Look for some differences on the offensive approach in this game and the rest of the season.
“If you kind of look at the fourth quarter of the last game, I think that’s the offense that we have a good shot of being — playing fast, playing aggressively, wearing the other team down, and that’s, I think, going to be our offensive identity,” tight ends coach Freddie Whittingham said. “We’re not going to change as far as, you know, our basic philosophy and everything that we do. We’ve just got to put more points on the board, and that’s the focus going forward.”
This may say something about the defense as well. This year we can’t rely on the D to hold the opponent down or generate turnovers. Utah will have to put points up on the board.
The other depth chart changed that jumped off the page was Braeden Daniels moving to RT in front of Bam. This may be a matter of getting the best 5 OL on the field at the same time, but… we’re in Game 4. The OL room has to be an interesting place to be these days.
Hauati Pututau got nudged out by Junior Tafuna inside, with Devin Kaufusi starting where Viane Moala had been, and the Pututaus (Hauati and Tennessee) being the 2s inside now. (That seems to be a partial explanation of how we got gashed in the 2nd half by SDSU’s run game.)
With Broughton being out, Faybian Marks is the 1 at Left CB, and vs Wazzu we may play some dime, since they don’t play TEs and getting a LB vs a smurf WR is a mismatch. My hunch is Zemaiah Vaughn #16 will get some snaps, possibly Aaron Lowe #22.
Josh Newman has a strong review of the SDSU game and the state of the team as we head toward Wazzu.
On the QB situation:
This is where we are. Brewer wasn’t great against BYU, but he regressed vs. San Diego State. He has played poorly in part because of an offensive line playing poorly, but Rising made it happen Saturday in a way Brewer has not. It is that simple right now.
after Saturday, I think one thing that’s been made clear is that Utah isn’t a program that can function with your traditional 3-5 drop back, stay in the pocket QB. Programs with great OL’s that keep their tight ends/RB’s in to block can do that. USC, Michigan, Iowa Penn St can exist with that style of play. Utah cannot.
Brewer probably wouldn’t be considered a true drop back passer, but clearly he has less escape-ability and maneuverability than Rising. That seemed to make all the difference in the world, late in the 2nd half vs. the Aztecs. I hope we shift our recruiting to more dual threat option QB’s for this reason.
They thought it was so awesome that they believed that all of the real power programs in college football were going to go independent as well. I remember a few of them came to this forum and said the it was only a matter of time until USC went independent.
And now byu-provo has joined a conference that just lost it’s two marquee programs. Karma
6-2 / 230 + athletic, seems built to give & take some punishment.
This may be more of a reflection of the overall offensive identity we’re settling into this year than who’s a better QB, Jackson or Costelli. (Impossible to know from the outside.)
If it takes the threat of a QB run to get defenses on their heels more, fine.
It would be great if Jackson can get some snaps on Saturday (not out of necessity).
this probably isn’t unusual for most college football teams but Utah football has gone through a roller coaster of streaks over the past couple of years.
In the middle of 2017, Huntley’s first year Utah went 2-6. Then they started to find their footing and from that point went on a run of 22-6 from the end of 2017 through the end of the 2019 regular season. That’s a 79% winning percentage.
We’ve played 10 games since that point and have gone 4-6.
Not sure what you mean. Texas and Oklahoma left for the bigger money but I suspect Texas will have problems being a little puppy where they were the big dog in the Big 12. They had to expand eventually and they took the best programs out there. The PAC 12 should have expanded and picked up BYU and UNLV. Would have given them another strong media market. The PAC 12 channel is circling the drain and most of it is based on time zone.
I am sure you have heard the rumors of USC being disenchanted with the financial status. The Big10 wants two more teams and they are either looking south (North Carolina and Georgia Tech) or west (USC and Washington) for the media markets. They already get 56 cents per subscriber with 51m subscribers. Compare that with the PAC12 channel getting 13 cents per subscriber with 17M subscribers. This is real money and unfortunately money talks in college sports. The downside of the Big 12 is the media markets they picked up (BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida) are bigger than any of those left.
If the Big10 actually expands there will be another massive earthquake in college football alignment and the Big10 and the SEC might just bolt and be by themselves.
Lots of quarterback questions for the Cougars Up North. The QB that started against USC went out with a knee injury. The starter for their opening loss against Utah State went out of that game with a knee injury. The other QB in their grotto is a name that might be familiar to some south of the Point of the Mountain…Cammon Cooper. That’s a dead give away Utah County name.
