Utes looked VERY unimpressive against Southern Utah

The main take away is Utah will look like world beaters against us.



Their O-Line which looked soft and slow will be a brick wall for our defense.



Their D-Line which gave up over 110 yards rushing and over 4 yards per rush will look like the steel curtain next week.



Their QB looked decent but should turn into an all-American by next Saturday.

Sure, they always get pumped up for us. Remember back when they lost 24 to zero to UNLV right after beating us?



Hopefully, this new coaching staff will get our guys emotionally prepared. As much as I admired Bronco, this was the one big disagreement for me, that he would not approach the rivalry game with any different hype or strategy. Too many times I have watched in frustration as an inferior Ute squad became berserkers against BYU.



Does anyone have inside (or public) info regarding how they intend to prepare for the Utes?

Yeah, we've seen this movie before. utes look like crap in games leading up to BYU, then look like the NE Patriots against BYU, then look like crap again after BYU. I couldn't care less what they looked like tonight, next week, they will look like Pac 12 champions.

This was also Game 1 of the season. Many teams look sloppy the first game, but then they clean up a lot of mistakes and they look a lot better in Game 2.

In addition to them having home field I hate that they have a week and a half to prep for us. All things considered, can't fault anyone for thinking the Utes will win...again. The X-factors are a healthy Taysom, Sitake's knowledge of the Ute D, and the difference in game motivation compared to the Bronco years.

KingCoug wrote:
In addition to them having home field I hate that they have a week and a half to prep for us. All things considered, can't fault anyone for thinking the Utes will win...again. The X-factors are a healthy Taysom, Sitake's knowledge of the Ute D, and the difference in game motivation compared to the Bronco years.

Nailed it!

I hadn't thought of Sitakes knowledge of Ute D as an advantage. But maybe it is. Unless the Sitake bashers think that it was Kilani's D that sucked and he wouldn't know the weaknesses of his own D.

Utah didn't have to do anything special to beat SUU. And the key to e game will be BYus Oline being able to slow down Lotulelei and Ute Dline--their strength. A healthy hungry Taysom and some trickeration could really help take Ute D out of their early attempt to dominate, ala Vegas Bowl.

At least we can trust that Sitake will have his team fired up rather than treating it like just another game and waking up in the second quarter down 35-0.

KingCoug wrote:
In addition to them having home field I hate that they have a week and a half to prep for us. All things considered, can't fault anyone for thinking the Utes will win...again. The X-factors are a healthy Taysom, Sitake's knowledge of the Ute D, and the difference in game motivation compared to the Bronco years.

Another X factor--Jamal Williams. Didn't have him last year for the bowl game. Maybe we have one less turnover with JW running.

Utah's pass D looked stout. SUU was something like 6-18 passing for 60 yards.

Against McCoy Hill?

Cougs_Rule wrote:

In addition to them having home field I hate that they have a week and a half to prep for us. All things considered, can't fault anyone for thinking the Utes will win...again. The X-factors are a healthy Taysom, Sitake's knowledge of the Ute D, and the difference in game motivation compared to the Bronco years.

Nailed it!

I hadn't thought of Sitakes knowledge of Ute D as an advantage. But maybe it is. Unless the Sitake bashers think that it was Kilani's D that sucked and he wouldn't know the weaknesses of his own D.

Utah didn't have to do anything special to beat SUU. And the key to e game will be BYus Oline being able to slow down Lotulelei and Ute Dline--their strength. A healthy hungry Taysom and some trickeration could really help take Ute D out of their early attempt to dominate, ala Vegas Bowl.

At least we can trust that Sitake will have his team fired up rather than treating it like just another game and waking up in the second quarter down 35-0.

Almost nailed it. They've had more than a week and a half to prep for us. They've been preparing for eight and half months.

Just remember -- Taysom is looking for redemption for the 2013 loss to the Utes.*



*this post assumes Taysom survives the Arizona game without a season-ending injury

SpiffCoug wrote:

KingCoug wrote:
In addition to them having home field I hate that they have a week and a half to prep for us. All things considered, can't fault anyone for thinking the Utes will win...again. The X-factors are a healthy Taysom, Sitake's knowledge of the Ute D, and the difference in game motivation compared to the Bronco years.

Nailed it!

I hadn't thought of Sitakes knowledge of Ute D as an advantage. But maybe it is. Unless the Sitake bashers think that it was Kilani's D that sucked and he wouldn't know the weaknesses of his own D.

Utah didn't have to do anything special to beat SUU. And the key to e game will be BYus Oline being able to slow down Lotulelei and Ute Dline--their strength. A healthy hungry Taysom and some trickeration could really help take Ute D out of their early attempt to dominate, ala Vegas Bowl.

At least we can trust that Sitake will have his team fired up rather than treating it like just another game and waking up in the second quarter down 35-0.

Almost nailed it. They've had more than a week and a half to prep for us. They've been preparing for eight and half months.

Exactly, they probably spent one practice to game plan for SUU.

Also, they probably tried not to show too much with a very limited playbook. A luxury BYU won't have vs Arizona.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Their D-Line which gave up over 110 yards rushing and over 4 yards per rush

You do realize that 110 rypg would be good enough for a top-15 rush defense, right?



Also, a shutout is always impressive. Bronco only pitched 2 shutouts in the last five years (Savannah State 2014, Hawai'i 2012) .

All I know is that it doesn't matter whatsoever what the Pukes look like playing anyone but BYU. A lot of teams look unimpressive in their first games of the season. I watched the AS/Tenn, OSU/Min and Vandy/SC games and I saw a whole lot of unimpressive teams. Tennessee was ranked #9 in the country and were able to do enough things right to pull the game out of the crapper.

Well, while we're in the business of comparing apples to oranges going back to history that is probably no longer relevant, let me throw this in:



48-17, 45-22, 70-31



Those are the scores of the BYU-Utah games the last time Ty Detmer started, all in our favor. Average score was 54-23, average margin of victory was 31 points, narrowest win was 23 points.



We talk about how Utah owns us, and yes, they have more wins over the last 15 years. But most of them have been very close games. Since the Bronco era began, the score differential at the end of regulation has been 0 (-7 OT), +2, +7, -24, 0 (+6 OT), -1, -44, -3, -7, and -7. So yeah, we've been blown out a couple of times (4th Q Hall meltdown, Heaps/Nelson turnover-fest), but it's not a sustained dominance like what Ty threw down on them. Kyle Whittingham had an edge against Bronco that got him the close games, but Ty Detmer freaking OWNS Utah! And with a healthy Taysom Hill and all the rest of the tools he's got at his disposal, he will own them again. Hopefully Sitake and Tuiaki can own them on the other side of the ball as well.



Either way, how they played against SUU Thursday is about as relevant to how they'll play against us on Sep. 10 as how we played against them in 89-91. But if we've got a healthy Taysom, I'm very optimistic about it. :)

Let's not freak out about Utah yet based on past results coached by a different staff at least until after tomorrow night.

KingCoug wrote:
Sitake's knowledge of the Ute D.

Is this really as big a plus as we think? I'm pretty sure Bronco had a good knowledge of their D and it's weakness. Could it be Anae didn't understand how to attack it? I think Bronco would tell him what to do to attack it, but in reality even the numbers don't even support Anae not knowing how to attack it.



Last 10 games, BYU record 3-7:



Anae's record: 3-5, Avg scoring: 23.9 pts a game, Avg offense: 393 yds per game

Doman's record: 0-2, avg scoring: 15.5 pts a game, avg offense: 333 yds per game



Doman's offense couldn't get it in the endzone and Anae's offense was pretty decent so I don't think it was because they didn't understand Utah's defense.



I think the biggest change will be the attitude towards the game and that, I hope, will be the biggest factor Sitake brings to the team.

redneckjedi wrote:
Well, while we're in the business of comparing apples to oranges going back to history that is probably no longer relevant, let me throw this in:



48-17, 45-22, 70-31



Those are the scores of the BYU-Utah games the last time Ty Detmer started, all in our favor. Average score was 54-23, average margin of victory was 31 points, narrowest win was 23 points.



We talk about how Utah owns us, and yes, they have more wins over the last 15 years. But most of them have been very close games. Since the Bronco era began, the score differential at the end of regulation has been 0 (-7 OT), +2, +7, -24, 0 (+6 OT), -1, -44, -3, -7, and -7. So yeah, we've been blown out a couple of times (4th Q Hall meltdown, Heaps/Nelson turnover-fest), but it's not a sustained dominance like what Ty threw down on them. Kyle Whittingham had an edge against Bronco that got him the close games, but Ty Detmer freaking OWNS Utah! And with a healthy Taysom Hill and all the rest of the tools he's got at his disposal, he will own them again. Hopefully Sitake and Tuiaki can own them on the other side of the ball as well.



Either way, how they played against SUU Thursday is about as relevant to how they'll play against us on Sep. 10 as how we played against them in 89-91. But if we've got a healthy Taysom, I'm very optimistic about it. :)

I guess it remains to be seen if the success Detmer had as a QB on the field can translate to OC/QB coach.



I have high hopes in the long run but my short term expectations are tempered considering the huge overhaul of coaching staff and killer schedule right out of the gate.

KingCoug wrote:



I guess it remains to be seen if the success Detmer had as a QB on the field can translate to OC/QB coach.

And if Taysom (arguably the best athlete ever to suit up for the Cougars) can learn from Ty (arguably the best offensive mind ever to play at BYU)?



Can Ty teach...... and can Taysom learn..... And will that translate to wins?

Going back the past five (or more) years, I've felt that the Utes care twice as much about beating us as about anything else in the season, statswise or by record. Almost to the point where they would give up the Heisman and National Championship if it means beating us.