Red, Blue And Pigskin - 5

Have you ever been busy in your day to day grind, and forget how close to a holiday you were? When you look at the calendar and realize that next Monday is a holiday you had forgotten about, there's this brief feeling of elation and happiness. I have to thing that's how all the football widows in the state felt this past weekend when they realized that neither Utah or Byu were playing on Saturday. It was as if they had found a forgotten holiday.

Utah State fans wish they could go on holiday after seeing Chuckie Keeton go down with another knee injury. Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

If the first week of the year is all about expectation and anticipation, and the second week is all about hyperbole with only a single game (usually against crappy crappy opponents), than around the country this is the week where we can actually start looking back on what we learned.

Around the country, we've learned a few things so far this year.

For example we learned that Byu has a better shot at making this year's playoffs (with their odds still at a little less than slim) than any of the 12 teams from the B1G (who are firmly planted at none.)

We learned a QB can make a huge difference (although we've already known this), as Everett Golson continued his regular season undefeated streak for Notre Dame. Golson led the Irish to an undefeated season and championship game appearance two years ago. He was kicked off the team last year, but earned his way back this season and has the Irish at 2-0. Meanwhile in Columbus Ohio State went from playoff contender to struggling to beat Navy in the opener, and losing to Virginia Tech (despite how hard the Hokies tried to give it to the Buckeyes) after the loss of Braxton Miller.

In Texas we're in the process of learning if a Football obsessed fan base is willing to suffer through a difficult short term, in order to return to prominence eventually, but this time having done it the right way, without thugs and criminals.

Locally we've begun to learn a few things about Byu and Utah as well.
Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

Well thankfully that's over, maybe now we can actually get to something resembling actual competition.
Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

Has anyone ever figured out why two equal amounts of time can feel so drastically different? For example, this year's offseason will last a grand total of 234 days, the exact same amount of days that last offseason lasted. Yet for some reason, this year, it seems to have been an extremely long, and slow time frame.

Of course, that's all about to come to an end. The Cougars and Utes are both in game week preparation

This means, the two most disturbing trends in the world are about to come to an end. This Thursday marks the start of the 2014 season, and today officially marks the end of no more Red, Blue And Pigskin.

There will be one major difference in the 2014 season. For the first time since the Axis and the Allies were busy squabbling like siblings at a reading of a rich relatives will, the Cougars and the Utes will not play each other.

While there are some who won't miss it, I sure will. I love the Holy War, even if I can't stand a lot of the crap on both sides that lead up to the game. Since they won't be playing a game this year, I won't be able to write by annual Tale of the Tape comparison, so I'm co-opting it and using it as my season preview. Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

Sometimes, I just hate being wrong. This past weekend was one of them. All that good will Utah got for beating Stanford. All the replays on ESPN all week long, it's gone. Tossed away by a dreadful, unprepared, flat performance on the road in Arizona this past weekend. In the end Utah let Stanford beat them, now they have to avoid letting Arizona turn the Stanford win into two consecutive losses.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure it the Cougars (both of them) couldn't get large enough modes of transportation to get their teams to the game, or what. You remember those signs that kids hang up on their room saying "No Boys Allowed", or "No Girls Allowed", well apparently Houston, and Byu both thought that the defenses would give them Cooties, because it was apparent that Reliant stadium had a "No Defenses Allowed" sign on the door.

This week, though, the Cougars better find their defense if they want to pull of Division 1-A history on Friday. Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

Well that just happened!

As fans of Utah and Byu, we've seen plenty of National Championship hopes and dreams die on our own home fields. But that's because, if we're being honest, any national championship hope was false to begin with. Especially in today's climate of College Football.

Last Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium, we saw an entirely different National Championship dream die. And it was glorious!

But before we get to last Saturday's major upset for the Utes, there was another unexpected event down in Provo last week, and no not the outcome of that game. Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

Well here we are. This is the week that originally inspired me to start writing this series. This is the game that always has a little something special to it. It's always my favorite entry to write. I'm of course speaking of Rivalry week.

This is a special rivalry week because it's the last one we'll get until 2016. Which means it's the last time I'll get to write my favorite entry until 2016.

First things first though, there were games this past weekend, and have to do a quick recap before we move full on into the Rivalry Game To End All Rivalry Games (Until 2016). Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

I have no idea, no clue. Three days later and I'm still not sure what that was in Provo last weekend. It defies explanation. No one could have predicted that. Not even the most blue goggle wearing, Bronco Kool-Aid drinking, fireside attending, Cosmo loving, Max Hall worshiping Cougar fan. (I say this with confidence because he also told me yesterday he had no idea what went on Saturday.)

The most overused cliche after week 1 is that "a team makes it's biggest improvement from week 1 to week 2." That certainly held true in this state as Utah State, Utah, and BYU rolled to victories and were all running much crisper than in week 1. But if week 2 is about making your best improvement, weeks 3 and 4 are about figuring out what is real, because only 1 improvement from this week should be taken at face value. Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

The state of Utah houses 5 Division 1 football teams, with Utah, Utah State, and BYU in 1-A and Southern Utah, and Weber State in 1-AA. 4 of those teams played division 1A opponents this past week, with 3 of those games being against out of state foes on the road. 2 of them lost, but it was in against an in-state opponent, leaving just 1 of the 5 division 1 football teams in this state to lose to a non in state opponent.

And with that countdown out of the way, let's review what went down in the first week. Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

It's Game Week! There's an extra hop in the step of football fans everywhere because we are finally, finally, FINALLY in Game Week. There's one guarantee for this week, somebody in the state of Utah will not make it to week 2 undefeated. Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

I present for your perusal 6 highly important numbers:

272
250
245
227
200
7

Their meaning? The first five numbers represent the length of our long national nightmare. They are the total days since the last football game played by the Utes (265), Aggies (243), Byu (238), Any College Team (220) or since any relevant football of any kind at the Super Bowl (193).

The final number? That is the amount of days we must endure before the nightmares all come to an end (Well except for BYU who has to wait 2 more days..

So with only one week to go, Red, Blue And Pigskin makes it triumphant return. Continue reading "Red, Blue And Pigskin"

A little while ago, Joey, Pete and myself got together to discuss a few things. Events then converged, and the podcast got extremely delayed. Well here it is now. Fortunately most of what was discussed wasn't too time relevant.

So what was discussed?

We spent some time breaking down the move of Dennis Erickson to be "Co-OC" of the Utes, including a little bit of time disparaging the Alma Mater of one of our own. Then we gave BYU's schedule equal treatment to what we gave the Utes schedule when it became official.

Finally we moved on to the NFL where we discussed the Blackout Haurghbowl. I unleashed my full QB rankings, and finally we spent a good chunk of time talking about our the coaching moves we were most interested in.

It's about a month late, but still worth a listen.

As always, feedback is always welcome at [email protected]

When we got together for a Super Bowl related Pigcast a couple weeks ago, Joey and I had to wait on that slow poke Pete to get home from his occupational related duties. What better way to kill time than a podcast to discuss the Coaching Carousel that's gone on the local college ranks.

It was done before the news of Dennis Erickson to Utah broke, but it was interesting to go through and discuss the inbred coaching ties that entangle the three universities.

Also we went through Utah's 2013 SEC-like (in the sense they don't leave the state for 8 weeks) schedule.

In recent months we've celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. We rang in a New Year. Heck we've even celebrated my birth. But now it's time to celebrate the only national holiday that matters: Super Bowl, and what better way to celebrate than with a Super Bowl Centric PigCast!

Joey, Pete and I take a look at this battle of brothers, and break down matchups for the Harbowl. We also examine the places of Ray Lewis, Joe Flacco, and return to the Colin Kaepernick conversation.

We also make our picks for the Super Bowl winners, as well as some of the dumb prop bets Vegas has available.

Agree or disagree with any of our picks or thoughts? Leave a comment or email [email protected] and share your thoughts, or to just reminisce about the season that was as we prepare for the long, cold offseason. Afterall, after Sunday, there's no competitive football for more than 6 months.

The end of the season, mainly needing a colossal blunder in Colorado kicking to Reggie Dunn to avoid a second loss in two seasons to the Buffs, was just too painful to write about, so I delayed it and included it in this podcast.

In this edition of the Red, Blue And Pigcast, we begin to say goodbye to College and ramp up our excitement for the people who get paid (above the table) to play this game we love.

But first, a little postmortem on the Utes season, including how we are going to miss Star Lotulelei absolutely dominating guys like Khaled Holmes, and a brief preview of the Poinsettia Bowl.

Next I am joined by both the host, and guest host of Trek West 5, (You guys can debate which is which), as Peter, Joey and I discuss the current state of the NFL, Harbaugh hurting concussions, a great two years of drafts, and why Jim Schwartz is a jerk.

Please give a listen, and interact via comments or email.

The tentative recording schedule between now and the beginning of next season will be as follows. We'll try for the beginning of playoffs, and also the week before the Super Bowl.

Sometime around April for a draft podcast, so we can discuss which local guys may get drafted, and which local guy may end up getting drafted way too high, based purely on speculation over his potential (Ziggy).

Maybe again as Spring Camps wrap up, and Then as Fall Camps/Training Camps begin and the new year is upon us.

Finally one last question. This just went down on Tuesday Night, so after the recording had been done, but Gary Andersen, after telling his team he was staying, has decided to take the Wisconsin head coaching job. This means that in the past week Utah State stole a recruit from BYU, Came oh so very close to stealing a recruit from the Utes, won their bowl game for the first time since 1993, and finished ranked for the first time in possibly ever, and then lost their coach.

Was it a good week, or a bad week for the Aggies?

Also want people's thought on the name of Red, Blue And Pigcast for the Podcast edition of Red, Blue And Pigskin. (Thanks Joey.)

P.S. In case you didn't know, I'm also finally in iTunes, so subscribe to the podcast there.