Wow, what a downer of a season it was. A few thoughts:
-In regards to all the bowl game smack talk I'm seeing from Kewg fans, you've got us there. Utah's impressive consecutive bowl streak is over. However, as a Ute fan I do take a lot of pride in that streak as well as the fact that they had a nice run of consecutive bowl wins included in that streak. It's a shame Utah couldn't schedule BYU 2 or 3 times this year. They would have easily finished above .500 and the bowl streak would live on, but it just wasn't in the cards.
-In regards to Thriller's statements that Ute fans are still drinking the kool aid all I have to say is, huh? I don't see a lot of Ute fans in here proclaiming that all is well and good in Uteland. Obviously the biggest concern going forward is Brian Johnson. It was a very poor showing by the first year OC and if anything is to get better for Utah, Johnson will have to improve drastically. Utah is in a tough spot here. IMO Whit can't pull the rug out from under Johnson after only 1 season, so if Johnson doesn't improve next year, it's going to be a LONG season.
-Like most Ute fans, I have hope that Travis Wilson will be better next season. Problem is, Utah's schedule is about to get a lot tougher. Dropping Cal and Wazzu in favor of Stanford and Oregon is about as brutal as it gets. My biggest question is, even if Wilson improves as a QB and Johnson improves as an OC, is it going to be enough to offset the strength of schedule? Utah could be a vastly improved squad and could still find themselves hovering around the .500 mark. They're out of conference games (Weber St, BYU and Utah St) are all games that Utah can win and they need to if they have any hopes of being bowl eligible next year.
-If you're a Utah fan thinking that they can bounce back from a 5-and-7 year and have something like a 10 win season, I think you need to drastically change your expectations. Considering the schedule, a 7-and-5 year with a bowl game should be considered as a "win" for the program. 8 wins or above would be very suprising.