It was a big game. We lost. But there is still a lot to play for.

[Smack]

Like a lot of you, I have had high hopes. This team looked like it could be the one. We knew there were question marks—we knew the first three games had not answered all of the questions—but there was reason to hope for good things.

There is still reason to hope.

Tonight was tough. Frustrating. We were one or two yards from two touchdowns, and we came away with three points on those two drives. We left eleven points on the field that we might have gotten if Moss had been on the field. I say might. Moss might not have scored on those drives. Whatever. The Utes couldn’t get it done. USC was good enough to hold us out. We lost; they won.

But this is not the end. Any rational person knew it was possible we could lose to USC. USC is stacked with talent. And when it comes out, it is hard to stop.

Ironically, our smashmouth D might have done us a disservice by knocking out Slovis on the second play of the game. We planned for him, and it might have been better to have a freshman out there. Sometimes it’s the unexpected event that tosses an odd variable into play. Of course, it may be that USC would have played us the same way with either QB. Ifs and buts are too uncertain to support much analysis.

So what now? The same plan we had yesterday: win the rest of our games.

There is a lot of good football left to play, and there is still a chance of winning the South and more.

I feel certain this team won’t give up. I’m not inclined to give up either.

The games will be played. I might as well keep on having fun (and agonizing at the same time) while cheering on my Utes.

Go UTES!

[SkinyUte]

I think USC still loses a couple games. They’re a completely different team on the road than they are at home.

Still, frustrating loss. You can only shoot yourself in the foot so many times against a talented team and hope to come out on top. As always, the P12 eats itself.

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

They have to play @ Washington, @ ASU, AND @ Cal.

[Trailgoat]

It was very apparent USC has better athletes. USC develops their 4/5 star athletes better than Utah develops their 2/3 star athletes. All things considered penalties, stalled drives in the red zone. Utah is out matched by USC.

[EagleMountainUte]

Disagree politely. Throwing a ball into double coverage is stupid. Generally the safety or DB makes a play. Which Utah finally did. I guess Scalley felt better with a hurt Blackmon than a backup.  

[Dwight89]

If USC can throw into double coverage all night and rack up 500 yards I think that’s a pretty good indicator that their athletes are better than ours. 

[TexanUte]

Wasn’t double coverage all night. I am thinking most on this board dont actually understand the details of football coaching and schemes. They played man press coverage 90 percent of the time. You are misleading people by saying this just to make the point that there was nothing we could do because their talent was so much better which is patently false. We got out-coached which is nothing new for this team.

[EagleMountainUte]

Nurse would release his man because he didn’t want to keep him up at times. The two really bad reads by Blackmon he stumbled because of the brace. Just from my vantage point that is what happened and it turned into a TD or big play. Nurse was probably the most disappointing and then Blackmon struggled mightily. 

[oc_ute]

man press coverage with a safety that couldn’t run a 6.0 40.  bad on scalley

[UtMtBiker]

Terrible take.

[TexanUte]

Not true – Utah has put more players into the NFL over the past many years. I am sick of the hype on 4 star HS athletes. Who makes it to the NFL is a better indicator of actual talent than guesses at HS guys for godsake.

[Tony (admin)]

I had us losing two games this year.  One at USC and the other at Washington.  After tonight I think there will be 1-2 others.

 

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

I think Utah can still win @ Washington if Moss is healthy by then.

[DefenseAgainstTheDarkOC]

Battling for 3rd place in the south. Very satisfying! Wow, so much on the line.

 

I am absolutely giddy with anticipation. Oh wait our season is already s**t and we haven’t even gotten to our november meltdown yet. nvm

[RUUTES]

Agreed. When was the last time ANY PAC-12 team made it through the season undefeated?

We just played one of the deepest teams in the nation, at their home (which is a big advantage for them) and they were on a big emotional high to prove something.

While we were walking in thinking it was our year.

We will get centered now…hopefully learn how to defend better against the long pass (to damn Superman of wide receivers)…and have a solid year.

Nothing is over…a realistic thing just happened. Now a realistic response is to play well and insure we win all the games we can win and still very possibly win the south. Year is far from over.

[Author]

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