Our first opponent

[ProudUte]

There are some things I like and I dislike about playing BYU first this fall.

I am glad we will get this game over right off the bat, so we can move on to what is really important in our season.

I do not like playing first because the local media will have all summer to discuss it and over-analyze the game.  Also, KW has not shown well in first games IMO.  It seems to take him a few weeks to get his teams performing their best.

I am one who sees no value from our perspective in playing this game.  I wish we never played these guys in football. We have nine conference games, we don’t need this game.  It serves as a distraction to what is really important.  From BYU’s perspective – it is a crucial game for many reasons.

On paper we should dominate these guys; but that was true last fall and the two years before that and it has not come close to happening.  We tend to generate excuses; but there should be no excuse.  On paper we should win the position by position matchup in almost all cases.  Yet, somehow we allow these guys to stay in the game.  In fact, we are darn lucky to have pulled it out last year. 

BYU will do everything possible to upset us.  This is their season.  They desparately need a win in this rivalry.  I will likely never understand why we cannot dominate these guys when you compare personnel.  So, this game bothers me.  We have the potential of having a great season.  I would hate to start this season with a dumb loss.

In a perfect world, we come out with a killer insinct and never let up.  I beleive we have the talent to win something like 42-17.  But, I would not predict that score based off past history.

Go Utes!!!

 

[utefansince79]

If we can’t win in Provo, we are most unlikely to be a contender for the Pac-12 title.

Indeed the Cougars (team and fans) are very hungry for a victory.  Last year’s game had to be brutal for them, losing a 20 point lead.  Utah should be the better team, but can’t overlook them.  Fortunately the next 2 games are Northern Illinois and Idaho State so we should be focused on the matter at hand.

 

 

 

[Utephoria]

Would have been a different game had the Utes had a healthy Moss and Huntley. Although Shelley did wake up in time to win the game in the second half.

[EagleMountainUte]

Sitake will get another year on a win or be fired for a loss. Fair to say or not?

I agree with most if not all of what you said. Except the “darn lucky” part. Utah dominated the crap out of opponent for the ending of a game and the depth absolutely is the reason. I don’t see that as luck.  It’s identical logic as Utah was lucky to get a gillion turnovers in the TDS Poppinga victories. Utah overall has been the better team for a long time now. Almost two decades. If TDS wins it is luck until after Whitt retires I would argue. 

[ProudUte]

Utah has won 8 straight games against the Cougs.  There is something to be said for that.  But outside the 54-10 game – there has been no dominance.  It miffs me.  

With our Dline and Dbacks, we should dominate these guys.  BYU won’t have much of a running game.  They will be one dimentional.  That is typically when we are at our best.  But, we let those guys pass on us last November.  That should never have happened.

BYU will likely win sometime before too long.  Will it be all luck?  Probably not.  It will be better preparation, execution, turnovers among other things.  But yes, luck will play a part of it.

Sitake will have his guys ready to play.  He will have many more full contact scrimmages than Utah.  He does that.  In some ways, his team will be better prepared to hit in game one.  KW does not like contact practices much.  Of course the full contact practices could lead to BYU injuries.  Of course Wilson will be totally off limits to any contact.

[EagleMountainUte]

I want to be worried but I just can’t be. Utah is better at every position.  Now it doesn’t go without saying that halftime of last years game I wasn’t shocked. I think I predicted a blowout even without Moss. There is literally nothing to change my mind except maybe Huntley and Moss going down in preseason. Even then I just don’t see it happening. Yes TDS should be ready to play no doubt in my mind. 

I feel like most of the games have been disinterested Utah or Whitt’s desire to not lose. 

[Yergensen]

Maybe we define dominance differently, but beyond the 54-10 game you should consider 8 game win streak and two 15 to 20 minute stretches where we put 35 points on them as dominant performances.

Unless last year was an aberration, we should be used to or get used to risk averse offense and winning with our defense. This doesn’t add up to dominant wins or even comfortable win margins. However, it doesn’t mean that we don’t own TDS. Until they beat us again we are the surest loss on their schedule regardless of who is on it.

Unless you look at this a little closer, you’ll get sucked into TDS delusional rhetoric that the games are always close, there isn’t a talent gap, and they’re as good as we are…none of which is close to true.

[Tony (admin)]

One interesting twist is that byu will not have any decent film on our new offense. We have the total upper hand there.

[KiYi-Ute]

I see this as a double-edged sword. They won’t have tape on it, but we won’t have any game experience with it. Sure, we’ll have some scrimmages with limited contact, but nothing can replicate game reps. There will be kinks to work out. I just hope they aren’t big ones. That being said, everything I have heard from camp has mad me feel more comfortable with Ludwig as the OC than I was with Troy Taylor.

If Huntley was able to win in Provo with a first year Troy Taylor as a sophomore, then I feel confident that he can win in Provo with a first year Ludwig as a senior (plus Zack Moss, plus Ham Daddy, plus a stellar defense).

Zach Wilson is a good QB. But we know that, and we will prepare for it.

[Utesbyfive]

I suppose they can look at Vandy film.

[Tony (admin)]

Except we aren’t Vandy. I assume Loooodvig will tailor our offense to the existing talent. (did you see what I did there?)

[BD]

Utah hasn’t always played to their potential the first game because the first game has typically been some team like Weber State. They probably held back the play calling or even preparation for that game specifically because of the far inferior opponent.

However, remember that Utah came out and performed well against Michigan in the first game only a few years ago – that game the Utes looked different. Because they had to be – it was Michigan after all.

I honestly see Kyle preparing the team more intensely since it is BYU – no they are not Michigan – but then again they are not Weber State and I am sure Kyle is fully aware that this game is their season – their Super Bowl – they will bring everything they have.

I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I grew up in the late 70s and 80s being a die-hard BYU fan. I liked the Utes, but BYU was by far my favorite team. The rivalry game, even though it was dominated by BYU then, was still a fun thing to watch. I loved it. So the rivalry does have some meaning to me. However, admittedly, I am growing a bit bored with it, and wouldn’t mind at least every other year taking a game off here and there – if not almost entirely eliminating it. Maybe play the game every 3 to 5 years just for old times’ sake and for the love of rivalries sake.

#9 needs to be a 41 – 10 type of game. No more one score win.

[GameForAnyFuss]

BD, I’m curious: What made you “choose the red” as you got older?

[BD]

I was always planning on getting my education at BYU. After I got home from my mission, I went down to BYU to apply for the next semester, but I missed the deadline. I didn’t want to wait to attend school, so I decided to attend Weber State for a few years – I hadn’t missed their deadline – did so and got my Associates degree.

I was still planning on finishing up at BYU after Weber, but when I got married, my wife had a job in SLC and didn’t want to quit to move to Provo. I was planning on trying to talk her into moving to Provo and just finding a job down there – well, I knew that was not a good idea to win her over, so I casually, somewhat hesitantly decided to enroll at the U of U so my wife could keep her job. Anyway, I was majoring in Computer Science, and lo and behold, I found out the U of U had a superior CS program anyway, (one of the best in the nation in the early 90s), so I found a reason to be happy with my choice. Anyway, after attending my first quarter at the U of U, I switched loyalties pretty quickly.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Thanks – good story. And I’m glad you ended up at the better program for your career choice.

Honestly I think the academic quality of BYU-P is one of the greatest myths out there. While I admit they have some good programs, 90% of them are better at Utah. And then there’s the whole part about BYU-P being on academic probation. That by itself should invalidate a school from having any kind of ranking at all.

This is a school that’s teaching its science majors that the world is 6,000 years old, and yet some people still believe it’s the Harvard of the West? Unbelievable.

[Puget Ute]

This is not true, the science dept generally is well respected in academia (outside of the Book of Mormon archaeologists, but that is a different story). Theology is present in the science dept only in the fact that they start each class with a prayer. After that, it is straight science as accepted by academia.

All that being said, I agree with you on the inflated quality of education. The metrics that byu-P fans use to determine their high academic standards are usually GPA and test scores at entrance and percentage accepted (both of which are very highly influenced by the very low price of tuition), and percentage of students accepted to grad schools. All of these metrics are influenced by the high quality of students coming in, which is again reflected in the very low tuition. This says nothing whatsoever about the academic credentials of the professors, or even of the quality or quantity of research produced by the departments.

Now that UVU and Weber are the biggest schools in the state (by number of students), the U is able to be more selective in accepting new students. As a result the incoming Freshman class GPA, test scores, and extracurriculars at Utah are on par with the same metrics at byu-P. But that actual amount and quality of scholarly work produced at the U is several orders of magnitude greater than at byu-P. Outside of a few career tracks (in particular: visual arts, accounting, Information Technology – and this one may be a wash), Utah is much higher regarded than byu-P.

At Utah I had several professors who were members if the National Academy of Science, had one Nobel Prize-winner as a guest lecturer (Mario Capecchi), had a Biochemistry Prof who later earned a Nobel Prize (Venkatraman Ramakrishnan) and had a math professor (Christopher Having) who won the Breakthrough Prize last year and this year was elected to the Royal Society of London. NFW do you get this kind of experience at byu-P.

And the notion of byu-P being a high-quality academic university is very new, as in they have only been decent academically for the last 20-25-ish years. The ‘Harvard of the West’ bulls**t is merely a thing deluded people tell themselves to allay their insecurities.

And fwiw, the only Mormons I have met who today believe the Earth is 6000 years old tend to be the same ones who also tell others they have over 50 guns and 25k rounds of ammo and they are ‘Ready for the end times!’, which surely are just around the corner.

[GameForAnyFuss]

Sorry, that dog won’t hunt. They’re on academic probation for a reason, and that reason is that they are actively pressuring professors to not teach scientific principles that go against doctrine. They’ve fired professors for the same reason and they continue to do so (there are several new professors at the U who were fired by BYU-P.

[Utebeam]

@BD-you’re spot on with this game looking different than other G5 opponets of the past. I’m sure it is not lost on the players what this game means. They have more motivation to win it that we probably will ever know. The nice thing is we should have everyone at full strength. 

I think everyone needs to take a breath with this game. We beat them with 2nd string QB and RB on top of trying to keep the starters playing time limited in order to be prepared to the P-12 championship. 

If this game is like the rest it will be too close for our comfort but it will still be a “W”. #9 is coming……

[EagleMountainUte]

Erasing a two game losing streak I think is the biggest motivator. That was a sour end to an other wise great season. 

[PlainsUte]

So you said there was something you liked about playing them first?   Not playing them last?  As the second or third game might be ideal, if it had to be played every year.

I agree last year was scary, I think the Utes didn’t prepare well, they were a little beat up from the Pac-12 season and woul have liked to rest for the Pac-12 Championship while BYU came in as if it were their Super Bowl.  I think Ludwig will have the Utes Ohfense in a better place and prepared.   Hopefully the Utes won’t have to depend on field goal kicking based on the current status of the placekicking.

[Charlie]

 

I had to suffer thru 2 decades with only 2 wins by Utah.  For me, we can dismiss BYU after 2 decades without a win.  Still, from here on out, playing BYU and USU will mean playing a physical game against an emotional team wanting badly to win and they will give the best effort of the year.  Expect everything they have when they catch an opportunity for more than required to end a play so injuries are a concern.  Still, because there are so few home games and they are getting more costly, I would prefer to limit ourselves to one warm up game, on the road is fine, and make all the others more meaningful.  We should not replace these games with easy wins.

 

[Tony (admin)]

Hey Charlie I’m not sure exactly how you are posting, like writing it in MS Word first… but you are putting in all sorts of html and spaces. Can you just type your message in the input field or make sure if you paste it in, it is plain text? Thanks.

[Puget Ute]

I’m with you on that. I’m not thrilled about playing them first (which we do again next year), but we certainly will have a big challenge early in the schedule. We need to take care of business and then keep rolling this season.

[Author]

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