Thursday, November 6. 2014Red, Blue And Pigskin
November begins the way September ends with the Cougars getting a win (much needed) and the Ute fans all on a ledge with me just wanting to push them all off.
Righting The Ship
Facing down a bye week, the Cougars really couldn't afford another loss on the road against Middle Tennessee State. While much closer, and sloppier than you would have liked, Byu finally managed to get back on the correct side of the scoreboard with a 27-7 victory. Christian Stewart continued his ascendency as the best passing Quarterback at Byu since Max Hall. Even more promising for Byu is that Stewart has done an effective job of sharing the ball, and not just having a favorite target and relying exclusively on him. Defensively, the Cougar defense harrassed Blue Raider QB Austin Grammer to the point he became Jake Heaps like by ducking and going down the moment it looked like any pressure was going to be on him. The highlight of the game, and honestly a turning point, was Byu Punter Scott Arellano taking a punt from his own 10 yard line and booming it 81 yards to flip field position, just as it looked like the Raiders were going to score and take a lead with decent field position. Instead they got the ball at their own 10 and never threatened again. The fact that a victory against Middle Tennessee State is such a huge win, shows how the rails have come off for Byu this year, but it was a much needed victory. The last thing Byu wanted to do was be on a 5 game losing streak going into a bye week. M*A*S*H Unit Gets Another Not all good news for Byu this week though, as they suffered another serious injury to a key player. Junior running back Jamaal Williams suffered a knee injury during the middle of the game. Bronco revealed on Monday that he would be done for the season as he had to have surgery on multiple severe knee injuries. Williams is just another in what has become a long list of injuries for the Cougars. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery to Williams, who has been the best player on the Cougars (not the most hyped) for three years now. Still A Game Of Inches. Another week, another extremely tight conference game for the Utes. The Utes had been walking the on the razor's edge for a month. The problem with walking that close to the line, is it's not difficult to stumble and go over it. That's exactly what happened to Utah against Arizona State. The Utes lost to the Sun Devils in overtime after a missed Andy Phillips field goal, allowed the Sun Devils to kick a figgie for the win. While it's shocking that Phillips missed such an easy field goal, the blame for this game isn't on him. Instead it's on the offense. The defense had some issues. Playing against a true spread team for the first time, really struggled holding the edge, which allowed the Sun Devils some large gains on the ground. They also missed two gift chances for interceptions, one of which would have ended the game tying field goal drive and sealed a Utah victory. Where the defense excelled though was in the bending and not breaking motif. Arizona State moved the ball at will in the first quarter. Both times though, the Utes clamped down inside the 30 and held the Sun Devils to measly field goals. After that Sitake adjusted, and confused Taylor Kelly and the Sun Devil offense for most of the night. Unfortunately it all went for not because the Offense didn't show up. A Group Effort Of Crap In the aftermath of last weeks beyond abysmal 57 yard performance a lot of the criticism went straight to Travis Wilson. Wilson had the opportunity to finally seize control of the QB Competition that has plagued the team all year. Instead the lack of consistency that worried me last week showed up. When the Utes desperately needed Scorpion Travis to show up, timid Travis made the trip instead. It wasn't all his fault. Without Dres, none of the Wide Receivers were able to stretch the field or get separation, which allowed the Sun Devils to blitz like crazy, and play close to the line. Honestly though, by the 2nd half of the game, I'm not sure it would have mattered if they were open, because by then Wilson was so rattled, and his confidence had been entire too shaken that he just wasn't making plays. And that's the crux of the problem for the Utes at QB. The coaching staff has thoroughly mishandled the QB Competition. Now I'm okay with the competition having happened in the fall, but it needed to stay in fall camp. When Travis Wilson won the job, the coaches needed to get behind him, and let him know, that while he doesn't have a free reign to make mistakes like he had the previous year, he was there guy. Instead from the moment it was announced that Wilson won the job, it was always with a caveat. First the coaches said Wilson won it "by a thin margin" and that Thompson would be given time during the season, essentially telling Wilson, that he didn't have much room for error. The playing time wasn't an issue during the first three games as it came in the second half of blowouts, and when Travis went out with an injury after going full Scorpion. Then came Washington State game, and the Utes first loss. The majority of the rhetoric coming out of that game was that as the Utes offense bogged down in the second half, the coaches felt they should have given Thompson some time. Wilson has never been the most mentally strong player. You could see it last year when he'd get into funks, he'd stay in those funks (UCLA's 6 picks, Arizona State, Usc games are all good examples of this.) So now the coaches had undermined him during their only loss. By doing so, they basically told Wilson he can't make any mistakes. For someone who thrives as a gunslinger, having them be afraid to make the wrong decision is a severe detriment. Against UCLA, the drops came to Utah, badly. Travis led the Utes on 3 extremely ineffective drives, and it was time to try Thompson to spark something. It worked against Ucla, but became abundantly clear, that Thompson is not a long term solution. Ask Byu fans what happens when you have a QB who trusts their legs way too much. So, the coaches replace an ineffective Thompson with Wilson, and immediately saw the offense open up for Booker as the Utes won against OSU, and the Coaches began saying they just wanted somebody to take the job, but they were letting Travis start by default. Then something weird happened against Usc. Surprisingly enough the coaches showed some trust in Wilson with the gameplan. Aided by the fact that Usc had a really stout run defense, the coaches let Travis throw the ball. While it wasn't anything to wow anyone, it was enough that Wilson had the offense moving throughout the night, and when the team needed a leader on the final drive, Wilson became that leader. Sadly that confidence didn't last long, the Utes were never able to handle the ASU blitz, and Travis struggled early, so how did the Coaches adjust? Once they got the lead (by allowing Travis to move the pocket and try to make plays) they went into an extreme shell. To call the play calling vanilla is an insult to vanilla offensive games. With a lead, and a running back who was finding holes, the Utah coaches stopped even pretending to call pass plays. Despite having Arizona State keying on every run. Despite them playing a cover 0 defense which leads to no support in the back field, and is ripe to be picked apart by skinny posts, and slants. Nothing is called. Also despite letting Travis run and move out of the pocket on their way to 4 scores in 5 drives and 16 unanswered points, so to are those gone. The play calling got so bad that Joey Freaking Harrington was calling out the Utah plays as soon as the Utes got to the line. Of course it wasn't that hard, the play call was run. At the first sign of trouble, and with a miniscule lead, the Utes took away any confidence in Travis. They started playing not to lose, and basically let Travis know his only job was not to turn it over. Is it any wonder when the time came he didn't have the confidence to make a play. He's thinking any mistake will cost him his job. Sure enough, after struggling, the coaches went back to the old "it's no ones job" rhetoric and move Wilson and Thompson back into an OR situation on the depth chart. Where To Go From Here I'm not sure how to fix the QB situation at Utah. Even worse, I'm not sure at this point Travis Wilson can be fixed. He's honestly never been the same since he initially hurt his hand against Stanford, and even this year when he was doing well at the beginning, there was just something off. As his confidence has become entire shot, he's become more off. Kendall Thompson isn't the answer. He's a great athlete, and is maybe deserving of a drive or two a game, but it's clear, until he learns to trust his arm (which is pretty good, and pretty accurate) he's going to be limited. So what can the Utes do? This week the Utes host the #4 team in the College Football Playoff poll, and the standard bearer for the Pac-12 when the Oregon Ducks come to town. With them comes the player who should be the obvious Heisman runaway selection (but isn't solely because he doesn't play in the SEC) Ducks QB Marcus Mariota. Everyone knows what the Ducks are. They speed, speed, and more speed. The Utes can beat Oregon. The Ducks are weak on the offensive line. Washington State got 7 sacks against the Ducks. Granted they were missing players who are now back, but even still, the OL has been a weak link for Oregon. The Utes defense can take advantage of this. They need to pressure Mariota and make him uncomfortable. Still, don't expect him to make mistakes, because that's just not what he does. Mariota is far and away the best player in College Football this season, and he's actually been that way for a couple years. To beat the Ducks, the Offense needs to keep Oregon off the field. They don't need to be great, they just need what they had against Usc (minus the goal line fumbles.) The offensive coaches need to call a dynamic game, and not get predictable. If the Utes can manage even that, if Scorpion Travis shows up, the Utes will stay in this game, and as we've seen the last 5 games, anything can happen. So what happens if Timid Travis shows up? What happens if the offense isn't up to snuff again. The Utes obviously can't survive with 57 yards passing. The Coaches can't just let Travis stand back there and be ineffective. At the same time, I don't think you can keep swapping between Thompson and Wilson. I know the common logic says that going against the Ducks is a terrible time to throw somebody new in for their first reps. Especially since at best they'd be a Redshirt Freshman. I'm going to disagree and here's why. Coming into the season the goal was bowl eligibility. The Utes got there. Yes it would suck to have the Utes end the season on a losing streak and end up with only 6 or 7 wins. It would definitely be a blight on the season. But let's be honest, the loss against the Sun Devils put any hope for a Pac-12 South divisional title on the ropes. While the Utes are still technically in it for a chance to win the division, it would be hard. A loss to Oregon would essentially kill any chance the Utes have for a magical Pac-12 season or more, and instead would leave Utah focusing on bowl game improvement, and next season. 6 wins is fine this year, but the Utes will need to keep improving to really become a player in the Pac-12. Next year, the QB competition will obviously be opened up, but it can't just be between Thompson and Wilson. The Utes also have 3 other QB's on the roster that deserve a shot. Redshirt freshmen Conner Manning, Brandon Cox, and true freshman Donovan Isom (who is my pick to be the future.) The coaches really like Brandon Cox. So if the offense is stalling, and the Ducks look like they're about to take control of the game, why not look to the future. Why not put Brandon Cox in and see if he gives us something different than we're getting with Wilson and Thompson. Honestly the Utes would have nothing to lose. It would give them a chance to see Cox in real game action against real opponents. It would also give them a leg up on their decision making for next fall camp. The Utes staff is playing with house money at this point. Why not put that house money to use. Now that the Utes are bowl eligible they'll get the extra bowl practices which are great for developing youth. Why not see what else you have. The worst that can happen is you find out that someone isn't your guy and you have one less guy in the mix next year. It's better than the alternative which is Travis continues to struggle, you could lose anyways. Either way, the competition next year cannot just be Travis Wilson and Kendal Thompson. Not saying Wilson can't be the guy, and can't improve. (Although if you haven't noticed I am intimating that Thompson can't be the guy) Just saying his confidence has been shot this year by the coach mismanagement. It's time to either prop him up or start to move on. Of course the best case scenario is Wilson gets out of his own head, turns back into Scorpion Travis, the coaches trust him, and he starts moving the offense and we don't have to worry about it at all. Wait, A Poll That Makes Sense? This week marked the second appearance of the College Football Playoff Committee's Top 25. While I didn't see the need for them to release an in-season poll when it was announced, I'm kind of glad they are, since it gives us an insight into what they're thinking. One of the things we've learned is that they kind of make sense. One of the major problems with the AP Top 25, the So far, it's looking like the Committee is taking the opposite approach and rewarding wins, instead of punishing losers. For example, in a matchup between two top 20 teams, once would expect a close matchup. Theoretically one would also expect the higher ranked team to come out victorious. So in the past when a say 14th ranked team would beat a 17th ranked team, the previous polls would drop the 17th ranked team for losing, without looking at the situation. So say the 17th ranked team was the road team and lost in overtime, they would still be punished for losing, despite the fact that the rankings basically stated that they should lose closely. The Utah/Sun Devil game is an example of this, and an example of how the committee is thinking differently. Utah dropped in both the Coaches poll and the AP poll, while the Sun Devils got a minor bump in both. Not so for the committee. Instead they left Utah ranked 17th, and rewarded the Sun Devils by moving them up 5 spots into the top 10. If this is truly how the committee is going to act, it shows that they do in fact value strength of schedule, and teams won't be punished for playing and losing against tough opponents. It will also encourage teams to schedule better. All that being said, any team that has two sub 70 yard passing games on their resume, that isn't a full on triple option team, should not be ranked in the top 20. Back To The Dumb Polls The Cougars and Aggies both played their 9th game of the season last week, meaning we have two of the three teams in state having turned the 3rd Quarter poll. So let's see how they rank. 3. - Byu (5-4) - To say October wasn't easy on them is an understatement. A win last week, a bye this week, and Unlv and Savannah State following gives them a chance to get some positive momentum. 1 more win and they'll be bowl eligible. 2. - Utah State (6-3) - The Aggies not only ruined the Cougars season, but they're also ruining their injury excuses. Already down their defensive captain and other starters, the Aggies had to start their 4th string QB last weekend. Playing against similar competition, they've kept it rolling despite the injuries. 1. - Utah (6-2) - The Utes are just as close to 3-5 and 8-0 as they are to their current 6-2 position. Their defense though is a beast, and they're proving that they are for real, even as their offense tanks. Up All Night Well last week didn't undo time and space, it also didn't bring an end to those really late nights. This week the Utes have another late one. Kickoff will be at 8:00 p.m. and the game will be on ESPN. Trackbacks
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