[Charlie]

Who is it that has the loop of a guy beating a dead horse?

[Charlie]

The next step is what it has always been, what it is in any conference. We need to win consistently here before we have anything to say, before we have an opinion that can be taken seriously. Conference realignment was a reset, what once was is of little consequence. I guess you could call it unburdened by what has been. Goodness that sounds dumb.

[Charlie]

That may be the case or we need to come to grips with the brutal facts that we have gone thru so many QB in two seasons that have not allowed us to get in rhythm with a starting QB, surrounded with an unusual bunch of injuries of key players. The focus on responding has hurt the development in other areas like the secondary, the limit on offense play book has made the OL look incapable, and the lack of winning and progress has put stress on team chemistry given the expectations players had coming to a successful program like Utah. No matter the path taken, all possible remedies will benefit from simply keeping players and especially the QB healthy in a typical way for a college program. We have had ungodly bad luck and as our luck changes, I think it is a given we will do better. I believe we have tried what is possible to keep the team healthy so I am not sure our troubles are due to not taking a better approach.

I do agree that Whitt could be better at allowing more access and better status related to the team. Myself, I favor good execution and effort over the element of surprise or uncertainty to win games. Not sure there is a big difference in outcome but there is a big difference in relationship to the fan base. The key here is to be careful in deviating too much from the other teams around you but lean into sensing what your fan base wants.

Whitt if he stays will benefit from improved luck and is certainty capable of winning this conference. Scalley as well. There is enough foundation that the odds are others can do well as well. (those words are strange) The fan base needs to be entertained and the injury bug has made that difficult. Any coach that goes thru 3 QBs and so many other key injuries will also struggle. I am hoping for return to better luck when even our AD will have less stress.

[Charlie]

The first part of the contact simply looked like a push from behind which is illegal contact. The clip does not show the second half of the contact. The limp was after contact but I can’t be sure that is the single issue with the play since he leaves the frame continuing to run. Very likely the pre-existing condition made him more venerable to contact but the contact clearly was not legal.

[Charlie]

There is so much that goes into winning football. Understanding of much of it is beyond most fans and a significant amount is beyond anyone that does not go to practice. However, it does boil down to winning. In the pool of very good coaches there are ups and downs. Very few consistently are up year after year with only small failures. Most all the great coaching stories any year involve coaches that have recently bounced back from a bad year or two. Masterful coaches can get captured by combinations of circumstances and fight to reset while doing all they can to avoid a reset that takes more than a year. Identification of potential for a coach for future success is quite difficult. For many fans it can be as simple as try another guy with someone else’s money. Some fans may simply wait for the one year spike where everything comes together. I do know that if you are strictly a football fan you will enjoy more games than if you are a fan of winning. I have no idea how to avoid becoming too much a fan of winning. My father was that ideal, happy to enjoy a win but I do not ever recall him being upset about an outcome. He was a season ticket holder that enjoyed decades of football with a simple focus on technical details. He was always content while others were up and down.

Whitt manages a quite complex process with each week another organization very motivated to tear down his progress each week. The customer base is simple, not knowing how they just want to see wins. And that is OK because they are ultimately the customer paying the bill that supports existence. They also have the right to demand change even towards options that are not improvements. Some fans are themselves currently making profound changes in the organizations they work for that are setting the world on fire, some fans are simply Kramer sitting in the observation deck, eating milk duds and watching doctors in surgery. Both have an opinion and with the price of a ticket have a piece of the direction for Utah football.

If my dad was still here he would help me settle down since I too have more grief about a poor year that I would like. I do worry that in the Big 12 most teams will not be a contender for consecutive years. I also am frustrated but have not myself arrived at clarity as to what needs to be done. For now, for this year, I will try to find satisfaction in this last game seemed to be better than the last two.

[Charlie]

To me, Smith plays with a point guard, a combo guard and wing or two wings, a four and a center. The small forward seems gone as the wings play offense more like a two guard. The four moves in and out of the post so often plays with his back to the basket. A better hint of who is who is when they are on defense since those classic rolls are most often needed there. But the Utes also do a lot of switching on defense causing guys to be able to defend multiple

Mike S is a tall guard but is not a point guard like Magic but he does have more guard ball skills than you expect to see with a tall wing. He seems to be comfortable running the court as a tall player, kinda like Tom Chambers but not as good as Tom. I think Smith is happy to create mismatches and it will be interesting to see him on the outside on both offense and defense. I have only seen the last game that did not have a center available so I am only guessing.

[Charlie]

I would think Utah will be a desired destination for portal RBs given our history and opportunity. I was wondering if Andrews is now preserving a RS year or if he is close to seeing reps. I would be shocked if we don’t have some very interesting new options for RB next year.

I expect that WR is a rebuild and will completely be a function of what the new OC does but this group along with QBs will be defined by portal players. Hopefully the OC selection is well under way, will be known very quickly at season end, and is everything as it relates to the offense.

The defense is very much coming along with younger players but goodness I wish Junior was a junior.

[Charlie]

My dad enjoyed watching what other teams did offense and defense. How did we use our different pieces against other threats. Each week provided a different puzzle. He didn’t freak-out when the other side did something clever that worked. It was football entertainment much more than simply watching our team win. He enjoyed watching much like watching a game with two teams without a personal connection, even though he did love his team.

[Charlie]

Even more unfortunately, his brother Blake was his equal and took medical retirement from football due to injury I think his freshman year. With him as a DE we should have almost always had a Kuithe on the field. A great deal of talent from Katy Tx that did not make it past the injury bug.

[Charlie]

Also note that the contact that took him to the ground began long before the pass was thrown which clearly is a hold at the least. Kuithe had been on the ground for a bit before the ball entered the frame. A guess is the contact high helped him down but I suspect that stepping on his ankle was more likely to cause the injury.

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