teams finished with more than 8 wins. 9 of the 12 teams finished with a losing conference record.
Arizona, Colorado, Oregon St, Wazzu, Stanford, and UCLA defensive efficiency all ranked in the bottom 1/3 of D1 football.
Any stats derived from this season are a whole lot of mediocre BS.

[Charlie]

That is the math. When you have two 8 and 1 teams and a 7 and 2 team, it wipes out all the other teams. I expect you will always see this with 2 or more strong teams at the top. May be quite common. Thankfully, several others won 3 or 4 OOC games to gain a couple more with winning seasons. But the whole thing is graded on the curve.

[DataUte]

I remember one year in the MWC where the records were is exact descending order: 8-0, 7-1, 6-2, … 0-8 where every team beat those below them and lost to those above them. It was beautiful.

[Utah5410]

I mean they beat the teams they were supposed to beat. That is not my issue. My issue is WHITT does not know how to beat equal at or more talented teams when utah is the favorite.
Think back to the SC game back in 15 when Utah was at SC and was 3rd in the country and got blasted. Or this year SC, this year Oregon. I mean Washington was a pick em and was really the only outlier. Until Whit can figure this out the rose bowl will be tough.

[Charlie]

That will be a common issue. Most all coaches have a much harder time with teams above them than below them. That is not just a Whitt issue. Until we are the clear best team in the conference we can expect to have a hard time betting the teams that are better. It has happened but those upsets are fewer for all coaches. The teams that finish second or third will see frustration about not finishing on top, likely more frustration then teams below them. But 2 thru 12 can’t simply improve by flipping to a new coach. As an example, if you could swap Oregon’s coach for Whitt it is not at all a certainty that Utah wins it all. Actually, I think Whitt at Oregon would beat their guy here. Whitt is not the reason we have not won it all, in my opinion.

[Cesar Chavez]

I Think that if Utah has 2 or 3 more seasons like this past one, with maybe a PAC-12 tittle and maybe a trip to the play offs, they’ll be able to recruit a top 15-20 class on a regular basis regardless of who is the HC.

[Author]

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