My simple thoughts about Utah football

[J Rocksville]

I don’t know that I’ve seen mentioned, but I think the fact that ASU stormed the field after beating us is a good indication about what other teams and fanbases think of our program. It was a big deal for them to beat us. Utah. 20 years ago if you had said a P5 program like ASU would storm the field after beating us in an off year, I think you would have been laughed at. So we should take it as a badge of honor about how far we’ve come and how much respect our brand has earned in that time.

A rough season full of injuries last year (and perhaps some personnel mismanagement) and a sub-par beginning of this year doesn’t necessarily mean the ship is sinking and the fun is over. We’re still 4-2 with at least a decent change of getting to 8-4 or 9-3. With a circus QB situation, some injuries, some bad luck, and some unfamiliarity with opponents I don’t think that’s a terrible result.

I’m more excited today than I was last week, and I hope with some more certainty behind center and a tailored game plan, this will be a get-right game for us and we can make the most of the rest of the season.

[rsimmons]

Thanks J This is my 1st post want to say I AGREE!!!

[Tony (admin)]

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[UtesRule]

GREAT post!

[Tednab]

At 4-2 this team has fallen way short of their expectations, goals and abilities. They can turn it around , but they’re up against a wall. They need to do a lot of self reflection and revaluation. Bigger issue is the coaches, they need to be humble enough to accept their failures, which are many and change their approach; hard to do when your set in your ways.

[J Rocksville]

Who’s expectations? Yours? Or the coaching staff? I suspect the coaching staff preaches to the players not to get too far ahead of themselves because a lot of things can happen in a long season, and expectations can derail a season. I think that’s good advice for fans as well.

I think the coaching staff has only said that this team has as much depth and talent as it ever has, and if everything goes well it should contend for a conference title…and this year that means a CFP shot. What the fans, media, and pundits say is well beyond the control of the team or it’s coaches.

4-2 with wins over Baylor and OK St on the road, and losses to Az and ASU. Again, I know it feels disappointing, but I don’t think the sky is falling on the program, and if we put things into context I think even 10 years ago we would have been pretty happy with those results. 20 years ago we would have been stoked.

It’s easy for us to criticize the decisions of the coaching staff, but I think we all know the decisions they make are more nuanced than any of us are able to really know. We do have an older coach, and this era of college football feels like the wild west but the only point I was trying to make is that at least we should be proud that other teams expect us to win. At this point if I had to hitch my wagon to a coach to get us to the end of the season with the best results, I’d hitch my wagon to Whittingham before I’d hitch it to another unknown commodity. Maybe the times have passed him by, maybe he’s lost his edge, maybe the landscape of college football has poisoned the famed Utah culture. Maybe a little of all of it. But I think this programs reputation is solid enough that a couple disappointing, but winning, seasons aren’t going to derail the train too much.

[2008 National Champ]

I agree with your thoughts except for one thing, and it seems to pretty common. People keep referring to 10, 20 sometimes even 30 years ago. And for me it’s one of the many times in life that two things can be true at the same time.

You can always pick out an arbitrary point in the past to compare your current situation to and have it be evidence of progress. Heck, if you pick the right point in time, the progress can be of biblical proportions. But that look back perspective doesn’t discount your current situation.

We sit here today with the team at 4-2 and all of their goals still attainable. And I would be willing to bet that if Tony posted the results again from the preseason poll, the bulk of the respondents said 2 wins or less for this season. So the season is on the precipice of being a disappointment, when compared to expectations, for the majority of UteHub. And while the team’s current circumstances might be preferable during any previous season where Utah had a losing record, it’s not going to change the disappointment if the team is not able to accomplish the things we wanted them to this year.

[coachklein]

It’s interesting to think that the Fiesta Bowl season was 20 years ago… we were certainly overlooked nationally up until that point. There is no way ASU would have been happy had we beat them let alone storming the field. Great perspective. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in current expectations and forget about progress that has been made previously.

[lgt4141]

Well said! I agree and feel optimistic about the rest of the season now that there is no question who QB1 is.

[Tony (admin)]

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[utefansince79]

Indeed I think of the time when a few years after Zona and ASU left the WAC to join the PAC, Utah signed a deal with ASU to play FIVE games in Tempe (and zero in Salt Lake) to collect some $$$$$ for our athletic department (which shows how far ahead of us they were at the time.) And we didn’t win a single one game, getting blown out in most of them.

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