just saw the highlights, my thoughts on the game

[chinngiskhaan]

Becker: Dude has a TON of leg. The one he made would have been good from 60. The one he missed had plenty of leg as well.

Mertz is a solid QB, and our secondary performed rather well against him, and some very talented WRs. Those WRs are probably as good as any group we will face this year other than maybe USC. I feel very good about our defense.

Bishop: put his helmet on the ball twice, forcing two fumbles. He id it intentionally both times. That is going to come in handy one of these days.

Ellis: Continues his upward trajectory. He’s always looked impressive in his limited snaps. Glad he gets to play more now.

I’m glad Barnes threw to our WRs, but it looks so far like more of the same from that group. IOW, we still don’t have a legitimate receiving threat at WR.

Where was Jackson? I know he was in the game, but I don’t understand why they didn’t give him more chances to show his stuff. Why does it feel like we didn’t run the ball enough? Because of the QB-designed runs? Or getting behind the sticks early?

Offensive line didn’t give up any sacks, thats a huge plus. Also only 2 TFLs.

Ludwig: Can we please do away with the reverse/jet sweep type play that takes forever to develop, and the runner gets the ball 10 yards behind the LOS. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Covey is not on the team anymore. We can’t depend on our below-average WRs to make 5 guys miss behind the line of scrimmage.

The less aggressive defense in the 4th quarter was clearly by design. I think the analytics said keeping them in front of us was the key to winning the game at that point, so that is what we did.

We did a GREAT job of jumping ahead early and forcing them to play catch-up, which took their running game out of the equation. Great game plan. Not a pretty game offensively, but we took care of the football and didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot. This team will win a lot of games if they can keep doing that.

[RoboUte]

Jackson looked like he tweaked his ankle during the game. Didn’t look bad but I’m guessing given our plenty full RB stable we just kept him out.

[ProudUte]

I agree with most all of your points.

After we were up by 21 points, the game plan changed. Whitt wanted to get our of there with a win. Considering we had 8 key players missing, the decision was right IMO. We won’t get any extra points for style. We took care of business and built a 21-point lead. Then did what we needed to do without taking any unnecessary risks.

[Yergensen]

Yeah, it’s only the right decision to sit on a lead when you win. Whit has lost games sitting on a lead. That 2020 loss at UW when up 3 TDs at halftime was infuriating.

[RoboUte]

I actually think Whitt would’ve gone against his old terrible strategy of sitting on leads if our offense was more effective. Our D was stout and O was shaky, that combo makes lead-sitting more valid. We as Utah fans are just uniquely tired of it.

[chinngiskhaan]

Totally agree. I think he knew we weren’t going to lose the game at that point. The only reason their QB got into a groove was because we backed off. As soon as we needed to, we dialed up the pressure and the game was over.

Our offensive line was banged up and seemingly unable to get enough push to get our run game going.

I think Kyle has done enough for us to stop questioning his strategy in a relatively easy win.

[RedRocks]

I don’t think I will ever stop hating the “sitting on a lead” strategy.

I don’t see how letting the opposing team march up and down the field at will is a beneficial, winning strategy.
Couple that with the offensive side where we play so conservatively that there is basically no offense.

Why stop doing what was working? Why let the other team find success? Sure, if your lead is large enough they are unlikely to catch up but, why?

I hate it every time I see it.

[RoboUte]

You’re preaching to the choir I hate that s**t.

[chinngiskhaan]

That loss happened because we made stupid mistakes IIRC, not because of sitting on a lead.

[CityCreekUte]

As far as 1st game of the year goes I think it was as good as you can really hope.

No turnovers from the offense a couple big plays
On defense several sacks, no big plays and a pick
Really good kicking so solid play from each group

This coming against a very talented if not quite all put together team. I don’t think Mertz is scaring anyone and given their schedule I don’t see a winning record for Florida but on the right day they have the talent to beat just about anyone.

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