@Senioritis thank you for that lift. You laid a lot of quote worthy wisdom down in your note. Brilliant really and a needed palliative for that loss. At the end of the season it will settle nothing and mean less.
The quote I pulled down needs to be highlighted. I read an article about a Ute player on 247Sports a day or two before the game. That article contained a quote or phrase that freighted the notion that a Utah win was a fait accompli. I wrote a comment highlighted that phrase and included a rewrite of it. My rewrite noted that Utah was in a position to win 10 in the series, but a win was far from certain.
A friend of mine is a huge Texas fan but follows Utah because of our relationship. He asked me prior to kickoff my thoughts.
I wrote:
“No team in the series has ever won more than 9 in a row. Utah has won 9 in a row. The game is in Provo, an away game for Utah. The BYU fans are loyal and loud and obnoxious. BYU has good players and their HC is a former Utah coach. I expect an intense, emotional, competitive game.”
It was all of that. I have not watched the game again but my overriding impression is that BYU did Utah a massive favor. As you established the loss has no meaning really in the pursuit of a PAC-12 championship. Utah has just as much a chance for that as it did at noon on Saturday. But something will be be different now. Utah knows with absolute certainty that it must be prepared, physically, emotionally, and technically for every game going forward as if ALL is on the line. It is.
I think this especially for the few kids who could have gone on to the NFL. If they stayed for this year to take care of unfinished business. Now is the time to prove it.
I have been camping and did not watch or listen to the game. In reading the commentaries it sounds that the BYU game was very similar to the Cal and Oregon games a few years back when the coaches believed they could line up and out personnel them without an aggressive game plan. We the fans have certainly undervalued the talent level at BYU and we may have overvalued our personnel. Time will tell on both of these. Anyway, hopefully the coaches and players bow their necks and get to work.
I did not like the game on Saturday very much. The first half was all fumbles, dropped passes, and missed defensive assignments, and the second half was all smashmouth football; we were the ones getting our mouths smashed.
And that decision to go for it on 4th and 2? Where’s Kyle Whittingham when you need him.
I tell you, as long as BYU has a mix of 26 year old return missionaries with 320 pound Poynesians on their line, they will not be terrible. I don’t care what the recruiting rankings say.
