Put yourself in the coach’s shoes. How do we play in such a way that we convince

[chinngiskhaan]

4* wide receivers to consistently come to the University of Utah? We are getting 4* running backs and QBs. What is your gameplan (not for one specific game, but a plan of action going forward) for pulling in big time WR recruits?

 

If it was me I would do what I think Ludwig is currently planning on doing. Get athletic QBs that are reasonably highly rated to commit. Develop the passing ability of those QBs by getting them excellent targets to throw to in the TE group and RB group. Have an excellent run game… Then have QBs run the ball in an effort to make it easier for our subpar WR group to get open. More chaotic scramble plays from the QB gives our WR group more time to get open, and attracts the attention of DBs, making things easier for the WR group again. The strong run game, RB receiving, and TE receiving also takes attention off of the WR group. We also need a OL group known for excellent pass blocking.

I believe these things are already in place (not necessarily being utilized now, but working toward it) at the moment with guys like Rising, Jackson, Costelli, and Johnson.

The one thing I would change is the degree to which we spread the ball around to different receivers. We don’t have many targets to go around, and spreading them out to three tight ends, two running backs, and 4 or 5 WR doesn’t leave a lot of room for anyone to stand out.

If we are able to feature one wide receiver, and make them a star of the team, that will allow the coaches to point at that guy and say, “imagine what we could help you become with your superior size/athleticism/talent level.”

We aren’t going to get all star pocket passers here at Utah. We just aren’t, at least not until we have elite WR talent. The best we can hope for at QB is a really athletic dude who makes smart decisions and runs his WRs open. If we can get elite WR talent, the ceiling for this program is limitless.

Imagine what a guy like Huntley could have done with someone like N’keal Harry. We would have been unstoppable.

[2008 National Champ]

If you want to entice top receivers to Utah, you have to be willing to throw the ball to the ones you already have. And that isn’t going to happen out of two or three tight end sets.

The best argument Ludwig could have made was all the big plays Huntley came up with in 2019. Since then, all they see is the starters getting one, maybe two targets a game. I never thought I’d say this but Troy Taylor ran a better offense than Ludwig is now. A little too much on the mad scientist side but at least he got everyone involved.

Although, too be fair to Ludwig, it is not all his fault that his QB’s won’t take shots down the field. Bentley missed badly on his chances and was probably “coached” to the point where he was so worried about turning the ball over that he couldn’t pull the trigger anymore, even on short balls. Brewer also seemed skittish and would only throw when someone had 10 yards of cushion. I though when Rising made the comeback against SDSU that he might be willing to target the WR’s, especially after the TD to Dixon, but he went back to everything short against WSU.

The one thing Huntley and the WR’s showed us in 2019 was that if you can avoid the initial rush and let the play develop, good things can happen. But right now Rising looks more like 2017/2018 Huntley where he is looking to scramble at the first sign of pressure. I like that he has some escapeability but would prefer that he use that to buy himself time instead of bailing out. I’m hoping that as he settles in and gets comfortable playing, he will start utilizing all of his tools.

[UteBacker]

I was hoping so bad that the Utes would keep their foot on the gas pedal a la 4thQ San Diego St.  I guess I wasn’t surprised that we didn’t.

[Tony (admin)]

Was it Troy Taylor’s offense that was better or the players?  Moss, Huntley and crew were top of the heap in talent. 

[2008 National Champ]

Definitely a combination of both. Taylor had Huntley / Moss as sophomore and juniors while Ludwig got them as seniors. Ludwig has gotten credit for Huntley’s 2019 season but if you look at it in retrospect, a case could be made that USC was the true catalyst. Following that game, Huntley played hurt the rest of the season and really limited his running. He would still escape the quick rush, but did a great job of taking shots downfield that he may not have done prior to that game. And playing against Pac-12 defenses, his Y/ATT went up by more than 2 yards the rest of the season.

If we look at 2017, the report was that it was Taylor’s decision to start Huntley instead of Williams so he certainly saw the potential. And Moss was not ZACK MOSS yet. He was supposed to be Shyne’s backup until Armand got hurt in the preseason. And if you include 2018, both Huntley and Moss missed games. So you aren’t really comparing equivalents if you say that they both coached Huntley and Moss.

I was very happy when Taylor moved on. I was very unhappy when I found out it was Ludwig coming back. And I’m still unhappy that we are seeing the same offense in 2021 that we saw in 2008. That 2008 season was made by a dominating defense and senior heavy offense. Other than the game plan in the Sugar Bowl, I never felt like he was all that creative, instead just playing to keep the game close and then opening it up in the fourth quarter to let BJ try to win the game.

Now it feels like Ludwig is just calling plays based on a checklist. In 2019, he made sure he ran his Vickers orbit sweep once in the first 10 plays of every game and then we’d never see Vickers again. The script seems like it’s just being recycled every game last year and this year. There’s the inside zone, the Kuithe flat pass, the quick hitter to Covey – usually an inside screen, if a pass is incomplete on first down we’ll get inside zone on 2nd and 10. I guarantee that if someone like me who hasn’t coached in 20 years can find the trends and recognize the substitution patterns, the guys getting paid a lot of money to diagnose what Ludwig is going to do will be able to find ways to stop it.

So, since I am completely incapable of answering a question in less than 1000 words.,, I give the credit for the 2019 offense’s success more to the players than anything Ludwig brought to the table different to Taylor. And Taylor’s offense has performed pretty well against FBS teams the last couple of years.

[Danilo]

Rising and offense played to win against SDSU. Now they’re back to playing not to lose. I’m convinced it’s a coaching thing

[chinngiskhaan]

BAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! Troy Taylor better than Ludwig? Our offense was LIGHTYEARS better when Ludwig took over… and we had pretty much the exact same team. The problem isn’t play calling. The problem is the players.

[concerned]

I was told that after SDSU, we practiced up-tempo the entire week, then obviously barely used it in the game. Head scratcher as to why.

[chinngiskhaan]

I think it’s pretty clear at this point that Ludwig was holding back a bunch of the offense throughout the year until we got way behind vs SDSU. I think they knew they could beat WSU without the long ball. If they had just held onto the ball, they would have thumped WSU without having to do anything even remotely risky.

If we are able to pass protect against USC, we’ll see more vertical playcalling.

[UteBacker]

Man, if this is true, I’m so grateful to Ludwig for getting us to this awesome 2-2 record.

[2008 National Champ]

100% agree.

[chinngiskhaan]

Can you think of any other reason why Ludwig would not call certain play types that he is known for calling?

– One potential reason may be that he doesn’t believe we have the horses to make it happen. He didn’t call vertical plays, jet sweeps, and other plays we’ve seen him call numerous times when Brewer was QB. Was that because he didn’t think Brewer could execute those plays? If that is the case, then why wasn’t Rising the starter from the beginning? Clearly, Ludwig thought Rising was capable of those types of plays because he called them in the 4th quarter of the SDSU game. In that quarter he called the plays that we all know this team needs and wants in order to be at it’s best… and Rising executed those plays well enough to inspire confidence from his OC/HC/fans/players.

Not calling vertical plays (and other things that have been our bread and butter in the past) because he doesn’t think we have the horses would necessarily imply that Ludwig is either a fool, or he is suffering from memory loss… because If we can execute those plays in crunch time against SDSU (who has a much better defense than WSU), then why in the hell wouldn’t we be able to similarly execute against WSU??

I think it’s pretty safe to assume that Ludwig isn’t a moron, and he isn’t suffering from memory loss… so the above option clearly isn’t correct.

– So we must conlcude that Ludwig is choosing not to call those plays because he chooses not to for some reason other than his lack of faith in our players. One other potential reason is that he is keeping certain plays under wraps because he and more importantly Whitt want VERY BADLY to win in USC. Whitt may never get another shot at winning there. Whitt is an incredibly competitive guy, he is also a logical, by the numbers coach. Winning at USC would do MUCH MUCH MUCH more good for the team than winning at BYU or SDSU would have done. It is not unreasonable to think that they would be willing to take potential losses in inconsequential non-conference games if that meant gaining even a small advantage over the likes of USC.

You may ask, “well, if that is true then why did they open things up in the 4th quarter against SDSU.” That is a good question. One possible explanation is that they assumed they would be able to win with Brewer as QB at SDSU without opening up the playbook. When it became apparent that Brewer wasn’t getting it done, they put Rising in and gave him an opportunity to see what he could do. They saw what he could do with those play calls, and buttoned things back up against WSU because they felt they could win with throws underneath and a solid run game, and that turned out to be correct even with the crazy amount of fumbling that was going on. WSU is a terrible team. We put the ball on the ground in one way or another around 10 times, and we still won. I think the coaching staff may have known going into this game that a win would be almost certain.

 

OK OK… that’s enough of that. You and I both know that assuming the coaches are holding back plays is a bit of a stretch at best. It is possible, and it sort of makes sense… but the reality is, it’s probably a combination of a bunch of things. I will say this though, I think assuming that it’s because Ludwig is a bad playcaller is faulty reasoning. When you fumble the ball as much as we did, it necessarily makes things look choppy and disjointed on offense. It makes playcalling difficult to say the least.

 

 

[2008 National Champ]

The problem with your reasoning is that you appear to be saying that both Whitt and Ludwig were okay with losing two games, as long as they kept something in their back pocket to surprise USC.

We are saying that we wish Whitt and Ludwig would have decided at some point during each of the two losses that those games were important to win also and opened things up earlier. As noted philosopher Mike Tyson once said: “everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” It’s what you do after that defines

[UteBacker]

Noted philosopher… 😆😆😆

[Trailgoat]

Utah’s offense is where it’s today do in part to the history of the way it’s been managed. To be put in KWs shoes, I would stick to the plan and do what’s needed to get through this season supporting the players and keeping it simple. IMO, unfair expectations were put on the offense before the season by the coaches and media (I know the media feed off what the coaches say).

There are a number of issues with the offense in terms experience, talent in a couple of position groups, execution, coaching, game plan, and basic fundamentals going back to the Troy Taylor experiment. Having watched a lot of football over the years from Pop Warner on up have never seen a team fumble/INT the ball seven times in a game. Very understandable for the team to have some struggles considering all the tragedy they’ve been through. Unfortunately these same issues have been going on for many years in the program. Either way, all in to support and cheer the team on win or lose. Go Utes!

[Author]

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