I like your guys’ take. Youth plays a part in this. So many young players who’ve had so much success in high school. They come out, pedal to the metal and just destroy UW. They go into halftime feeling great, “this is easy”. UW comes out and punches them in the mouth and they don’t know how to handle it.
Another thing is, there is a HUGE raw talent gap and the team. Our overall 247 average is 0.85. Our overall position average only has one position with talent over an 0.87 (CB’s) and our lowest position average is an 0.81 (LB).
Talent wise, P12 title wise, playoff wise…that’s not good. That’s not talented.
BUT, if you look at just the last two years, EVERY POSITION IS RATED 0.87 or higher except LB (0.84). An 0.87 overall average is playoff contention good.
We’ve never had this much young, raw talent before. Which explains how we can come out and whip UW for 30 mins then get whipped for 30 mins.
Some young talent learned some hard lessons last night.
This last game reminded me of the Northwestern game. Washington made some adjustments, they seemed to figure out what Scalley was doing and found a way to move the ball. But the rules favor the offense, generally if your defense holds an opponent under 30, it’s had a good game.
Ludwig probably also made some good adjustments and saw some ways to counter against Washington was doing but it didn’t work because the offensive line is so inconsistent.
What Utopia said about momentum applies in this game, in both halves.
Their QB was horrendous in the first half, badly inaccurate. Marks’ pick - and should have been Pick 6 - were horrible decisions. He had 3 picks, should have been 4.
Bentley was moving the ball, our backs were picking up chunks of yardage, the TD to Thompson was a work of art.
You don’t want to lay this on our FR, but Jordan’s fumble was one of a few plays that made the difference between Sunday grumbling and a nice bounce back win. Bentley’s Ill-advised pass to Covey was another. (I’m just glad Bentley didn’t get hurt - he took some punishment.)
Bentley said it simply, but it’s true - just gotta execute better.
This is the key. I think that if we execute better then we win. And, really, this isn’t some huge improvement we are seeking. Just some small things. A step here or there on the OL. Covering up the ball. Better defensive communications. And learning to live to fight another day as a QB.
I honestly don’t know. That’s why I was asking the question. So I don’t have any evidence, and asking me for it won’t produce any. Maybe I just remember the games where we played not to lose, i.e., to protect our lead, and the game either got more interesting than it needed to or we outright lost it. Those games are burned into my memory and I may be over-emphasizing them.
Maybe I’ll find some time to go back and look at other games where the Utes jumped off to a big lead and then blew it. Problem is, the scoring alone isn’t going to tell us much. Someone would have to dive into the games, play by play, and see what actually happened in the second half, or at the point when the team started to lose the lead.
Anyway I’m really encouraged by the data that Swanton provided about our talent level. That makes me feel better than simply saying “There is no problem and there never has been.”
There has always been a talent problem. Maybe there always will be, though nobody can know for sure. There’s also been major problems with the offense over the years.
I suspect that we’ve won as many close games as we’ve lost and that for every blown lead, there’s a comeback victory. But I don’t know that for sure.
I do know that our coaches have generally been pretty smart with leads.
I question the QB sneak call. I didn’t like that. I also debated whether we should go for it on 4th and 1 from midfield in the 4th quarter when we punted.
I wondered why we went away from Thompson in the 2nd half, but we were actually running it pretty well. We just missed on that 4th down and we fumbled in the red zone.
We’ve always had serious talent deficiencies. That we’ve won so much with the money and talent gap we’ve had is crazy. We are lucky as fans. Fortunately, both had been getting better and there is hope we can actually get to a point where our “elite” teams are elite in talent AND execution.
Those two plays you mention, 14 point swing, and a knife in the heart. The Utes did not execute, as has been pointed out here in spades. On the bright side, lots of opportunities to learn. And given what I know about Whittingham, Scalley, Shah, Lud, et al., learn they will.
We saw similar development in Zack Moss. Mistakes is how we learn; they are not avoidable. I felt for Jordan on that play, it was a 1 in 100 hit to the ball. So absolutely, all of the youthful Utes are getting a baptism by fire. How many freshman are starting, even on the OL, like a lot. And against probably the two best Pac-12 teams this year. Positively, the future looks really good.
He should have had two hands on the ball going into contact, so it was more than bad luck. I’m sure he’ll learn to protect it better. He sure looked like he knew he’d made a mistake.
This whole game reminded me of a bunch of young players who have always had success, went out prepared vs UW and had success, took their foot off the gas with some lazy plays and UW beat them. What a great learning opportunity. What a great “welcome to the P12” moment for them. We will win games that we fall behind in the future because of this game.
These players now know no lead is insurmountable for the opposition and they also know that good teams that stay focused can come back from down 21 and win.
The defender made a good solid hit on the ball. I observed that it was more of a takeaway than a giveaway, but indeed if he holds onto the ball and we score on that drive we very probably regain the momentum and win the game.
I didn’t see this part. I think we played hard, but UW adjusted well and discovered how to beat our defense. They should have been passing from the start; we never came close to getting pressure on the QB.
Jordan also didn’t get any bounce-luck in that when the ball came out he was near the sideline. A more fortunate bounce and it goes out of bounds for an even larger gain.
