It's a bummer the season is over. However, I have high hopes that we will improve as Travis Wilson improves. He did improve quite a bit, especially when it came to staring down his receivers.
I will absolutely miss watching John W4 and Star play in Ute red.
Congrats to Reggie Dunn. Tough year for the Utes, but I hope we get some play-makers in for next year.
Wow, what a downer of a season it was. A few thoughts:
-In regards to all the bowl game smack talk I'm seeing from Kewg fans, you've got us there. Utah's impressive consecutive bowl streak is over. However, as a Ute fan I do take a lot of pride in that streak as well as the fact that they had a nice run of consecutive bowl wins included in that streak. It's a shame Utah couldn't schedule BYU 2 or 3 times this year. They would have easily finished above .500 and the bowl streak would live on, but it just wasn't in the cards.
-In regards to Thriller's statements that Ute fans are still drinking the kool aid all I have to say is, huh? I don't see a lot of Ute fans in here proclaiming that all is well and good in Uteland. Obviously the biggest concern going forward is Brian Johnson. It was a very poor showing by the first year OC and if anything is to get better for Utah, Johnson will have to improve drastically. Utah is in a tough spot here. IMO Whit can't pull the rug out from under Johnson after only 1 season, so if Johnson doesn't improve next year, it's going to be a LONG season.
-Like most Ute fans, I have hope that Travis Wilson will be better next season. Problem is, Utah's schedule is about to get a lot tougher. Dropping Cal and Wazzu in favor of Stanford and Oregon is about as brutal as it gets. My biggest question is, even if Wilson improves as a QB and Johnson improves as an OC, is it going to be enough to offset the strength of schedule? Utah could be a vastly improved squad and could still find themselves hovering around the .500 mark. They're out of conference games (Weber St, BYU and Utah St) are all games that Utah can win and they need to if they have any hopes of being bowl eligible next year.
-If you're a Utah fan thinking that they can bounce back from a 5-and-7 year and have something like a 10 win season, I think you need to drastically change your expectations. Considering the schedule, a 7-and-5 year with a bowl game should be considered as a "win" for the program. 8 wins or above would be very suprising.
It's gonna take some time to acclimate to the Pac12. I think given the Ute's previous success and that first year fluke that fans thought it was gonna be easy. It's not gonna stay this bad but it will get better. Just give it some time and keep expectations low for a few years.
BYU 1984 National Champs.
This is where I think most knowledgeable Ute fans are. At least the ones I know. We knew it would take some time and that the years of being serious conference contenders will be rare, but I hope that they can become more competitive and consistent.Originally Posted by CONAN
This year was a huge disappointment. Whitt absolutely HAS to take some of the blame for this.
I remember when Urban Meyer was the coach and Whitt was the defensive coordinator. The Utes were playing on ESPN. They were facing 4th down, and Urban elected to go for it. Whitt was so upset about the decision to go for it, he slammed his clipboard down on the ground. The announcers were commenting that Whitt wanted the safer choice of kicking it, because it was his defense that would have to pick up the slack if the 4th down conversion failed. The conversion was successful, and the announcers joked that the Utah coaches were friends again.
This is Whitt's problem. He's all defense, in an all offense conference. Bringing in BJ as the offensive coordinator was a HUGE gamble. I seriously doubt Whitt would have taken such a risk with the defensive coordinator position. This gamble failed miserably this season, and Whitt is the guy that should be held accountable for it. You can't do that kind of stuff in a major conference like the Pac 12. Can you imagine some SEC team like Alabama hiring someone like BJ as the offensive coordinator? Actually, in the SEC (a defensive conference) the equivalent would be hiring someone like BJ as the defensive coordinator. Would never happen.
I really hope it pays off over time, and I suspect that it will. But as for what happened this past season, the buck stops with Whitt.
I don't buy into that whole "it takes time to adjust to the new conference" crap. TCU is doing just fine in the Big 12. And they were also a defensive minded team who went to an offensive conference. They also lost their starting quarterback early in the season. Yet they are going to a bowl game.
I am confident Whitt can get this fixed, but he deserves the blame for letting it happen in the first place. He has underestimated the importance of offense for years. It's understandable because he's a defensive guy, but he has to adapt to an offensive conference like the Pac 12. Utah's defense was top notch the past 2 years, but with the offense so bad the team overall bad.
Ya, but I think most people would agree TCU's talent level was pretty close to what is already in the Big 12. That's Utah's fight with the Pac 12. Good talent makes good coaches.
But I agree with the other stuff. Very similar to BYU's defensive-minded HC.
BYU 1984 National Champs.
I think Utah had Pac 12 caliber players on offense. John White was one of the best running backs in the conference. Utah also had several good receivers last year who sucked this year.
I find it hard to believe Devonte Christopher could go from NFL caliber to not even Pac 12 caliber, while coincidentally every other receiver on the roster had a similar regression. Reggie Dunn was grossly under utilized. He should have had several passes every game.
These guys aren't unknowns, they were Pac 12 caliber players last season.
I think the coaching staff totally blew it this year on the offensive side of the ball.
I'm pretty confident that if Utah and TCU had traded coaching staffs before the season, Utah would be going bowling.
Not to put it all on the coaches, the players certainly deserve a lot of blame too (starting with the most inconsistent kicker in college football). But the coaches on the offensive side of the ball were definitely not Pac 12 caliber this season.
You could plug Roscoe and Doman into this statement and it would be just as relevant.
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I agree. Put Christopher on USC and he's a top 40 draft pick.
Utah's talent level didn't seem equal to TCU's when the Horned Frogs beat the piss out of them in SLC.
Well, the Pac-12 gave out 1st team honors.... Star was 1st team defense, Dunn was 1st team Special teams, and Brenner was second team offense.
Here is a link...
http://pac-12.com/Sports/Football/Fo...announced.aspx
From the article, it seems that everyone and their mother receives an 'honorable mention' in the Pac-12 as well.
most inconsistent kicker in college football? Uh hell no that title goes to byu's kicker justin sorenson.
He even managed to miss 2 xtra points in the last game
I disagree. He consistently missed easy FG attempts and extra points.
Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!
It seemed like kicking was a lost art across the breadth of college football this year.
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