Thought experiment

[KiYi-Ute]

This in no way reflects my actual opinion. This is just a thought I had this morning while intermittently daydreaming about all the great snow that’s hitting our mountains this morning.

Is it worthwile to intentionally sit players who are “on the bubble” injury-wise this week (Carrington, Hansen) in a game that we are incredibly unlikely to win (even if we were healthy), in hopes of getting them back in better condition for a more winnable game against Colorado next week?

At this point, all that matters is that we get one more win so that we get extra practices, nobody really cares what bowl game we go to.

Again, the above question is not my opinion, just a thought experiment. 

[RiseasUtes]

If they are healthy enough to play, let them play.  Washington isn’t unbeatable and having our best players sit doesn’t help our chances.  If they aren’t healthy enough to play close to 100% then sit them.

[Tony (admin)]

I get the question. But what if Washington was to somehow wet the bed, turn the ball over a lot, or something happens which puts us in a position to WIN?  We played them pretty close last year, down to the final series.

[Woodutail]

At this point and time of this season all that should matter to the coaches and team is winning both games, finishing the season strong and making another bowl appearance.
BUT as we have seen this year the old conservative coaching style is back and i suspect will rest the wounded loose by 56 points to Washington and then hopefully show up in the Rumble in the Rookies Bowl game on 11/25.

[ironman1315]

What evidence do you have to say the “conservative” coaching style is back?

[EagleMountainUte]

Don’t agree at all that Whitt or conservative playcalling has taken over. Just look at how Moss has been used. 

[Woodutail]

That is my opinion and i guess we can document each game but i like to look first at our record.
There has been some promising things happen this year and yeah we went for 2 at the end of the U$C game but it takes an entire season not a glimmer of hope in each game.

[ironman1315]

Record has nothing to do with conservatism or aggressiveness. And we see aggression time and again aggression that Whit typically doesn’t have. Going for 2, airing it out like we have been, etc. And just look at Moss. He’s been unused despite tearing I️t up whenever he gets the chance.

[Utah]

The numbers show that Moss has been below average in his carries and that Huntley has been better than average in his passing abilities. 

And that’s with Huntley having two terrible games coming off injuries. 

[ironman1315]

Do you mean in his yards per carry or his overall amount of carries that he gets?

[Utah]

I was referencing this series of tweets:

https://twitter.com/jsilverzweig/status/930929654168354816

Basically it says if your opponent gives up 4 yards per rush and 4 yards per pass, how do you perform?

This season, Huntley has been better than average and Moss has been worse than average. 

[ironman1315]

I looked at those numbers. I disagree with his conclusions. It seems that Moss is more sporadic than he underachieving. Should he run more? IDK. But he has been inconsistent for sure.

[ladyinred]

I mean, UW probably wins but I can’t bring myself to pick against the Utes so I picked us by 7.

The reason I do maintain some hope is that I do think Utah matches up favorably against UW. Yes, they have a big mean D line, but our O line actually matches up better with that style than against the style of a defense like WSU’s. If Utah is to win this game, Huntley will have to have his best game yet. I don’t think UW’s offense is so amazing that our D can’t contain them within reason. We gave Browning trouble last year and he had better weapons around him last year.

*Oops, I just realized I put this reply on the wrong thread, meant to go under rbmw’s thread…

[EagleMountainUte]

Why do we always think Colorado is a winnable game?  I think the coaches play the kids if they are good to go regardless of who it is week to week in college. 

[KiYi-Ute]

Winnable =/= automatic win.

[EagleMountainUte]

Thanks. Your expectation is a win when you say winnable game. Defensive improvements make think a win is possible but the offense doesn’t help you at all. 

[KiYi-Ute]

Gotcha. Sorry for the miscommunication. Winnable to me just means we have a legitimate shot at beating our opponent, but not it’s not a lock.

BYU-P is a lock.

[EagleMountainUte]

http://www.riseandshout.net/

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