Utah At Cal Post Game Thoughts
Wow was that ugly. Cal’s defense did to our offense what our defense did to Pitt’s offense last week – make it look absolutely terrible. I’m just going to throw my thoughts out there list style:
1. I was one of those that said Jon Hays deserved a chance. Well, he’s been given that chance. I’d say he has seen enough time. The problem is, who do you go to? I trust this coaching staff to know that we really don’t have anyone better. Having said, that they need to try. The offense needs some sort of spark.
2. The offensive line has not been up to par. Sure we’ve seen some games where Utah has been able to run the ball. But pass protection has been less than stellar. John Hays has shown he doesn’t make the greatest decisions on the football field. I would venture to guess it doesn’t help when the offensive line doesn’t do him any favors.
3. I’m a little bit frustrated to see us in the position we are in at QB. Norm Chow saw our QB troubles for what they were in the spring and went out and got John Hays. Unfortunately, that was the best he could do, and Wynn ended up getting hurt again. It just feels like we’ve really dropped the ball in QB recruiting.
4. Kenneth Scott showed some potential tonight.
6. We very well could win out from here. And we very well could lose out from here. No game is a gimme. That is life for a mediocre team in the PAC12.
7. It hurts to still be looking for our first PAC12 win.
http://utecrew.com/?p=95
Great Coaches Find Ways To Win Games
Ben Moa plows over Air Force in 2003
Anbody remember Ben Moa? Specifically, anybody remember the 2003 game at Air Force? I’ve been thinking alot about that game lately.
The reason being, in 2003 Urban Meyer was in his first year at Utah. He was bringing with him a new system. Urban could have tried to input his entire system in 2003 but he didn’t. He installed what he could of his system and tailored it around the players he had.
We didn’t have a lot of depth in the backfield on ’03. Brandon Warfield was a stud but was hurt in the Air Force game. Urban stuck tight end Ben Moa in the backfield and he was our running back for most of that game. If you remember, that was the famous jump pass game where Ben faked up the middle and threw the jump pass for the conversion.
Nobody doubts that Norm Chow is a great coach. We’ve seen what he can do throughout his career. What I’d like to see him do, and what I think he will do, is tailor his play calling around John Hays and the strengths of this team. Lets face it. John White IV is not a bruiser. It would be nice to spread the field out a little and see what he can do.
I think Utah got caught last year trying to make Jordan Wynn a spread option quarterback when that isn’t the player he is. I can’t count the times where I would get frustrated at them for running a zone read where everyone in the stadium knew that Jordan Wynn was not going to keep the ball.
There is no doubt that we’re trying to install Chow’s pro-style offense. That is well documented. But it would be great, if it could be geared around the strengths of this team. Most, if not all, of the players were not recruited for the pro-style offense. It would be nice to see a little mix of the spread until the players completely match the style.
http://utecrew.com/?p=87
Time For a Utah Football No Twitter Policy
This blog post has been building for weeks. And before I get into it, let me preface that I do not think that social networking is the reason that Utah is 2-3 right now. This is not a scape goat post. But it is obvious it is becoming an increasingly bigger problem.
Over the off season I started following several Utah football players on twitter. I’d say I’d got up to around 20 guys on my follow list. After the season started it soon became evident that I wouldn’t be following long. I started dropping a few here and there and then finally about two weeks ago I decided to stop following all of them.
First, their tweets really don’t add any value. Most of the time they are tweeting back and forth to friends, but the tweets that were about football, a lot of times seemed inappropriate. John Cullen started talking trash about BYU. Devonte Christopher commented that it would be nice to get the ball as much as Robert Woods. Basically, stuff that doesn’t need to be thrown out there on twitter.
What takes the cake though for me happened this weekend. I haven’t hid my displeasure for the way John Cullen has played, nor for his loud mouth on twitter. After the game I, and a few other guys talked about how his poor play and his twitter habits. Let’s face it, the guy is a senior on this team and is looked to as a leader. I think his performance so far this season hasn’t been up to par with what has been expected of him.
What blows me away is that this morning I found out he retweeted our tweets about him. He then responded “Of course not, that’s why I retweeted them they forgot to @ me.” For those of you not familiar with twitter, basically what he is saying is he is upset because we didn’t say those things directly to them. In addition he retweeted a negative tweet from Ben Bagley at 1320 KFAN, who simply stated that Cullen seems to kill drives at the most inopportune times.
My question is this? What in the world is John Cullen doing? I know Ute fans get labeled as classless but does he think that Ute fans are going to send him a tweet saying how bad we think he sucked it up? Talk about classless. I’m not going to pretend to know what John Cullen does to prepare for games, but I can promise you that he could use his energy that he has for seeking out the negativity on twitter and do something more positive with it like – add it to his preparation for games. I’ve also heard rumors that he spends time over on the Utezone board.
Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher announced this week that he is instituting a no-twitter policy with the Florida State football team. I think it is time that Coach Whittingham look at doing the same thing.
http://utecrew.com/?p=75
Well that was emotionally unstaisfying
This picture beats game photos
I know this is supposed to be a blog where we recap last game, but I’m guessing most of you saw it and don’t want to relive that thing again. I could talk about the last time I got kicked in the balls too, but I really don’t want to.
So I’ll just hit some of the low lights. And for me nothing can get lower than Jon Hays. Utah is driving at the end of the first half. If we just get three we are up a touchdown at half and have Uncle Mo on our side. Just be smart.
Is Jon Hays the dumbest man in the world? Do anything other than throw the pass you did. Just fall down. ANYTHING. Instead he throws up a shot put of a pass, ASU pick, ASU momentum. His pick in the flat was equally bad. Brian Johnson asked him what he was thinking with an F-bomb thrown in for effect.
Next, WHY ON EARTH CAN’T OUR SKILL PEOPLE HOLD ONTO THE BALL. Yes they try to strip the ball in the Pac-12. Can some one let them know? From the fumble on the opening kickoff against Washington, the fumbles are killing us. If this problem isn’t fixed we’re in trouble.
I will give one compliment. I thought the team kind of laid down and died when Wynn got hurt against Washington. But they fought all game against ASU, at least on defense. You just can’t have your backs against the wall all game against good team.
At the end of the day, I’m not as down on this team as some. I think we have the talent. We don’t have the depth. And we don’t have much margin for error. Certainly we don’t have the talent to overcome 10 turnovers in two games.
The other good news is, we’ve seen the best teams on our schedule and all the games left are winnable, if we can just limit turnovers and get QB play that isn’t STUPID. As long as that happens we’re still going to some bowl. 8-4 would be a solid first season in the Pac-12.
http://utecrew.com/?p=80