As a Whit apologist, let me just say that I agree… somewhat. I don’t necessarily have a problem though with the idea of going conservative. Stats will tell you that running a conservative game plan like that with that kind of lead is smart. However, I DO have major issues with the play calling. 2nd and 2 off tackle right. 3rd and 2 off tackle left. 4th and 2, off tackle left. If it didnt’ work the first two times, why would it work the 3rd? Then the decision to throw on that last 3rd and 6, allowing them to keep their timeout was absolutely mind blowingly dumb. That last sack we had would have been the last play of the game had we ran it on that 3rd down. COMMITT!!! If we are going to go conservative, than go conservative!! You can’t mix and match the two philosophies and expect success.
Furthermore, why do we go away from plays that work? The option was working in the first half. From what I saw, we ran it ZERO times in the 2nd. We did the same thing last week. The first TD against the Huskies was a beautifully designed play. never saw it again the rest of the game. Running the TE on the out was working well (though the QB couldn’t seem to hit him), yet we only saw that a 3 times in the 2nd half.
Unlike most, I was not too excited to see Lud come back. Everyone points to 08, but I clearly remember many of these same problems in 08 (including Red zone issues). I’m still willing to cut him some slack, but he’s got to wake up and Whit is the one who has to do the waking!
Utah @ 
Baylor 
.
