Various thoughts

[NashvilleUteFan]

Finally was able to get back into my account, wanted to share some thoughts with the board. I’ve been at every single home game (and most road games) since 2017 and even after sleeping on it and letting emotions die down, I think that was the worst performance I’ve seen live at home, even worse than Oregon last year.

As many have already pointed out, our coaching was pathetic, no adjustments were made, and we weren’t ready to play. The refs had no factor on the outcome of this game, they let both teams play physical which is honestly a breath of fresh air. The crowd did as much as they could to help last night but at some point you run out of steam watching drive after drive stall out or never get going.

I have some very strong opinions on the QB situation many of which will get downvoted here but that’s alright. I believe Cam is more than content collecting a paycheck watching from the sidelines, and it disgusts me. I have to think at this point he has lost some respect in that locker room. He has certainly lost mine. Medically cleared to play for 2 weeks and can’t suit up in the most opportune year for us to make the CFP. Guy hasn’t done a damn thing in over 2 years now. No one except Utah fans care about what happened that long ago, so miss me with the “he’s done so much for the program” BS. He hasn’t earned a single penny yet he’s making millions. Enough about that.

Whitt is who he is at this point and unfortunately we have reached our ceiling under his regime. He’s an all time great coach and I am grateful for him getting our program to this level but he’s taken us as far as he can.

On a less sour note, I do think we can still contend for a big 12 championship and a CFP bid. And although I am so over Cam, the fact is we can only contend with him at QB. And my love for the team supersedes my disdain for Cam so I hope he’s back after the bye. If he’s not, well then we all know what this was about for him and that’s truly a shame to the sport.

I have nothing negative to say about Isaac. He’s playing exactly how I would expect a true freshman to play maybe even slightly better. He is not the reason we lost yesterday by any means.

I don’t want to see Mike Mitchell carry the ball in a close game ever again. Running him up the middle twice in a row on 3rd and 4th down is abject stupidity. Bernard is a great back and I’m tired of hearing the coaches (mainly Whitt) say that he’s not capable of handling an RB1 workload. He’s been our most reliable guy all year and he’s proving it on the field.

That’s enough ranting for today.

[NashvilleUteFan]

Some other comments about yesterdays game specifically:

Fifita is an incredible QB. I was shocked to see how modest his numbers turned out to be. He made at least 4 jaw dropping throws in huge moments last night. He balled out.

That play call to Lohner on 4th and goal was atrocious. Looked like some kind of slant route and Wilson fired it in there with way too much mustard and zero loft. That’s not the type of play you run for Lohner. It had zero chance of being completed.

I actually didn’t hate going for it on either of those 4th downs. Our offense should’ve been able to execute against their defense. Ludwig screwed that up bad.

We clearly didn’t care that these guys humiliated us last year. I think for me that was the worst part. I was at the game last week talking to an OSU fan and told him we’d have something real special in store for Arizona for how they acted last year. Ate a big old plate of crow on that one.

[cj13]

I’m not going to jump to the conclusion that Cam is soft and only in it for the money unless he doesn’t play again. I expect him to be back for ASU and if he then leads us to a Big 12 championship we’ll all feel stupid that we were hating on Cam.

Maybe, just maybe, he is too injured to play! Yes he made a mistake by not throwing the ball away earlier in the Baylor game but that shows to me that he still has that dawg in him. I think most of the hatred towards Cam should be blamed on how the coaches handle injuries not on Cam himself

[NashvilleUteFan]

I was with you on that cj until I saw clips of Cam dicking around on the sideline laughing and joking as we were getting our asses waxed. That doesn’t sit right with me at all. He’s done that two weeks in a row now.

[Utah#1]

I don’t know what is going on the sideline or in the locker room when it pertains to Cam, but what I believe is all the media hype generated since last year got into the heads of the team and most of the fanbase thinking Utah was just going to walk through the Big12 and be crowned champs without having played the entire schedule yet. I saw comments on social media from some in our obnoxious arrogant fanbase telling people to F-off and “Utah runs the Big12” and all that BS. Again, I believe some of the players and fans bought into the hype and didn’t respect our opponents in the conference and Arizona served Utah up a MASSIVE piece of humble in RES. Home field advantage for Utah doesn’t matter if you can get beat by not being fully prepared.

I saw this before Utah was even invited to the Big12 and now that we are in, some think our $*** don’t stink and Utah is top dog cream of the crop. That maybe true, but Utah didn’t show last night. I agree with one post on here that K Whitt has reached his ceiling as a head coach and unlikely to take Utah to a CFP playoff. Utah had many opportunities during the Pac12 era to go to the CFP and simply didn’t get it done.

Whitt should be embarrassed to lose to a first year G5 coach and half an Arizona team that beat Utah by 20+ last year. He has all the experience on his side but came a short and failed again.

As for Cam, don’t know at this point what to believe anymore other then NIL and the portal is destroying college football. The coaches and teams that can navigate through all that could possibly have success and survive.

I know we are about midway through the season, but my thinking at this point is what does the future hold for Utah football? Coach, players and the program? What do you think it will take to get Utah pass some of these hurdles?

[RoboUte]

BYU’s center went down yesterday and it was quickly announced he wouldn’t be back. Not good! Could be a long November with another one or two of those. Is that why a sub-mediocre Baylor defense took over the game down the stretch? fingers crossed!

[Jim Vanderhoof]

I was surprised we didn’t come out more fired up. I pictured it more of a revenge game. We looked tired. Good time to get a bye week. If Cam was healthy enough to play he would have played.

We still have 7 games left and still in contention for a playoff spot. Let’s stay positive and not let 1 bad game ruin a season. Cam will be back for ASU and spark the team like in 2021.

[RoboUte]

Yep. Whitt’s all spent. This team would benefit incredibly from a change at the top. All of these issues are old, they’re all known. There isn’t any use wasting time wishing that things change when we know it’s not possible. ’23 alone was a fireable offense of grand scale mismanagement. But the building case against Whitt has been culminating for years and at this point it’s impossible to ignore.

[Holladay Ute]

I understand the frustration w/ Whittingham and Ludwig after a bad game like this. They were very outcoached by a guy that was only okay at a program like San Jose State. I think it’s not totally fair to say they’ve hit their ceiling though? I remember when people were saying stuff like this throughout our entire Pac-12 journey. First we couldn’t win the south division. Then we couldn’t win the conference championship. Right now, we’re all saying we can’t get to the playoff. The trajectory has been undoubtedly positive. Setbacks happen. Last year was a mystery and they for sure made mistakes that were painful and cost us a whole season (though 8-5 isn’t a bad record). I trust Whittingham and think we’re way lucky to have him. Not a perfect coach, but I’m very happy w/ him at the helm. I think we should reserve judgement on the season at a later time.

[jshame17]

We are reliving the exact same scenarios as last year.

Doesn’t seem like Whitt or Lud learned anything…

[The Miami Ute]

I’m not sure how you can say that Whitt hasn’t hit his ceiling. He’ll be 65 in November and has been the head coach at Utah for two decades. How much more of a sample size do you need?

I’m not advocating for his dismissal, but I have little faith that Whitt can lead Utah to the CFP. In fact, given results from the last decade, I have little faith that he can even lead Utah to a bowl victory.

The biggest difference between Utah and blue blood programs is that Utah, and by inference its fan base, is satisfied with results that would have seen Whitt fired long ago.

Again, I’m not bashing Whitt. He’s done the best he can given Utah’s particular circumstances and his personal ability. I’m just saying that Utah might get to the Promised Land one day, but Whitt isn’t going to get there with us.

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