Wednesday, November 21. 2012Red, Blue And Pigskin
Well if you live in Logan you were probably celebrating at the airport around Midnight Sunday Morning when your team flew in. The rest of the state however was feeling pretty terrible.
No Bowling For Utah
The Utes hope of getting to 6-6 and their 10th consecutive bowl game ended this past weekend, as the Utes were just unable to stop the Arizona Wildcats in a 34-24 loss. The Wildcats were seemingly able to move the ball at will on a defense that has struggle all year long. Taking advantage of the terrible Utah line backers, the Wildcats used the Zone/Read option play to constantly keep the backers, and the D-Line guessing. When deciding to pass the Wildcats would stretch the line backers out, and take advantage of their lack of speed with crossing routes, drag routes, and out routes, designed to attack an extremely weak line backing corps. Offensively the Utes made a show, as Wilson played well, and achieved the first 300 yard passing game for Utah since Jordan Wynn did it against San Diego State in the 11th game of 2010. Travis Wilson now has 25% of all 300 yard passing games in the post Brian Johnson era. Despite all their struggles, the Utes were hanging in the game, but it was ultimately turned on a terrible decision to fake a punt around their own 40. Unable to convert the Utes gave the ball back to a hot Arizona offense, who went down the field and took the lead for good. In the end, much like the season in it's entirety, the Utes were simply outmatched. You could clearly see that the Utes haven't gotten enough Pac-12 level players throughout it's roster. As was evident all season, the speed of the Utah players just isn't up to snuff. It puts Utah behind the 8 ball going into every game. Something that only gets worse as the Utes make mental mistakes, and show a lack of mental toughness. Whit's Built Some Grace Up, But..... Kyle Whittingham has built up a fair amount of goodwill at Utah with his performance. He's been the coach during the Utes most successful three year stretch, and his ability to keep things going after Urban left, is a big part of the Utes ascension to the Pac-12. So I'm more than willing to give him a mulligan for his first extremely terrible season. Especially since he's warned fans, and their over bloated expectations, that the adjustment to the Pac-12 would be a process. However, that doesn't mean that starting this next upcoming season, that his seat can't start to get a little uncomfortable, especially because he has hurt the process with some of the decisions he's made on his staff. Hiring Brian Johnson to be the Offensive Coordinator was a small time move. Now I still think that Brian Johnson could turn into a good OC. There was changes in his play calling and his schemes throughout the season to point to him hopefully becoming more comfortable in the job. But the truth is, after a month long search, where Whit told us "You wouldn't believe the names of some of these applicants", you don't come out of that search and hire a 25 year old with zero OC experience, and only 4 years of coaching experience altogether. Somebody who still has players on the team he played with during his senior year. There's rumors out there, that Whittingham is not a networking type of guy, that he doesn't like to expand beyond his circle of people he's already played or worked with. That he doesn't have the circle of contacts necessary, to go out and find somebody from outside of his group to bring in. If you look at his hiring practices this seems plausible, as every member of the staff is someone he's played with, or coached with previously. It also makes you wonder if Whittingham likes to surround himself with "Yes" men. Whittingham has absolutely butchered the Offensive Coordinator position since Andy Ludwig left after the 2008 season. After Ludwig's departure, there wasn't even a "nationwide" search for his replacement. Whit made it known right away he'd be promoting from within. Unable to make a choice he selected Dave Schramm and Andy Roderick to be Co-Coordinators. When Roderick left for Washington a couple weeks, later, and then came back to the Utes, that left Schramm as the OC. 8 weeks into the season, Whittingham took away the playcalling duties and gave them to Roderick. Roderick held onto those duties through the 2010 season, with middling success. The offense typically was stale. In 2011 when Whittingham had the chance to hire longtime legend Norm Chow he jumped at it. A Change to a more pro-style offense, combined with injuries and lack of depth at the QB position led to a struggling offense in 2011. When Chow took the Head Coaching job in Hawaii we were then left with our "nationwide" search that resulted in Brian Johnson getting the job. Which has resulted is an offense without any identity, and a Coordinator trying to learn on the job. The Utes have moved to the Pac-12, and want to stop being small time, than Whittingham is going to have to move out of the small time as well. That includes hiring people who aren't his friends. It especially means not hiring Lawyers, and part time Sideline reporters with zero coaching experience to coach the DB's, which only happens to be the most important part of your defense. Moving Forward It probably goes without saying, but next season will be Whittingham's most important season. The Utes finally look to have some QB depth, after Whittingham butchered the positions depth is first few years. The Utes also have upgraded the size on the OL. The last two recruiting classes have been the best in Utah history, and this year's is looking to be a good one as well. Whit gets his mulligan for 2012, but the process needs to start showing some improvement next year. Now I'm not saying that expectations should be back to an 8 or 9 win season next year, but there are a few things that Utah fans can expect out of this team. First let's point out that the Utes have only won two regulars season games in the last two season against Division 1 teams with winning records. Both of those wins came against BYU. They did however beat Georgia Tech last year in a bowl game. The Utes need to start competing better and winning against the better teams in the Pac-12. After winning 4 games on the road last year, the Utes are currently winless on the road this season, with one more chance on Friday. Much like in the competition against the better Pac-12 teams, the Utes need to get back to being competitive on the road. The Utes have got to start being more mentally sound. The Utes have been riddled with personal fouls, and stupid mental errors, like illegal substitutions. This team has got to be more disciplined, and stop shooting themselves in the foot. Finally, there needs to be some offensive improvement and growth. For two seasons the Utes have been in the bottom 20 in the nation in most offensive categories. This is what happens when you butcher the OC, and QB roles on a team for so long. Whit made his bed with Johnson, and now needs to do everything he can to help him succeed. If Johnson doesn't work out, Whittingham doesn't get the benefit of replacing him. His failure to find a solution at the OC position has led to this stagnant offense, and it now goes on him, if Johnson fails. Now I'm not saying that Whittingham has next year or else. I'm just saying he needs to realize that his seat shouldn't be ice cold. I know it may seem weird, but one only needs to look at Cal and Jeff Tedford. Tedford came in and not only made Cal relevant but led them to the heights of their success. But a few seasons of being unable to replace assistants, and stagnant football started a decline that has resulted in 2 missed bowl games the last three seasons, and a team that constantly seems like it can't compete with the upper half of the Pac-12. It ultimately lost Tedford his job this week. I don't want to see Whittingham, or the Utes go down that same road, but it's a slippery slope the Utes sit on between trying to be competitive, and ending up a Pac-12 doormat. Right Colorado? It Starts Friday, Black Friday Because of the struggles of this season, and where the Utes are, this week's game against Colorado may be Whit's most important game in a few years. It's important to see how this team, and these coaches are going to respond now that the season is lost. Are they going to come out angry, show that they have fight, and destroy a team that is truly and historically awful. Get revenge for the upset last year. Or are they going to lay down, and get beat a second time. A win, a dominant win, will show that this team has some fight left, and can build some forward momentum for 2013. It's always better to end a season on a win, whether that win makes your record 13-0, or 1-11. But if they come out and struggle, and lose, it would not be a good sign for the Utes. It would mean they have lost to the worst team in the Pac-12 for two consecutive seasons. It would mean that they came out and essentially gave up. It would point to a mentally weak team. Something that can be attributed to poor coaching. A win doesn't mean a successful 2013, but a loss could point to Black Friday becoming a Black 2013 season. Okay Fine BYU, I'll Talk About You Well one way to get me to talk about BYU during their final stretch of bad games is to go out there and lose. Apparently the Cougars were just tired enough of me ignoring them to do just that. BYU went into their game against San Jose State, and played like a team that only had to show up in order to win. San Jose State meanwhile came out with a chip on their shoulder and took it to the Cougars early. The Spartans took advantage of what has always been the weak link in the BYU defense, and torched the Cougar secondary on their way to Touchdowns on each of their first three drives. The Cougar offense meanwhile, scored on it's first drive, but then was unable to get anything going for it's next 10 drives. Riley Nelson was his typical terrible self, and was obviously hurting. Yet the coaching staff continued to send him out there despite an offense that couldn't do anything. The only reason the Cougars were close at the end is because for some unknown reason the Spartans decided to take their foot off the gas pedal, and rather than continuing to play to win like they did early, instead seemed content to try and protect the lead. Something that was enough at the end. San Jose is now 9-2, but they've built their record on the back of WAC Teams. They lost to Utah State 49-27, in a game where they were sacked 12 times. Improved or not, this is a team that BYU should have been able to dominate. Instead they came into the game overlooking the Spartans and got stopped. A Truly Shocking Loss The reason this loss is shocking, is that for all his faults as a head coach, the one thing BYU typically has not done during the Bronco era is lose to the teams they were clearly better than. Bronco's Cougars have struggled with teams on their level, or better, but you could always count on BYU to take care of their business and not have a let down against truly inferior teams. Not so much anymore. Next up is New Mexico State, who is truly awful. BYU Should be able to handle them easily, but if the Cougars enter that game with the same level of intensity (none), and amount of preparation (none) that they had for the Spartans, than it'll be a 10 point win instead of what should be a comfortable blowout win. Poinsettia Roundup Nothing really changed this week and San Diego State, and Fresno were both on bye, and Boise State beat up on Hawaii. Boise State (8-2, 5-1) - Despite not being as good as in the past, they're still the crown jewel of the the MWC. They took care of business against Hawaii, and should do the same this week versus Colorado State. After that the only thing standing between them and their third straight Vegas Bowl appearance is Nevada. San Diego State (8-3, 6-1) - Survived the Air Force option and must now travel to Laramie. A win wraps up a share of the MWC crown, but will still leave them as the likely favorite for the home game Poinsettia Bowl. Fresno State (8-3, 6-1) - The surprise team of the bunch, and also the most likely to be dropped from the top 2. Like San Diego they can claim a share of the MWC crown with a victory this week over Air Force, but most likely they'll end up being the third selection of the three. Utah State - WAC Champions After two years of false starts, and close misses, the Aggies finally were able to close out an important big time game as they beat 20th Ranked Louisiana Tech 48-41 in Overtime. With the win the Aggies are now in the front runners seat for the final ever WAC Championship, and only need to beat Idaho this week. Not only that but the Aggies are the 25th ranked team in the AP poll. Whoever thought we'd see the day where Utah would have a losing season, BYU struggles to stay above .500, while the Aggies could have a 10 win season and be ranked. In Case You Missed It In case you missed it the third Red, Blue And Pigskin podcast is now available. We're also currently under review with iTunes so hopefully we'll be added there soon. Trackbacks
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