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Utes 2011 Football Discussion

The Thriller said:
I'm surprised how little criticism coach Whit has received.

Last year? The Utes blew chunks against Notre Dame. then, they played poorly enough to have lost to BYU.

This year? They sucked against Cal and didn't show up against Colorado.

I'm not saying that Whit sucks or should be fired. But I remember McBride winning some good games but always losing one or two a year that just left you shaking your head, "HUH?"

I'm afraid that Whit and his staff need to straighten some things out. These disappearing acts are costly. All Whit and co. had to do was minimally prepare and focus against Colorado. And they couldn't even do that....
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Utah coming out flat against Colorado is 100% on coaching. Whit shouldn't get a pass for that, but he's also had his teams ready to perform in so many big time games that it's hard to beat him up over it just yet. McBride was a bit different because his let downs usually didn't come against a Notre Dame on the road, a TCU squad who may have been the best team in the country last year and a Colorado squad that Utah faced after suffering through an injury ravaged first season in the Pac12. McBride's letdowns would come against 6-and-5 New Mexico teams, etc. I am a little concerned, but at this point I think Ute fans would be crazy not to have faith in Whit. We'll see how it evolves from here.

Another thing, but it's a bit off topic: Should Utah go hard after a 4 or 5 star RB or at least a JC star to back-up John White next year? I'm not giving up on Langi, but Utah had nothing behind White this year. Not only that, but FB Shawn Asiata was a very big part of White's success this year and Utah's going to need to replace him this offseason. Langi's size at least lends itself to the idea that he could be the replacement at FB. In fact, some of the writers on recruiting sites last year seemed to believe Langi actually projected better as a D1 fullback.

Langi is quite a bit more athletic than Asiata. If he could beef up a little and become a good lead blocker, I think he'd add an extra dimension catching balls out of the backfield. I like the idea of having White and Langi on the field at the same time under that scenario. It could open up a new dimension to what seems to be an extremely vanilla Norm Chow offense.
 
The Thriller said:
I'm surprised how little criticism coach Whit has received.

Last year? The Utes blew chunks against Notre Dame. then, they played poorly enough to have lost to BYU.

This year? They sucked against Cal and didn't show up against Colorado.

I'm not saying that Whit sucks or should be fired. But I remember McBride winning some good games but always losing one or two a year that just left you shaking your head, "HUH?"

I'm afraid that Whit and his staff need to straighten some things out. These disappearing acts are costly. All Whit and co. had to do was minimally prepare and focus against Colorado. And they couldn't even do that....
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You really think Whit should have criticism for this year? Really?

New Conference
Starting QB that gets injured 1/3 of the way into the season
New QB that played at a program that no longer exists
JC Transfer at Tailback that wasn't even recruited by a school out of high school
Offense line that has had injuries all year
ZERO depth at any position due to just entering the Pac 12
New Offense (Chow) and another new offense when Wynn went down

I called 8-4 at the beginning of the year being a GREAT year. 3 Missed FGs and you got 7-5 vs. 8-4.

To me Whit out of any coach in the Pac 12 would be considered for Coach of the year. If they win against Colorado, he is the coach of the year in my opinion.


I guess I just don't have the Crimson colored glasses on as I am a fan of the Utes from a far (Same with BYU).


To me this is probably his best coaching job to date outside of the 2008 season.
 
Cope said:
You really think Whit should have criticism for this year? Really?

New Conference
Starting QB that gets injured 1/3 of the way into the season
New QB that played at a program that no longer exists
JC Transfer at Tailback that wasn't even recruited by a school out of high school
Offense line that has had injuries all year
ZERO depth at any position due to just entering the Pac 12
New Offense (Chow) and another new offense when Wynn went down

I called 8-4 at the beginning of the year being a GREAT year. 3 Missed FGs and you got 7-5 vs. 8-4.

To me Whit out of any coach in the Pac 12 would be considered for Coach of the year. If they win against Colorado, he is the coach of the year in my opinion.


I guess I just don't have the Crimson colored glasses on as I am a fan of the Utes from a far (Same with BYU).


To me this is probably his best coaching job to date outside of the 2008 season.
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If getting your asses kicked by Colorado at home when you had everything on the line doesn't get you criticism, then I don't know what will.

If the majority of Utah fans are like you, then I want Utah to just give Kyle a $1 billion dollar lifetime contract. Open up heavens gates, because he can do no wrong.
 
The Thriller said:
If getting your asses kicked by Colorado at home when you had everything on the line doesn't get you criticism, then I don't know what will.
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If the Utes didn't have Whittingham, they wouldn't be in the Pac 12 and they wouldn't have been in a position for this game to even mean anything.

You seriously lack perspective.
 
The team did not look ready to go, and that's on the coaches, but regardless of the play-calling, players have to execute. They didn't, especially in the first half. The defense was lackadaisical, and the offense looked completely uninspired. They cam to life a bit in the second half, but it was too little too late.

The onside kick was a poor call. Had it turned out as planned (so close, but kickers aren't known for their hands for a reason) it would have been touted as brilliant. But, it didn't work. And it came at a time when it was FAR from necessary. Also, if I have that play in my pocket, I save it in case I end up really needing it later in the game.

Vakapuna fumbling was frustrating and costly, but I don't blame him for it. He didn't cough it up by being neglectful. The defender just made a great hit. The bigger mistake was abandoning Vakapuna after that. He was the one bright spot for the Utes that afternoon. If I'm Chow, I go right back to him at the next opportunity, rather than try to overcome a deficit with the worst arm in the conference.

Personal fouls and other stupid penalties have plagued each and every loss. The players should have figured out by now to avoid those (I'm looking at you, Moe.)
 
NUMBERICA said:
If you ran a team, your team would never have success. You'd just keep looking for the absolute perfect this or that that actually doesn't exist.
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Absolutely not.

I just find it interesting how hardly no one finds these brain farts concerning.

Maybe it's because you set your standards so low?

I don't know...

But how do you folks explain a loss to Colorado? In your place? when the Pac-12 championship was on the line?

I think Utes are still in the honeymoon phase with the Pac. But we'll soon see in a few years if you folks will be so indifferent to the Utes' choking when you're really desiring a big time bowl and fail, because you forgot to show up against a crappy team.

Even Monson and Jake Scott were comparing this to McBride today on their radio show.
 
Bronco70 said:
The team did not look ready to go, and that's on the coaches, but regardless of the play-calling, players have to execute. They didn't, especially in the first half. The defense was lackadaisical, and the offense looked completely uninspired. They cam to life a bit in the second half, but it was too little too late.

The onside kick was a poor call. Had it turned out as planned (so close, but kickers aren't known for their hands for a reason) it would have been touted as brilliant. But, it didn't work. And it came at a time when it was FAR from necessary. Also, if I have that play in my pocket, I save it in case I end up really needing it later in the game.

Vakapuna fumbling was frustrating and costly, but I don't blame him for it. He didn't cough it up by being neglectful. The defender just made a great hit. The bigger mistake was abandoning Vakapuna after that. He was the one bright spot for the Utes that afternoon. If I'm Chow, I go right back to him at the next opportunity, rather than try to overcome a deficit with the worst arm in the conference.

Personal fouls and other stupid penalties have plagued each and every loss. The players should have figured out by now to avoid those (I'm looking at you, Moe.)
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Finally, some honesty here.
 
I still think Whit is a valuable asset to the football program, and he has a good staff around him. The blame for Friday falls on the whole team (the coaches for preparation, and the players for execution). I'm pretty sure the coach would agree with me.

This is the kind of thing I could see motivating Whittingham for a long time.
 
Like I said, there is plenty of blame to go around.

The coaches for the horrible play calling. I can't blame it on execution when the other team has had 9 or 10 in the box all game and you still refuse to throw the ball. Of course a run up the middle doesn't work, you've tried it 8 times in a row with no success, they have 9 in the box, everyone knows what you're going to do. When it doesn't work, I can't blame it on the players for poor execution.

The players get plenty of blame for the plays discussed in earlier posts though. No way to blame the coach for missing a 26 yard fg, for example.

Whitt has more than proven himself as a top notch coach. Utah had the longest bowl winning streak in the nation until last year. He has his teams ready for big games. The Colorado game was a fluke. Even so, the players should not need any extra motivation for such a huge game.

If there is a coach who deserves criticism, it has to be Norm Chow. He took a team with several NFL caliber receivers, second team All PAC 12 running back, and multiple all PAC 12 O linemen, and he turned them into the worst offense in the PAC 12, and one of the worst offenses in the nation. Granted, the QB sucked, but Hays was his guy. There had to be someone better than Hays in the JC ranks. And even with Wynn, the Utes offense was significantly worse than it has been the last few years.
 
Bronco70 said:
I still think Whit is a valuable asset to the football program, and he has a good staff around him. The blame for Friday falls on the whole team (the coaches for preparation, and the players for execution). I'm pretty sure the coach would agree with me.

This is the kind of thing I could see motivating Whittingham for a long time.
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I wouldn't be suprised by that. I was ready to can him myself after the infamous 27-0 drubbing @ UNLV and Whit used that as a spring board to an amazing run. I think his teams went something like 51-and-4 over the next 55 games (I'm going off of memory so go easy on me).

As pissed off as Ute fans are right now, you can bet your *** Whit is on a whole other level of anger and embarrassment. As a starting point, my guess is that Utah looks very sharp in their bowl game.
 
Whit's job this season feels like Sloan's in the 03-04 season. At the end of the year we were thinking about what could have been if we had taken care of business at home, that jazz team faltered down the stretch including a puzzling loss to a 29-53 phoenix suns team causing it to miss out on a playoff spot. Though we will look back with amazement that we even had a chance at the pac-12 south with carlos arroyo errr jon hays at QB and all these other new players on offense.
 
The Thriller said:
If getting your asses kicked by Colorado at home when you had everything on the line doesn't get you criticism, then I don't know what will.

If the majority of Utah fans are like you, then I want Utah to just give Kyle a $1 billion dollar lifetime contract. Open up heavens gates, because he can do no wrong.
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Really? Because I'm not a Utah fan and made that point if you would read the entire post. Again, I don't put this loss completely on the coaching as I was at the game. The players didn't execute. Yes you can say that is a product of the coaches not preparing them I guess. I mean missing 3 FG's is on the coaching staff when the kicker before the game lead the Pac12 in made FG's (17 I believe). I mean calling the Onside, which was a good time, and watching 4 of your players trip on their own feet and bumble it away is on teh coaching. I mean calilng the perfect return only to watch your player one hop a pass backwards when the sideline is wide open. I mean having your RG and starting RB go down in the 1st half and then watching your tailback after a 25 yard run not protect the ball is completely on the coaches.

I believe Whit had one of his best coaching years to date. Was the loss to the Buffs inexcusible? Absoultately, but it wasn't completely on him as the players didn't execute and that happens.



Again.. to my points above.. IMO Whit is possibly the COY for the Pac12. With
 
Ultimately it's the players that have to make the plays and they didn't vs. CU

Something I remember that Whitt said after the home loss to either Washington or AZ State he was talking about how it was going to take years for the pac-12 to really benefit us by getting recruits to come in and for us to really have the success in our new conference up to the fans expectations. the majority of our team is mountain west recruit quality. aside from john white who said he came here because of the pac-12, and also maybe only a couple other players. this team will only get better and we can stop questioning the coaches and see a team that is really pac-12 quality. just need some patience.
 
Chase Hansen will not go on his mission...

The past Sunday Hansen and his family met with Utah assistant coaches Norm Chow and Jay Hill, and everyone agreed that it was in the best interests of all parties for Hansen to compete for the starting job next fall instead of going on his LDS mission first.
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some competition for Wynn. Hopefully moves Hays further down depth chart.
 
prodigy said:
Chase Hansen will not go on his mission...



some competition for Wynn. Hopefully moves Hays further down depth chart.
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Great news. There are rumors that Wynn needs another surgery and his playing days are over. Don't know if it's true or not but that's been going around.

So Hansen, Shreve, and Wilson. All of them are way better than Hays, and probably way better than Wynn. Time to move Hays to safety, lol.
 
prodigy said:
Chase Hansen will not go on his mission...



some competition for Wynn. Hopefully moves Hays further down depth chart.
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Damn, that's great news. Like Salty, I have also heard rumblings that Wynn needs his right shoulder re-done. If that's the case, he's done for good. I still think Travis Wilson is the guy but it certainly doesn't hurt having Hansen in the mix.
 
So it's the Sun Bowl for Utah vs Ga. Tech. I think Utah should be thanking it's lucky stars for this match-up. Boise would have destroyed them for the 2nd straight year in the Vegas Bowl and I don't think Utah could have hung with Baylor had they went to the Alamo Bowl.

With the Yellow Jackets, Utah gets an option team that is obviously extremely run-heavy. I think Utah's front 7 is good enough to match-up with the run and their Secondary is good enough to play them straight-up. It will also be a plus that most of Utah's defensive roster has a few years of prepping for Air Force under their belts. It's not as if this is their first experience with the option. Not only that, I don't think Utah will have to score many points to win and I expect Whit to have this team motivated coming off that horrible effort against Colorado.

All in all, the Sun Bowl isn't looking so bad.
 
So all the "Utes to the Vegas Bowl" talk was unfounded.

Utah should make a pretty nice and at the very least a respectable showing in the Sun Bowl.

Not bad for having 7 or 8 major season ending injuries and the worst offense we will probably ever see from a Ute team.
 
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