These final two losses are team losses, but it starts at the top. Perhaps the most important role of the head coach is the caretaking of the team’s psychological state.
Whittingham, though there is no better option, has failed to improve very much in this regard since becoming head coach. He was publicly talking about this team being maybe the best ever DURING THE SEASON.
He knows better. Or, at least, he should know better. But Whit not only drank the kool-aid before the season was over, he decided he would pour!
This is a total lack of self-discipline. These final two games of 2019 have been two of the worst to watch during the Whittingham era. Unprepared, undisciplined, dominated in every aspect of the game, and worse: the team quit on each other early in the games.
Where does Whittingham go from here? Will he “adapt or die”, as he is supposedly fond of saying.
Why would we not have a team as talented again?
Losses like this make it so much harder to recruit the talent that expects to play well in a game like this
We’ve had at least three opportunities in the last nine years to win the conference title and or do well in a major bowl.
Instead, we crap down our legs for the last few years in very public & humiliating losses - in the most obvious of ways - and we used to have one of the best bowl records in college football…
That’s, at least, remarkably, consistently, predictably unpredictable.
I heard several former players say keeping players focused was Whitt’s best aspect.
The problem is Utah doesn’t play well as the favorite, it’s motivation.
This team today lost it’s will, they wanted bigger and better and didn’t show up.
You could say they “didn’t want to be there” but that’s lame. They didn’t play hard like they did all season. Again, this goes back to motivation. After the USC loss it was all about “still a shot” and “you came back for this.” Nobody came back for the Alamo Bowl. Once that was the plan, later!
Utah does need to adapt to learning how to play as the favorite. Having literally 0 secondary didn’t help but there are no excuses. The O Line was the same front as all season and they got destroyed. Huntley was on the run all game.
Texas has better athletes and in all three losses Utah lost to better talented teams. Not sure how they get over that huddle. 5 star kids just aren’t filling the roster for Utah…yet. Maybe one day.
pathetic effort, credit to Texas, they came out with fire, effort and wanted to be there and win. Utah clearly didn’t want to be there and played like it. I was stuck at work for the PAC12 championship game and lamented not being able to watch it. Watching this game was horrible, I honestly wish I was stuck at work again.
I don’t care about basketball anymore, starting to feel that way about college football.
Jaylon Johnson didn’t want to be there. IMO That broke the team unity. Josh Nurse did play a decent game. Guidry possibly had the worst interception possible. Kid it’s 4th down. You’re laid out on the 1. Just drop it.
this is a weird thread and is born of Utah fans overreacting.
We lost to USC, Oregon and Texas. What do those 3 teams possess that Utah doesn’t? It’s a pretty easy answer. It’s the same answer as why Utah has and will continue to dominate the team down South and any MWC team we play OOC.
Sure, they do, but so does Washington. And UCLA. And ASU.
These final two losses were not bad because they were losses, they were bad because they weren’t even competitive games. Why not? I think it is mostly the psychological factor that made all the difference.
Oh my, that line got a good hearty laugh from me. Thank you. That kind of helps with the depression phase of the grieving process. I’m not sure when I’ll get to acceptance.
I feel like I inevitably end up hating Kyle at the end of every season. I think we need to accept his very obvious glass ceiling as a coach. This is probably the best it gets.
I’m tired of getting humiliated on national television. My heart just can’t take it anymore.
Talking about this team the way he did in the week before the P12 CG was anything but “taking it one game at a time” and focusing on preparing for the opponent, which is a breach of his own rules, i.e. lack of self-discipline.
He is the shepherd of the team’s mental state and preparation and if he loses focus, so will the team. He did, and we saw what resulted. Will he be able to up this part of his game? I sure hope so, because it is his #1 struggle. From the cheap seats anyway.
I agree, but thats why it is on coaches and on the defensive captain, thats something you talk about on sideline and in the huddle. “Hey guys, 4th down, dont catch the ball unless you are in the endzone” just one more in a long line of breakdowns in this game.
You’re just getting older like the rest of us and winning and losing based on what kids in their early twenties begins to wear off.
You’ll come back around and cheer for whomever to win in Ute gear with the notion that none of this really matters and it will all become much more enjoyable for you.
I spread the efforts of the season and admire the sacrifices these kids did just to bring some joy into our lives. Don’t forget, this is just a game.
agreed, it is just a game and I should appreciate the effort and work that it takes. It is just easier if you don’t care about the outcome. In a way I find it also easier when the team goes 7-5 or something like that. 11-1 with playoff on the line to then stumble to 11-3 with two bad losses makes it tougher. better luck next year.