Highest-graded player: OT Darrin Paulo – 66.2 (159th)
The Utes had an incredible season by all accounts save for their final two outings that saw them falter just a bit. Nevertheless, their offense clicked on nearly all cylinders, especially in the run game, as they saw some incredibly positive grades from interior blockers on the ground. They had trouble on their offensive line when they had to stay in for pass protection, though, as they gave up a whopping 119 pressures on just 395 pass-blocking snaps for a 30.1% pressure rate that was the sixth-highest in the nation.
Crazy with our good defensive line, only UCLA and ASU had lower graded offensive lines of the teams we played. Either our defensive line didn’t impact their rating or was an anomoly. However, of the teams we played I would say, UCLA and ASU were probably two of our best outings. The other maybe being OSU. Surprising Arizona, and Colorado both were above us.
Perhaps part of that was due to the Oregon/Texas portion of our schedule. USC also put a hurting on us.
kwitt would be wise to look at a new OL coach ( although I don’t think he has many contacts outside of Utah or Idaho). The pass protection at Utah is D2 level and has been for many years.
“They had trouble on their offensive line when they had to stay in for pass protection, though, as they gave up a whopping 119 pressures on just 395 pass-blocking snaps for a 30.1% pressure rate that was the sixth-highest in the nation.”
Tyler was truly impressive this season…completing the % that he did while facing pressure at this high rate. There’s really no other way to say it, our O-Line was bad this season.