The Utes are doing a little bit of a flip

Football
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The offense so far has been fairly consistent, scoring well enough to win.

The defense has been pretty good, but until the Washington State game, was not consistently shutting down opposing passing games, and was allowing some chunk run plays that were out of character. Yes, they kept the scoring in check, except for the USC game, but that exception is what scares me.

I believe the Utes have a fragile confidence. All the preseason build up, and some success against lesser competition, set them up for drinking the koolaid and thinking they could just show up for the USC game. They got hit in the mouth early, and the fragile confidence in their defense was shattered.

Kyle and company did a good job of getting them ready mentally to play Wazzu. Their confidence was bolstered by the great game played by the defense.

Now, they have a pretty good national ranking again, some pats on the back for the Wazzu game, and probably are feeling pretty good about themselves.

Now comes the Oregon State Beavers. The Beavs can score points, but their defense isn’t that great. Looks the formula for an easy win by our Utes. But…

Not so fast. I believe the Utes have to forget about any national ranking and feeling good about any past performance. How they approach this game is going to say a lot about their confidence, preparation, and how hard they play the rest of the season.

They have to come out and take it to the Beavers! No hanging back, no staying in the game until the 4th quarter, dying a slow death for the team and us fans. No slow start with “what the S$$$t happened on that play?” scores by Beavers.
Go Utes! Pound, no, Beat, Whack, no, Defeat?, Yes! Defeat the Beavers!

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“I believe the Utes have a fragile confidence. All the preseason build up, and some success against lesser competition, set them up for drinking the koolaid and thinking they could just show up for the USC game. They got hit in the mouth early, and the fragile confidence in their defense was shattered.”

I totally disagree with your assessment that the Utes thought they could just show up against USC and win. I saw a team that was motivated to win and that played hard from beginning to end. They also ran into a team that was highly motivated to win and played significantly harder than they did the prior week. The Utes had opportunities to win that game on offense and did not do it. They were in position to make plays on defense to prevent those long TD passes and did not get it done. I do wish that the defensive coaches had implemented the 3 safety defense they used against WSU against USC. I think it might have made it more difficult to complete those passes over the top. Hopefully we won’t look back at the USC game this year the way many of us did when Moss hit the wrong hole and failed to score at Cal and a guy named Herbert came in and threw a picture perfect pass to Carrington, who made a fantastic catch, to win the game for the
Ducks in the final seconds.

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Well spake. I concur.

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I think there is just a lot of parity in our league and we are likely not as good as we hoped and our conference opponents are not as inferior as we think. OSU fans are likely thinking that if their team plays their game and is confident and has prepared well, they should win at home in spite of the odds makers’ predictions. Has someone been over to a Beavers board to see if the fans are thinking that it is going to take a small miracle to beat Utah in Corvalis? Maybe that is what they are thinking but I would be surprised.

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I don’t think we should take any game for granted. This thread seems to dovetail with Loyter’s.
Maybe the things our University does to create a family atmosphere - while still remaining competitive as a D1 program - is enough. Maybe teams who constantly destroy other teams may also somehow destroy their own.
I know it’s football, but it’s also sport. Treating others with dignity and respect is a creed to embrace in every milleau.

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