Utah’s D was elite, but UCLA’s unforced errors also helped

[SalUteopia]

Our D played lights out against UCLA, no question about it. But UCLA also had some unforced errors that limited their scoring to 7. I rewatched the highlights, and noticed at least 2 dropped passes that could’ve gone for TDs. Again, this is not a knock on our D, they were amazeballs!!! More an observation that on a different day, we could’ve still needed 24 pts despite an elite D. Basically, even an exceptional D can only make up so much for a mediocre O.

[EagleMountainUte]

I agree. But is there a stat for unforced errors? This isn’t baseball.

You could tell Moore was influenced the moment he stepped out on the field. Call it Utah defense call it NEZ. CALL IT RES! But calling it UNFORCED makes little sense.

I remember many Utah fans were licking up Moore. That pick six was awful. I don’t know what he saw. Did Chip Kelly tell him throw it to that guy no matter what? Was it like Barnes first play of the season launch it even if it is to the wrong guy?

Utah defense had a lot of qb hurries and molded fUCLA to what they wanted. Hell if Utah could get a holding call they shut out that Chip Kelly offense. Absolutely pantsed them. 7 sacks 11 TFL’s you gonna talk about unforced?

/endrant

[NarfUte]

I think the pick 6 was helped by film study – Karene damn near got a other one the exact same way later in the game

[EagleMountainUte]

Who did he see open? Reid was underneath. The WR was bracketed with two other Utes. It was a horrible pass from go.

[The Miami Ute]

I can pretty much tell you why that pick happened. It was simply a case of Moore misreading the coverage. He thought that the Utes were on man to man but instead they were in a zone. He never expected Reid to stay in the area but to shift his coverage to a receiver that was passing by. It was kind of a bang bang play and you could tell Moore knew he had screwed up the moment the ball left his hand.

[EagleMountainUte]

Look at the guy on the LOS being pushed back. No double team.
In the post game a Ute dlineman, I forgot who it was. He said the fUCLA Oline came out and started talking s**t. they were going to beat their asses. Welp. Way to show up on the first play.

[jelmstreet]

Jonah Elliss talked about their trash all at the start of the game. I’m glad it was him that went out and racked up 3.5 sacks.

[Dallas]

This is true.

[Central Coast Ute]

Who gave thumbs down? This isn’t even debatable. The D could have a good day and still give up 21 points. If the O only scores 7, then Utah is depending on the D to score 15. That’s no way to win a football game. BTW, there were more than just 2 dropped passes, but you’re right, those 2 would have been TD’s. The others would have extended drives, which could have possibly been TD’s.

[SalUteopia]

Agreed, @Central. UCLA could’ve easily put up 21 despite the stellar D. It doesn’t take away from our D. And yes, the 2 dropped passes were potential TDs, but there were 5-6 in total.

[SalUteopia]

Not sure what to call the dropped passes, but it’s possible the UCLA players were too jittery, so in that sense they were *not* unforced. But my point is, our D could perform at a stellar level and it’s possible that UW, USC, UO could still score 24-28 points. The question is can our O score 30 pts?

[Central Coast Ute]

💯. The offense needs to score 30 minimum in the bigger conference games. Probably even 35. Against UW, maybe even in the 40’s.

[Tony (admin)]

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

[EagleMountainUte]

It was the immaculate conception Chicken of course.

[chinngiskhaan]

If they had less forced errors our offensive game plan would have been adjusted. The game was called that way because we knew we could win that way.

[SalUteopia]

Fair. Agree that we would not keep running up the middle if we were trailing.

[bopahull]

A couple more 1st downs would have made their desperation more frantic. Though not strictly necessary. We could have maybe even scored with a little more variation in the run game and maybe a pass or 2 on early downs.
I don’t think we were shortening the game much with all those 3 and outs. Thank goodness for our punter. He probably deserved the game ball.

[chinngiskhaan]

Maybe the coaches were convinced we were going 3 and out regardless of run or pass, so they chose run? That would certainly run the clock out faster than throwing incomplete passes.

[Utesby1]

Obviously running the ball eats up clock faster than throwing incompletions, but nothing eats clock like getting first downs that lead to a long drive down the field. Our long drive that tied the game against Baylor featured runs and passes and it chewed up 9 minutes of clock.

[Utah]

Eh. I don’t like stuff like this. Sure, had Moore hit on those passes, they would have won 21-14. BUT, we had unforced fumbles, drops, dropped INT’s, etc.

The simple reality is, statements like this assume a perfect game is possible. And for a true freshman? Honestly…he played way better than I thought. I was super impressed by him. He will be incredible.

After Johnson almost threw two picks and fumbled three times, Whitt shut it down. We don’t know when it comes to “what if’s” because of the strategy of the game.

[Charlie]

Realize that if you let one team change a couple of outcomes the other team could as well. What if Utah did not fumble, what if a missed tackle let Utah score. Dropped passes are very visible game changers but many other things like penalties or big drive stops can have the same effect but don’t stand out as much.

[Author]

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