Curtis on :
Thanks for the rule clarification. I love the new feature!
Friday, September 26. 2014Red, Blue And Pigskin
What is it about Byu and Virginia playing that causes a major weather delay for fans in this state? Oh well even the rain in Michigan couldn't damper a good weekend for the state of Utah.
In Provo, although sloppily, the Cougars managed to secure their most impressive win of the year so far. It'll probably end up as their most impressive win of the year when things are all said and done. For the Utes, the talk was about playing Michigan in front of the 100,000 plus of the Big House. In the end, the Utes also secured their most impressive victory of the young season in front of about 5,000, most of whom were sporting Red. Unimpressively Impressive
I mentioned earlier that the win over Virginia last weekend is arguably Byu's most impressive victory of the season. While Virginia may not have the cachet of a victory over Texas, especially considering that last year Virginia's only 1-A victory was over Byu, but through the first four weeks of this young season, Virginia has been the best of the four teams Byu has face. And they've been the best of the four by a long shot. Virginia's defense is legit, especially that front four who manage to contain the Byu running game in the first half, so putting up 34 points (7 points came on an Adam Hine kickoff return) on a day when Byu was only managing 3.9 yards per carry on the ground goes to show how efficient the offense is. Especially when the gameplan calls for passing routes of less than 10 yards, taking advantage of the middle. While Virginia's defense is legit, their Offense however is not. The Cavs are unsettled at quarterback, don't really have a strong running game, and receiving wise are led by one player, with an awesome name in Miles Gooch. So the fact that the Virginia offense essentially matched Byu's point for point, minus one, and racked up 519 yards of offense is a bit more worrisome. Of course, Byu isn't the only good team this year to have struggled against Cal. While getting Bronson Kaufusi back from injury will help some of the issues in the middle, and the line is stout against the run, the real concern for the Cougars is the secondary. While the secondary doesn't have the speed issues of the past, this group is frequently out of place, and sloppy, forcing them to grab, onto WR's to prevent getting burned. Which of course, leads to penalties. That's the other big area of concern for Byu is the penalty situation. Once again Saturday, the Cougars had 12 penalties for 133 yards. Unfortunately for Byu a good portion of them were of the mental kind, such as the late hits, or taunting. I tweeted during the game that Bronco must absolutely hate this team with how sloppy they are, and how frequently penalized they are. It's very uncharacteristic for a Byu team in the Bronco era, and could lead to a team being in a game, they otherwise shouldn't be. Bye, Bye, Bye Next up for Byu is a week off then they get the conference weekend matchup against Utah State. A week off will come at a good time, as it will probably allow Bronson Kaufusi to be back, as well as Jordan Leslie who was injured during the Virginia game. You know, it's ironic that the Byu vs. Utah State game is on conference weekend this year. Ironic because what Byu is going to do to the Aggies isn't going to be very Christian like, and that's if Chuckie Keeton is back. Deciphering The Translation So the big question entering into the game against Michigan, and furthermore Pac-12 conference play, for the Utes is whether anything from their games against air (a.k.a. Idaho State and Fresno State) would be able to translate against teams with a pulse. (Debate about whether Michigan has a pulse not withstanding.) So let's compare and contrast performance from the first two weeks to performance in week 3. From the start it was clear that the Utes were no longer playing walk over competition. After the first two drives of the game, it looked like it was going to be a long day for the Utes, and a blowout for the Wolverines, as Michigan took the opening kickoff and marched down the field to the Utah 24 and kicked an opening drive field goal. On Utah's ensuing position, the Wolverines defense stiffened up and forced a quick 3 and out. Suddenly the Wolverines were going to get the ball back, with the lead, and all of the momentum. Little did we know that after giving up a first drive field goal, the Wolverines would never even come close to Utah's red zone again. The following 11 offensive drives for Michigan would yield 0 points, as the Utah defense put on an absolute clinic. During the first 2 games, the Utes averages 10.5 tackles for loss per game, against Michigan the defense had 8 tackles for loss including 4 sacks, 2 each for Jared Norris and Nate Orchard. But then again, defense is rarely the huge concern for Utah. Offensively, it took the Utes a little bit longer to get going. It seemed through most of the first half as though the offense was content using the same vanilla calls that moved the ball against Idaho State, and Fresno State. Michigan though is a slight bit better defensively, and shut the Utah offense down in the first half. Even on the one good play in the early going, the fact that Michigan isn't a pushover shown through. On the second offensive drive for the Utes, RB Bubba Poole took a screen pass and broke away, with clear selling to the end zone, or at least it should have been, except the Michigan DB outran the Utah WR's who thought Poole was home free, and made a touchdown saving pass. Though the Utes would tie the game up, it was just another point of emphasis that this game wasn't going to be a cakewalk. Not His Best Decision For most of the first half, the Utes offense struggled. The struggles of the Ute offense were exacerbated by one decision of QB Travis Wilson. All of the early season praise I had given Travis Wilson for his smart decision making almost went for naught, when on 3rd and 5, Wilson put the Utah Season, his season, and honestly his career in jeopardy with one tremendously stupid decision. As Wilson scrambled out of the pocket he was forced to the sideline. 6 yards away from a first down marker, and looking down the gun of 4 Michigan defenders, Wilson left his feet. The Outcome, Wilson ended up going "full scorpion" and was immediately injured. After being on the sideline for a while, Wilson ended up going back to the locker room, and every Utah fan immediately saw the season circling the drain. While leaving ones feet is usually not a good decision, what made this one worse was that there was nothing good to come out of it. Wilson wasn't going to leap over 4 defenders and get the 6 yards he needed for a first down. And even if he magically did, they'd still be around their own 30 yard line. As Wilson was in the locker room, Kendall Thompson came in, and immediately did what Thompson does. Unfortunately what Thompson does is seem to be really bad on his first drive or 2, before finally settling into the game. With Thompson in the game, the Utah coaches insisted on trying to use his running ability with the zone/read play. Michigan was having none of it. After gaining a total of -10 yards on his first 5 plays over two drives, Thompson dropped back for a screen pass, and promptly threw it in the gut of the Michigan D-Line, who would then score Michigan's only touchdown. Just as Utah fans were having flashbacks to Jon Hays, and Adam Shulz, something clicked. The Utah coaches switched from the zone/read to plays designed to take advantage of their edge speed. Kendall Thompson settled down, and led the Utes on a 5 minute drive, that accomplished three things. First it took the momentum away from Michigan. They'd never get it back. Secondly it allowed the Utes to take a 13-10 lead into halftime. Finally, when Travis Wilson came out of the locker room after half time, and looked to go back on the field, it put a ton of pressure on him. With Thompson moving the ball, had Wilson came out and faltered, it could have been the beginning of the end for him. Instead, Wilson showed why he truly is the leader of this team. As great as Thompson final drive of the half was, Wilson was better. Despite the brutal hit, that could have made him a bit gun shy, Wilson led the Utes down field, hooked up with Dres Anderson for a touchdown, and the domination was afoot. When It Rains, It Pours Early on in the game, the Utes were having a problem with WR Devin Funchess, who was eating the Utah zone alive. That is until he met Brian Blechen. During a pass route over the middle, Blechen drilled Funchess just as the ball got there and caused an incompletion. From that point on Funchess wasn't really effective. Especially as he started having Alligator Arms over the middle. Blechen was rewarded for his earlier hit, when a pass that should have been caught by Funchess, bounced off his alligator arms, and directly into the arms of Blechen for the interception. Remember a couple weeks ago, when I talked about how I though when the pressure of that first interception was off, the secondary would relax a bit, and the flood gates would open. That's exactly what happened. Granted Michigan QBs Devin Gardner and Shane Morris helped out with some bad passes, but even still the Utah secondary over the last 15 games still weren't turning those kind of passes into turnovers. This weekend though the Utes matched their entire 2013 interception total in this one game, as Blechen, Tevin Carter, and Gionni Paul all snagged a pick. Another interesting twist that the three interceptions all came from someone the Utes hoped would play last year, but for a variety of reasons (Injury for Blechen, failing to qualify for Carter, failed NCAA waiver request for Paul) didn't. Paul would actually add a fumble recovery later for a total of 4 turnovers. A Long Awaited Debut Though the defense had a very strong day, the best performance for the Utah defense was the debut of LB Gionni Paul. Gionni Paul was the leading tackler for the Univeristy of Miami as a Sophomore in 2012. However as the Hurricanes dealt with NCAA violations, Paul wanted out. Around that same time the Utes hired former Miami coach Dennis Erickson who still had a lot of contacts in the Florida area, and he managed to convince Paul to come to Utah. Paul had to sit out last year due to NCAA transfer rules, after a failed waiver request due to Miami sanctions. During spring practices Paul suffered a Lisfranc fraction in his foot, and would be forced to miss some time. Despite not playing last year, and knowing he'd have to sit out the first couple games of this year, Paul quickly became a defensive leader, and almost was voted a captain. Every time a coach talked about Paul, they had to genuinely try to hide their excitement about what he would bring to this team. Saturday he made his debut at the Big House, and despite taking a couple drives to regain his football feet, he clearly delivered with a 14 tackle, 1 interception, 1 fumble performance, on his way to Pac-12, and National Defensive Player of the Week honors. Man The Hatches, Here Comes The Pirate This week the Utes welcome the mad pirate Mike Leach and the Washington State Cougars into town to open conference play. Here's a sample of what you can expect from the Washington State offense. Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, and when those don't work, pass some more. The Cougars don't hide who they are. They are a passing team. They don't even pretend to run to keep a defense honest. Through 7 combined games Travis Wilson and Taysom Hill have yet to pass for 41 passes in a single game. Washington State QB Connor Halliday threw the ball 41 times in the first half last week. Halliday hasn't thrown it fewer than 41 times in a game since September 28 of last year, including a game in that time span with an NCAA record 89 attempts. It's no wonder that the Cougars come in with the nation leading passing attack. When a team passes that much anything can happen. The Utah secondary will be tested. The problem is, when a team passes that much, it means all the more opportunities for a small mistake to turn into a big play. By the end of the day, you'll probably be able to count on one hand, the number of defensive snaps where the Utes have less than 5 defensive backs on the field. With the need for 5 defensive backs, and less of a concern for the run, don't be surprise to see the Utes in a lot of 3-3-5 defenses, with Paul, and Jarred Norris taking care of the line backing duties along with Orchard, who won't be used so much as a line backer, but as a pass rusher. In addition this might be a good week for the Utes to use Pita Taumoepenu, who is a young linebacker the Utes are high on, but who is a little raw in run stopping right now, but has excelled at chasing down the QB. To help the secondary, the Utes will want to get pressure on Halliday and make him uncomfortable so he can't just sit in the pocket and pick his shots. The nice thing about playing a team like this, is the defensive line can just pin their ears back and go, without worrying about the run. One question I've heard a lot of radio this week is "What's the more important position this week, the DB's covering, or the DL getting to the QB?" While it's tempting to say the DB's, the truth is a good pass will beat good coverage every time. Just ask Sean Mannion and Oregon State last year at Utah. The more important thing for Utah will be to aid good coverage with a strong pass rush. Offensively, the Utes must resist the urge to match Washington State shot for shot. The Cougars will get the yards, but the Utes must simply control the ball, and do their thing. Last year in Pullman the Utes, being led by Adam Shulz came out firing in the passing game. The result were two consecutive pick sixes to open the game. Utah was never able to recover and ended up losing by 12. Instead, the Utes need to play their game, which is a spread running attack, that carefully picks it's spots in the passing game. The Washington State defense is a young aggressive defense. They like to blitz alot, but are also prone to giving up the big play. As long as the Utes take care of the ball offensively, that much passing by the Cougars will give the defense a chance to get some more turnovers. Last week, the Utes running game wasn't up to the standard set in the first two weeks. A lot of that can be put on the Michigan defense. This week though the Utes will need the running game. Expect to see Devontae Booker and Bubba Poole both get 15-20 rushes as the Utes will want to work the clock. Another concern for the Utes, will be to make sure they put the joy of the Big House behind them. Especially since the Cougars come into the game 1-3, and after having gone to a bowl game last season, they want to return. Another loss will really put that in jeopardy. Last week the Utes passed a serious test by winning their first game outside the state of Utah since November of 2012. This week the Utes have a chance to do something they haven't ever accomplished in their time as a member of the Pac-12. The Utes have the opportunity to have their first ever positive conference record, even if it is only 1-0. A win will also put them 2 games away from their season goal, but to get there, they will have to figuratively do something, they literally had to do last week. Weather the storm. Although instead of actual rain (which, if you look at the weather report you can't completely rule out,) the storm this week will be the relentless pirate passing attack. Ask Red, Blue And Pigskin So occasionally during a game, or in conversation afterwards questions will arise. During the Fresno game, a situation came up, that Curtis said would make for a good clarification during RB&P, and although I did answer it during the game, I figured it would make for a good segment. As such I present "Ask Red, Blue And Pigskin" where I try to use my knowledge for some of the more obscure parts of the game we love to answer your question. During the Fresno Game there was a point where Fresno was running an up tempo drive. As the Bulldogs snapped the ball, the officials blew the play dead, and promptly announced they they had to allow the defense a chance to substitute. Thus prompting Curtis' request for clarification. While I don't know the exact wording of the rule, it goes something like this. Either side can attempt to substitute players during any dead ball time. If the offense has not substituted any players, than the defense does so at their own risk, knowing the offense can snap the ball and get the defense for anything from too many men on the field, or even an offsides call depending on where the substituting players are coming from. In the NFL Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady are really, really good at taking advantage of this. However, if the offense has substituted players, the defense must be given a chance to react. You'll usually see this accomplished by the umpire standing over the ball, preventing the offense from snapping the ball. Although if the offensive substitution wasn't immediately after the preceding dead ball, you end up in situations where the ball had already been set, and the offense attempts to snap the ball. I'm not quite sure on the exact amount of time the defense is given, especially since it seems to differ by officiating crew. This is something that can be a bane to both Utah, and Byu, and all up tempo offenses who try to get the snap off as quickly as they want, and sometimes think the officials wait too long. If you have any scenarios or questions you'd like clarified email them or leave them in the comments. Broadcast Update This week's game is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, and will be broadcast on the Pac-12 network. I say schedule because according to the weather report, thunder storms are expected Friday and Saturday. Again what is it about Byu playing Virginia that causes one of our teams to deal with two weeks of severe weather. This is why we can't have nice things. The Utah @ Ucla game on October 4th was one of two games optioned by Fox for the 6 day window, along with Usc/Arizona State. What this means is that the game will be on either 5:30 MST on Fox, or 7p.m MST on the Pac-12 network and we won't know till next week. If Utah wins, expect Fox to snag the battle of undefeateds. If Utah loses Fox will go with name recognition in Usc. Soapbox Time Excuse me a moment while I pull out my soapbox Okay here we go. Can we please quit with the Travis Wilson has a history of injuries baloney. Look I know that Travis landing in the Michigan game was scary. But what really upsets me, is how much this week people have brought up Wilson being injury prone, and making it sound like he has a history of missing game. Similar to this article by Pacific Takes. I realize the fact that they refer to Travis suffering a concussion in the Michigan game should mean I shouldn't pay attention. If it was a concussion he wouldn't have come back. But it's more about the same thing that people have been saying since the offseason. Yes Travis Wilson health scare was really bad last year. It was one of those things that transcend the football field and had put his career at risk. But Let's not act like that one thing makes Travis injury prone, and someone whose "history of injuries, you have to worry that his status for the rest of the season will be hit and miss at least." In fact his playing history says exactly the opposite. Travis came in as a true freshman in 2012 and played in the first five games of the year, before becoming the starting QB for good. Travis then started the next 16 consecutive games for Utah. During this time Travis showed an ability to take hits in the running game, and even played with a hand that was extremely jacked up and probably should have kept him out of a game. It was during that 16th game that he suffered a concussion. While concussion symptoms seemed to have faded by the end of that week, and coaches have said he probably would have missed one game at worse, it was the concussion tests that were ran that found a pre-existing condition not related to an injury that caused Wilson's season, and possibly his career to be sideline. After getting cleared Wilson came back, and hasn't missed any of the three games. Even coming back after getting stiches in his nose this past week, and with sever road rash on his face. Look last year was scary, and Utah has an injury history at QB over the last decade, but it's still a bit too early to call Travis Wilson injury prone. Although there still needs to be a team rule, that he's not allowed to leave his feet again. Trackbacks
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Curtis on :
Thanks for the rule clarification. I love the new feature!
AoD on :
Exact wording (from Rule 3, Section 5, Article 2, paragraph e of the NCAA rulebook):
While in the process of substitution or simulated substitution, Team A is prohibited from rushing quickly to the line of scrimmage with the obvious attempt of creating a defensive disadvantage. If the ball is ready for play, the game officials will not permit the ball to be snapped until Team B has placed substitutes in position and replaced players have left the field of play. Team B must react promptly with its substitutes. |
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