Jim Vanderhoof

The playoff 5-12 is going to be wild. Can you imagine a sec team having to play at Utah or a cold weather big 10 school in the first round. First round bye is a huge advantage.

Saban knows all about Whittingham and the Utah program. Every coach knows the games are won and lost in the trenches. Getting there is another matter. Whitt has done a great job of building depth and talent on the o-line d-line. With an experienced QB makes the Utes a legit favorite to win the Big 12.

Hard to believe that was our basketball arena. I remember going to games there with my dad.

Thanks for posting. That was fun to watch. I can see why he is such a great leader and friend to his teammates.

Should be a fun year. It will be nice to see things play out on the field instead of all the talk and hype. After game 4 we should know more about this team.

Good points MD. Just win baby. Keep winning and keep building the program. This will be a big year for national exposure. Super league with salary cap. Nil is not sustainable. Let the tv contracts pay the players. Unless there is an equal $$ playing field the same teams will dominate every year.

I couldn’t agree more Utah. We have the same advantage as them and more talent. Hopefully that talent will payoff on the road. Plus throw in a senior Qb that is playing to get drafted and has played in big games in hostile environments.

I agree thirty four. I’d rather be under the radar but that isn’t the case. The big 12 will be out to prove us wrong. We have the pieces and depth to prove it.

Part of my point thanks Data

Since joining the pac 12 road games. Oregon 1-3
Washington 1-4
Florida 0-1
Michigan 1-0
Tough to win on the road with big crowds.

Interesting roster Smith has put together for initial Big 12 season. Pac 12 had lots of athletes on every team. Big 12 should be similar but athletes that are better players. Seems like every year we have team full of big slow guys that struggle on defense and rebounding.

Hopefully we can get some better home crowds to support and help with recruiting.

I would take the over on everything but sacks allowed on offense. I would take the under on everything but total yards allowed. Only because we give up some 4th quarter yards with our backups.

Utah you just proved my point we lost all those games. Playing and winning are two different things. It’s tough to win on the road. Baylor was 3-9 last year and took us to the fourth quarter.

Sorry I didn’t clarify of playing in raucous stadiums for the first time. We have played Oregon and BYU every other year so they are more familiar. A good example was playing Florida two years ago. We had Rising and Kuithe and a returning TT. We were expecting to win that game.

Great points Philly. The schedule is definitely in our favor.

We are not playing talented west coast entitled players. We are playing lunch pail Midwest players that are tough mentally and physically. A little less talent but more drive. More the Ute mentality.

I don’t see how you can grade our LB a B. Barton could be the goat of Utah linebackers. Reid is a solid experienced guy that just makes plays. I could see Barton getting 5 + sacks. He is a beast. Losing Damuni hurts the depth but Fotu got some valuable game time last year and is ready to go.

Cam is in the same position as Bo Nix last year. Oregon ran him way less but enough to get some crucial first downs. I see the same for us.

I think overly optimistic is more relative than over hyped. I think we have lots of reasons to be overly optimistic. I’m definitely overly optimistic!! We all long for that last hurdle the CFP. That’s always been the ultimate goal. Might be our best chance ever this year🤞