It’s all about Cam Rising

[ProudUte]

Utes and Cam Rising

The video above discusses the Big 12 and Utah being the leader of a competitive conference. These two guys say it all depends on Cam Rising. I think most of us agree with that. We can be a good team without Cam, but I doubt we have a chance of winning the conference without a healthy Cam Rising.

[UteBacker]

Agree 100%, Proud, but you can probably say this about every other BigXII team’s chances if they lose their starting QB.

[Utah]

I don’t know if I agree with this. We have Cam as our starting QB and he’s another level up. But backing him up we have Wilson and Huard. And it sounds like Huard is taking the #2 spot.

Huard has potential out his ears. He was a 5 star kid.

Now, going into the Big 12…look, it ain’t as hard as the PAC-12. Do we need a 5 star/Rising level QB to win the Big 12? Not really.

Look at our schedule:

Southern Utah, Baylor, @Utah State. If we could beat Baylor on the road last year with a pig farmer and Johnson…we should beat them with Huard or Wilson. So, no Rising = 3-0.

@Oklahoma St and Arizona. This is tough. Both are good teams. To feel really good about winning the conference we’d need to go 1-1, but say we go 0-2. Our record is now 3-2.

@Arizona State, TCU, @Houston. We are just better than ASU and Houston. We should win those games. But what TCU team is showing up? The one that was in the playoffs last year or the one that only beat Houston, BYU, SMU and Baylor last year? Last year’s TCU team was BAD. So, we go 3-0. That makes us 6-2.

BYU, @Colorado, Iowa State, @UCF. We will beat BYU. 7-2. And Colorado…if they are healthy, they could beat us, but with our defense and how mentally weak that team is…I could see a pretty experienced Wilson or Huard beating them. 8-2. Iowa State plays right into a Utah team with no QB. 9-2.

That means we’d have to go to UCF to beat them and have a shot at going to the conference title game. And as we all know, G5 teams are pretty beat up come November.

So, I don’t think we “need” Rising to win the conference. I do think if Rising is healthy, we roll through the conference. Absolutely roll. Like 1 or 2 games that are close…within 2 scores.

We are just better than everyone else. Better QB, better coaches, better defense, easy as s**t schedule. We are just better.

[Utah]

I don’t know what BYU fan down voted me, but believe me…if we have to switch to Huard…it won’t be a repeat of last year. Huard can do things Barnes and Johnson don’t even dream about doing.

It will just come down to whether or not he knows the plays and if he doesn’t turn the ball over. If he can learn how to go through reads…we win the conference. If he can learn the playbook, Rising might not be the best QB on the team.

Like OnlyU said…Huard was a five star for a reason. The talent is off the charts.

[High Uintas]

Utah will be walking a fine line this season. They have to run Cam enough that his running ability makes the defense play honest. But they can’t put him in harm’s way too much, given his value to the team. I know we’ll all be holding our breath every time he’s tackled. May the Great Spaghetti Monster in the sky rain his lucky marinara down on Cam.

[Utah]

Go look at Cam’s running. Everyone acts like he runs like Cam Newton or Tim Tebow.

Cam isn’t a running QB. He is a QB that can run. Outside 3-4 games, him running isn’t a part of the game plans. He runs because he can, not because we need him to. What I’m trying to say is, Ludwig doesn’t go into games thinking, “I need Cam to run the ball 10 times to keep the defense honest so we can open up the passing game.”

Ludwig doesn’t need to game plan for Cam to run. If it’s there, he can run. If it’s not, well then there is a WR open and he will hit them and we will be fine.

Look at Huntley’s rushing attempts as he mastered the offense. As a sophomore, he ran the ball 18+ times almost every single game. As a JR, it was 10-15 times a game. As a SR, Huntley only ran more than 10 times vs USC, Oregon and Texas…teams vastly more talented than we were.

It will be the same for Cam. He has historically run the ball 5-10 times a game. I bet we are a lot closer to 5 times a game and I’d bet the planned runs would be minimal.

We just don’t face teams good enough that we need that aspect of his game.

[UteNamedOg]

Huntley was the most athletic human on earth who didn’t slide. I recall a bunch of his runs were because a hole opened up and the defender in space wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. No Kincaid this year, but I have cautious optimism for the WR group – ideally this pans out to be an offense where Cam can elevate everyone else with his play and then have the occasional brisk walk for six yards and out of bounds.

[Uteanooga]

Keeping Cam in the pocket is not necessarily going to prevent injury. His knee was a non-contact issue. If there were an algorithm for effective and injury-free QB play, everyone would use it and there wouldn’t be any injured QBs. We will take our chances like everyone else.

Very few teams have elite and proven backups. At this point with NIL and the transfer portal, there probably are no teams who have elite and proven backups.

[RedUte14]

we definitely do not have a proven backup.
Huard was below average at Cal Poly against poor competition.
6 touchdowns came from a team that isn’t even listed on ESPN.
that put him at like 11 touchdowns for 11 interceptions on the season.

if he was truly amazing or good he would not be at cal poly

[BleedsRedUte]

What happened to Brandon Rose? I think he should have the inside track for QB #2 in Fall camp.
Also, I think the chances of winning the conference championship depends on having a bigger running back that can get the tough yards on 3rd down, as well as great QB play.

Not one of the current running backs is a 220 lb. plus back with a history of hitting the correct holes hard and making tough gains. Mike Mitchell is the best possibility at 6 foot and 211 lbs.

Yes, rising has to avoid injury, but the Utes better have plays and plans for converting 3rd and short consistently. It may involve Kuithe, or converting an athletic TE, or LB, etc., to running back. I would not depend on Rising to convert 3rd and short, either passing or running, on a consistent basis. That is a recipe for greater odds he gets injured.

[Central Coast Ute]

Read OnlyU’s comments in the thread with his name in the title for the info about Rose being #4.

[D T]

MM’s said himself last week on X that he’s up to 218.

[High Uintas]

Calling Cam a QB that can run and not a running QB is a distinction without a difference. Either way defenses have to account for his ability. If Utah cloisters him in the pocket and tells him not to run, we lose a valuable part of the offense.

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