The Utes' Trainwreck 2013 Begins

If the Utes had any hope of making this a respectable season, they had to beat an injury riddled Oregon State team at home tonight.



Instead, the Ute defense collapses like cheap lawn furniture and they lose a heartbreaker in overtime.



It's looking like a 2-7 PAC12 season for the Utes at best, which means the BYU game is their last gasp for salvaging some spectre of respectability for the season.



Here's hoping the Cougs can drive another nail into that coffin one week from tonight.

Well, the PAC-Ute train wreck might have begun, which ostensibly makes them a tougher opponent next week. But as I and others have predicted, if Kryle beats Cougars, he gets to keep his job notwithstanding on the wrecked train. That derailed train will still roll into CougarTown with dynamite in their cars.

At one level I like that BYU can be the NAIL. at another level it will be a slugfest and BYU fans will be more rabid than usual. It may even get the Blue-hairs out of their seat to actually cheer.

Regardless it will be a very hard fought game which could make the win more sweet than ever and the loss more bitter than ever.

ESPN Gameday should be in Provo next week!!

Problem is, even mediocre Utah teams have beat us in recent years. We have a way of making them look like world beaters, even when we're the superior team. It's mental more than anything else. They've been in our heads for a good while now and Bronco has to find a way to overcome that.

KingCoug wrote:
Problem is, even mediocre Utah teams have beat us in recent years. We have a way of making them look like world beaters, even when we're the superior team. It's mental more than anything else. They've been in our heads for a good while now and Bronco has to find a way to overcome that.

I'm not sure we really know what team BYU is either, but I know that our defense is light years ahead of Oregon State. Travis Wilson is a good QB, Utah has home run hitters, they will score, so it will come down to what our offense can do vs what will be a motivated but mediocre Utah D.



I think we win if we win the turnover battle and don't allow specials teams goofs.



OSU lost to Eastern Washington..... we better not let this slip out of our hands.

I hope Travis Wilson tries to run as much against us as he did tonight. He won't finish the game.

The frUtes win tonight just makes me more nervous. They will come out and look like a top 25 team next week trying to prove something after this lose. That defense that looked like a JV team will look all world next Saturday night. How the hell did they lose that game tonight?

3 picks. Utes had quite a bit more yards but the turnovers gave it away.

a1247 wrote:
The frUtes win tonight just makes me more nervous. They will come out and look like a top 25 team next week trying to prove something after this lose. That defense that looked like a JV team will look all world next Saturday night. How the hell did they lose that game tonight?

3rd word. Typo. Fix it. They lost - as you clearly know based on your last sentence.



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Cougarbib wrote:

The frUtes win tonight just makes me more nervous. They will come out and look like a top 25 team next week trying to prove something after this lose. That defense that looked like a JV team will look all world next Saturday night. How the hell did they lose that game tonight?

3rd word. Typo. Fix it. They lost - as you clearly know based on your last sentence.



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I won't fix it

Hmmm...did I just hear "You're not the boss of me"? :-)



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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEwlW5sHQ4Q

Utah actually matches up much better with BYU than Oregon State. The Utes probably won't see another QB like Sean Mannion for the rest of the season and they're going to come into Provo daring Taysom to beat them with his arm, a task Hill clearly isn't ready for yet. For whatever reason, Texas didn't stack the box and force Hill to the air, but Utah will and this is why Utah wins this football game. Add to that Travis Wilson being two-dimensional while Hill is one. I see this as a repeat of the Virginia game, only Utah having more success on offense and defense. The worst thing that could have happened for BYU was for the Utes to lose to OSU and for the Vegas odds-makers to make Utah an underdog... both happened.

The Utes have a legitimate shot at winning this road game even as an underdog. But these 50/50 or 60/40 games can go either way - usually close - unless a fluke happens.



Hard to call this one with any degree of confidence. We know more about Utah given 3 vs 2 games, but what did Weber State show us other than confirming U and USU are evenly matched - but we knew that.



Ole Miss showed that Texas had a porous run defense.



Right after it was announced that Wilson had the 2nd longest streak of attempted passes without an interception - he threw three picks in the 2nd half.



What Wilson will we see? BYU will bring more heat than OSU and has more speed to protect the edges. Count in that. DBs? IDK. Wilson will test them if he has time.



U has a solid offense and ST. BYU - hard to say. BYU has a better defense.



Will we get an accurate injury status on J Dub and others? Was Wilson's sore elbow late in the game significant?





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"Bib and Wolfie sittin in a tree....."

Texas routinely had 7 or 8 guys in the box. THill was still able to break containment and make guys miss. Utah also won't play another QB as fast as THill either. Texas tried to make BYU best them through the air, but the running game was executed to perfection.



Both teams present bad matchups for the other. BYU has a better defense than any Utah had seen so far.



I don't know which way this game is going to go. The mental edge could be in Utah's court, but I don't know if the Texas performance was a turning point for the offense and offensive line.



anyone who thinks they know how this game will play out is wrong. It could be aclose game. It could be a blowout for either team. No one has a clue.

Here's one thing I do know. If Utah loses they won't go to a bowl game.

I'd say, and it could be just some lingering optimism, that this year may actually have a closer mental parity/equality than the past 4 years. Utah may be angry after the loss; Kryle may or may not feel the hot seat approaching if they don't win and have a poor PAC record (although he hasn't needed the hot seat for motivation in past to kick the Cougs); but, BYU Srs are in this to win this AND Bronco finally is as well; they have had an extra week to prep AND its home game and the fans will be very active.

Have to pressure and contain Wllson. Our Oline has to be nasty!!

Cougs_Rule wrote:
"Bib and Wolfie sittin in a tree....."

Cougs_rule :roll:



Put down the kool aid and try and look objectively at this game like BIB was doing.

Wolfie is looking at it from the Utes POV obviously.



Byu has played 2 games; some posters are forgetting week 1 already. :love: Utah has a better run defense than Virginia and Texas. A worse secondary than Virginia and Texas but that doesn't seem to matter as much as the first point.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Texas routinely had 7 or 8 guys in the box. THill was still able to break containment and make guys miss. Utah also won't play another QB as fast as THill either. Texas tried to make BYU best them through the air, but the running game was executed to perfection.

100% correct. I can't believe how overstated it has become that Texas did not stack the box or play the run. Re-watch the game. They made half time adjustments. Diaz was the scapegoat. He made adjustments and BYU still beat the Texas D.



Watch at 10:15 mark in the 3rd...Texas is absolutely playing the run. On the drive, Hill had a couple of good passes because that is what Texas was giving us. Hill missed Ridley on a wide open slant because the safety was cheating up to run blitz.



Texas safeties keep cheating up to play the run. BYU just kept running 3-receiver sets to ensure there was still spacing. They had SEVEN in the box when, BOOM, Taysom rushes for his 30 yard TD run. Texas was playing the run on that play and still got schooled.



Then, watch the next BYU drive starting at about the 8:00 mark in the third quarter. BYU throws a lot of pass plays here to make the Texas defense honest and play the pass. On 3rd down, Texas switches out of run protection to play pass and BYU luckily gets a defensive holding call on the pass play. 4 of the next 5 play calls are pass, because TEXAS IS STACKING THE BOX FOR THE RUN. A good pass to Apo and then a 23-yard scramble by Hill when the defense pass rush gets pass the line. A couple of incomplete passes and BYU gets the field goal. But most of that scoring drive is made up of pass plays BECAUSE TEXAS IS PLAYING FOR THE RUN.



Now, watch the next BYU drive. With 4 minutes left in the third quarter. Texas has EIGHT men in the box and Hill sprints to the outside for 20 yards! Texas is PLAYING THE RUN! Next play. Texas has SEVEN in the box and JW runs for 24 yards UP THE MIDDLE! Then, with EIGHT in the box, Hill completes a 10 yard route to Ridley. Next play, EIGHT IN THE BOX for Texas. 4 yard inside run by JW. Next play. SEVEN in the box. 2 yards for JW. Then, EIGHT in the box, 4.5 yard run by Lasike. Field goal.



Re-watching this and paying attention to the Texas D REALLY got me excited for the rivalry game. I'm praying that the Ewetes put 7 and 8 in the box on every play. They will be punished!

This game will come down to the corners. Utah will test our corners the way Texas should have. Looking back at that Texas game, our corners routinely got beat. BAD! True, Texas has faster WRs than Utah, but still: If we didn't have absolutely fantastic safety play from Sorensen, that game would have been much closer. Our front 7 and safeties are good enough that Utah will look to avoid the middle of the field, at least in the beginning while they try to expose the corners. They'll work the edge to force us to cheat over and expose the middle.



I didn't see the Utah/OR State game. How were Utah's corners? Better or worse than UVA's (who were actually pretty good!)? I see Taysom trying some Jake Locker-style throws to stretch the field and open the run game: Air it out long to where if Cody/Ross can't get it, nobody can (only Locker wasn't so successful). Anae will try a few crossing routes thrown in, but not much as those are more prone to INTs.



And where did Wilson's picks come from--edge or middle of the field?