Jim Vanderhoof

Good posts everyone! I attended games in the Einar Nielson field house with my dad. I have seen the history of Utah basketball. MBB would pack the arena while football struggled to get half the stadium filled. Seems the success of the football program has had an effect on basketball. Seasons overlap and with a bowl game it’s usually late D…[Read more]

If the Utes can utilize their speedy running backs. Obviously Rising Kuithe healthy.

Thanks proud Ute. That was awesome. I remember every coach on the list. Nice little synopsis of each. Lovat era was the low point and I was there to witness first hand.

Not so simple answer “defense”. You have to play defense on the road. Create a few turnovers and get stops. A bad team scoring 90 points is inexcusable. Smith has not been able to figure out you need athletes to compete on defense. Poor defensive game plans make things worse. Things will only get worse next year unless we can get some good pla…[Read more]

I’m getting there Miami. I’ve had season tickets since the early 70s. Seriously considering not renewing. Retired on a fixed income. Coaches salaries and nil money is out of control and somebody has to foot the bill.

First free agency for players (portal) now no salary cap or restrictions (nil). Sounds like a plan for success. Next pay per view ( streaming to watch), nil fee for season ticket holders. Welcome to professional college football.

All valid points Miami. Not sure where this will end up. NIL ESPN Fox NBC streaming are all ruled by subscriptions and advertising dollars. Maybe the fans should boycott cable, streaming and products that advertise during games. We have the power but not the will power. Ultimately we pay the price. My season tickets and cable bill go up every…[Read more]

Good find Miami. Too much money involved to just turn the tap off. Loop holes or new laws always follow the money.

Nice original post Ute Dub. I’ve watched us go from the WAC- MWC -PAC 12- Big 12. It’s been an amazing ride. Being in the Pac 12 or Big 12 was a pipe dream at one time. A good friend of mine that I went to Utah football – basketball games with for years died the year before Urban Meyers came. If he came back to life he wouldn’t believe what the f…[Read more]

Rick I respect your opinion but disagree. Our offense was better (compared to not good) with JJ. Teams were playing 8 man fronts and he was playing with a high ankle sprain. Our smaller backs did nothing against teams with big DL and an extra tackler.

He would be much more effective this year with Rising and the threat of pass. Woods could be a…[Read more]

Good post goat. CR needs to only run when necessary. The Nix Penix comparables kept them on the field. If CR wants to get drafted he needs to show more arm strength throwing down field. The WR room needs to step up if we want a chance at the CFP.

2021 22 seasons were power running TE passes and Rising running for 1st downs. It was effective and…[Read more]

With the portal every year is different. Pac 12 was at its best this year but down the previous several years. Big 12 was down this year but came off a year they put a team in CFP and played for the title. It’s hard to argue about this year comparisons unless you count Texas.

You make some great valid points. I hope you’re right! I’m not quite…[Read more]

Our top two receivers under Rising
2021 Covey 514 Vele 389
2022 Vele 695 Parks 414
2023 Vele 593 Parks 293 (Barnes)
2023 Bo Nix top two receivers 1400 and 1200 in comparison.

My point being throw to the WRs downfield more. 20-30 yrd plays. That will open the short range for the TEs and backs. We don’t have a power back but several quick shifty b…[Read more]

With our current RB room we have nobody to replace JJ size and power. WR we picked up 2 but lost 2. Pittman is a wild card. Bridges would have been big addition.

I hope Whitt and Ludwig change offensive philosophy and spread the field. Our RB are small and quick. Get the ball to them in space. With a better TE room utilize their skills. Throw the…[Read more]

Man I like the optimism of this board. I’ve been a Ute fan way too long I guess. I thought last year might be our best team since 2005 and 2008. Losing our two safties a healthy JJ and Vele hurts. If everyone would have come back to get to the CFP I would be more confident.

After 10 plus years playing in the PAC 12 you become familiar with o…[Read more]

Looks like 0-4 Houston 2-2 TcU 0-2 Texas 0-2 Texas tech. We won’t be playing Rice or UTEP to get easy wins. Just saying those wins on the road are not easy. Not saying we can’t get them. We could easily lose a couple toad games. Luckily we will be hard to beat at home. Big 12 teams will struggle first time playing us at home.

You can down vote me all you want but Utah has historically not fared well in Texas. We struggled against a bad Baylor team last year and TCU would destroy us in the old MWC at home.

I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see a cake walk through the conference. Tough to win on the road. First time playing in different parts of the country in hostile env…[Read more]

I watched UCLA -USC game Saturday night. They both have sub 500 records. Lots of young athletic talent. Mixing 5 high school superstars takes time to teach there is only 1 ball.

You can’t depend on smart team basketball or a bunch of amazing athletes to win. You need both. The top programs recruit both. We are not in the MWC anymore.

As Ute f…[Read more]

Recruiting is a problem. I don’t see any good young freshman or sophomores on the bench pressing for playing time. We’ve done ok in the portal (Smith Bajema Lovering Carlsen Madsen Woster) Carlsen and Kieta the only freshman recruits that play.

Attendance is also an issue. Good players want to play in front of big crowds. The pac 12 has empty are…[Read more]

Ugly game. We looked tired and not mentally ready to play. A young team you put that on the coach. A veteran team you put that on the players. Our defense was non existent. Besides Smith we have nobody that can get to the basket and finish.

Hopefully we get healthy and start peaking at the end of the season. We need to play smart and as a team…[Read more]