What's new
By:

Utes 2011 Football Discussion

Bronco70 said:
Interesting. Obviously the utes need a competent QB, ASAP, and those are not standing around on every street corner. Would you say Hansen has the capacity to develop those skills he currently lacks, or is he too far behind to make himself truly useful at that position within his window of eligibility?
Click to expand...
His measureables are nice but it takes years to figure out how to read defenses. He could develop for a few years and maybe be a factor as an upperclassman but I just don't see Utah being patient enough with him and/or having the time to devote to developing a 2nd/3rd stringer.

Lone Peak did his college career a huge disservice. Essentially the plays for Hansen were drop back and eyeball the **** out of your one and only read and if he isn't there scramble around and make something happen. And Hansen did that but it doesn't translate to college.

Great kid. He'll be successful but I don't think it's at QB. Hope I'm wrong.
 
In regards to the bowl situation, my money is on the Alamo Bowl. The Vegas Bowl would be horrible for Utah. Boise or TCU would destroy them. My guess is that after UCLA is hammered by Oregon in the Pac title game, they get sent to Vegas. After all, they'll be 6-and-7 and the least desirable PAC team for a bowl committee IMO.

Obviously Oregon gets the Rose, and it sounds like Stanford will get an at-large bid to the Fiesta. The Alamo Bowl will then get four 7-and-5 teams to choose from in Utah, Cal, Washington and Arizona State. Utah could actually slide in here because even though they did slip up against Colorado, they still finished the hottest of the group winning 4 of 5.

My official guesses:

Oregon: Rose
Stanford: Fiesta
Utah: Alamo
Cal: Holiday
Washington: Ponsettia
ASU: Sun
UCLA: Vegas
 
No way Utah is the third Pac-12 selection. Can't see any way the Alamo Bowl selects Utah when Cal and ASU are on the board. I think the Alamo Bowl takes ASU, and the Holiday Bowl takes Cal.

I think the Sun Bowl then picks up Utah. Vegas...


K, strike all that. I actually looked at records and that changes things. Bowls can't take 6-6 teams if there is a team above .500 to select from, so that cuts ASU out.

Thus, Alamo Bowl takes Cal, I believe. Holiday bowl can take Washington or Utah. I think Holiday will go Utah, here. Sun Bowl is forced to take Washington, as they're the only +.500 team left. I don't know if bowls with tie-ins can select teams at 6-6 or if they have to go out of conference, but if they can select ASU, Vegas will have to. I'm not sure UCLA will be bowl eligible at 6-7.

So Utah is going to the Holiday or Sun Bowl. If UCLA pulls the miracle, THEN Utah may go to the Vegas Bowl.
 
Hmm...Wikipedia is stating that bowls can offer for 6-6 teams now before +.500 teams starting this year, so that opens the bowls back up.

Didn't realize ASU is 6-6, so I would downgrade them behind Utah for desirability. And that's what this is, prodigy. Which teams beat which doesn't matter at all to bowl selection.

So, new predictions:

Alamo takes Cal
Holiday takes Utah
Sun takes ASU
Vegas takes Washington

Would not be surprised if Holiday takes ASU over Utah, but would be surprised if Sun bowl takes Washington over Utah.
 
Even though UCLA will be under .500, can't they still go to a bowl? I may be way off, but I thought the rule was that 6 wins gets you bowl eligible, and if the 7th loss is your conference title game, it's doesn't keep you out of a bowl.

I still see a way in which the Alamo takes Utah. Yes Cal and Washington finished with the same records while beating Utah in the process, but I'm guessing both of those schools will privately be campaigning to stay on the West Coast. The Alamo Bowl may pay out more than the Holiday or Poinsettia, but if those schools factor in the extra travel costs to Texas and the likelyhood that they'll sell less tickets, it may end up making more sense for them to stay local.

Utah on the otherhand would probably jump at the chance to represent the PAC at the Alamo. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Utah is the more desirable team in this scenario, I'm just guessing it plays out this way due to logistics.

Either way, Utah needs to do whatever they can to stay the hell away from the Vegas bowl. While it's the lowest bowl for the PAC, it's going to present the toughest match-up.
 
catratcho said:
Any update on that injured lineman? I know they said he had full movement, so I assume everything was okay. I'd guess it was a nasty stinger?
Click to expand...
You probably already found out on your own but coach Whit said last night he was fine and should be able to play in whatever bowl game they get invited to and didn't really give any further details on the injury but that White's high ankle sprain should be okay it depends on how he responds and if they get a pre or post Christmas bowl game.
 
As far as the CU game goes I know I was WAAAY disappointed in how they came out and it reminded me of last week against WSU except the FG kicker missed his chances and after the Cal game it seemed they took care of this issue, obviously not.
The D in the first half was really more surprising IMO as we know the offensive issues and expect struggles but again like the WSU (and Cal game) the play calling was conservative too much so IMO.

Who knows though like YB mentioned that PF to extend the drive may have been the killer for the U if that never happens does CU's offense get in that much of a rhythm and does the U offense get ANY momentum at all? Who knows and oh well games over with, the U choked big time, lots of mistakes by multiple players on multiple plays and the coaching didn't bring it's A game either IMO.

Also Thriller I know you said or asked about the U going to the Vegas bowl and after last night it sounds like they'll be picked before then but even if not the U in the MWC wouldn't even make the Vegas bowl this year and any non defeated MWC team's best case scenario is the Vegas bowl while the Utes it is the worst case bowl game scenario. So yes I'll take that even if it means that they'd likely lose to either BSU or TCU.
 
Plenty of blame to go around on that one. Play calling was atrocious (again). We can't really blame it on the horrible QB either because the second half was totally different- even without John White and a starting O lineman. Decent play calling against the worst defense in the Pac 12 and the Utes probably win.

Vaikapuna had a horrible fumble. Without that the Utes probably win. Coleman Peterson again proves he may be the worst kicker in division 1 football. If he makes even 1 fg the Utes probably win.

Very disappointing. Not the end of the world though. Utah would have just been embarrassed by Oregon anyway.

At least Utah came within a missed fg on the last day of the season from winning the South division. And this was during a season where, as coach Whitt said, they had 7 or 8 major season ending injuries. Plus they had new coaches, new systems, etc. Should only get better form here.

Oh, and there is no way Utah goes to the Vegas Bowl. ASU is a lock for the Vegas Bowl. They lost all of their games to finish the season and then fired their coach. They will be the last team picked for a bowl. Either them or UCLA, who will have a losing record. There is no way either one of those teams gets picked ahead of Utah.

I think Utah will either be going to the Sun Bowl or the Holiday Bowl. Not bad at all considering Utah just had about the worst season we could ever expect from them.

Now if we can just have Sealver come speak to the team about how he wishes he would have stayed in school... If all of the underclassmen return next year should be amazing.

Oh yeah, one more thing, I am pretty sure Chase Hansen is going on a mission. We probably won't see him for a few years. Next year Shreve's redshirt will be up, Travis Wilson should be here, and Wynn will be healthy. All are much, much better options at QB than Hays. Hopefully Norm Chow gets it together though because with the brutal play calling we saw several times this season (including the first half of that Colorado game) it won't even matter who is at QB.
 
Went to the Colorado/Utah game and Salty... you know I agree with you on many fronts.. but the playcalling wasn't the issue.

They didn't have a 1st down until the right before the half (Their 5th Drive)... that is not just playcalling. They were getting 0 push up front and White wasn't doing anything. The wind was a factor as well. The only issue with playcalling was there was 0 bubble screens ran to the wideouts but the way Colorado was playing bump they really couldn't. In the 2nd half, still facing 8 man fronts, Vakapuna was slicing up the defense. This game was lost due to mistakes/lost opportunties. Also the Utes defense could NOT get off the field on 3rd down in the 1st half. I would wager that all 5 3rd down conversions for Colorado happened in the 1st half.

1st drive - Mo gets the stupid personal foul or they are off the field - Colorado drives down for a TD
Onside Kick - Perfect call and all they had to do is fall on it yet somehow they don't with 4 guys around the ball
Fumble by Vakapuna
Missed 3 FGs
2 Sacks on the final drive
Kickoff throwback that if the guy doesn't 1 bounce it to Dunn the entire sideline is wide open
 
Salty Wrote:
Oh yeah, one more thing, I am pretty sure Chase Hansen is going on a mission. We probably won't see him for a few years. Next year Shreve's redshirt will be up, Travis Wilson should be here, and Wynn will be healthy. All are much, much better options at QB than Hays. Hopefully Norm Chow gets it together though because with the brutal play calling we saw several times this season (including the first half of that Colorado game) it won't even matter who is at QB.
Click to expand...

I still have tons of worries in regards to the QB situation in 2012. A quick breakdown:

Chase Hansen: Not only is he most likely a mission kid, he's probably not even going to end up being a QB at Utah. This seems alot like the Brian Blechen scenario all over again (which isn't a bad thing). Even if he does play QB @ The U, it's 3 years down the road.

Jordan Wynn: This is going to sound extreme, but I would seriously pull his scholarship and thank him for his time. Before I get flamed, here's my reasoning: The guy has had both shoulders rebuilt. He is literally Utah's version of Chad Pennington. Utah CANNOT bank on this kid coming back. What is the point of letting him rehab all year, and letting him work as the #1 during fall camp (with no contact)? WR's will get used to Wynn being the guy, as will the Oline and RB's. That's the QB they will be adjusted to. That is going to make it all the worse when in week 1 or 2 Wynn finally gets hit on one of those shoulders and is out yet again. Mark the tape: If Utah allows Wynn back into the starting line-up in 2012, there is no possible way he remains healthy. Why waste our time?

John Hays: The guy is tough and gritty, but he's not a D1 QB. Yes, a full offseason in the system combined with his starting experience in 2011 should make him better heading into next year, but it still doesn't make him a D1 QB. You don't make serious runs at Rose Bowls with guys like this playing the most important position on your roster.

Tyler Shreve: The guy who had to wait a year before joining the Utah football team because he beat the crap out of his High School baseball coach. He showed so much promise during spring ball that Utah coaches had to scramble to find a guy like John Hays. He also won't be able to take part in the extra bowl practices this December due to surgery. I'm not exactly feeling warm and fuzzy about this guy.

Travis Wilson: This is the bright spot for Utah as long as they can get him to honor his commit come signing day. Honestly, with the other 3 options I listed above, I would take a long, hard look at starting Wilson as a Fresh. Utah will have John White and what should shape up to be a pretty good O-line, plus a good defense. That's the perfect formula to bring a young kid along without heaping too much on his shoulders.
 
SaltyDawg said:
Plenty of blame to go around on that one. Play calling was atrocious (again). We can't really blame it on the horrible QB either because the second half was totally different- even without John White and a starting O lineman. Decent play calling against the worst defense in the Pac 12 and the Utes probably win.

Vaikapuna had a horrible fumble. Without that the Utes probably win. Coleman Peterson again proves he may be the worst kicker in division 1 football. If he makes even 1 fg the Utes probably win.

Very disappointing. Not the end of the world though. Utah would have just been embarrassed by Oregon anyway.

At least Utah came within a missed fg on the last day of the season from winning the South division. And this was during a season where, as coach Whitt said, they had 7 or 8 major season ending injuries. Plus they had new coaches, new systems, etc. Should only get better form here.

Hopefully Norm Chow gets it together though because with the brutal play calling we saw several times this season (including the first half of that Colorado game) it won't even matter who is at QB.
Click to expand...
As I was complaining about the play calling I just wanted to add I don't entirely blame chow he has been handcuffed with the QB and other issues and I think they went to far in the "we don't want the offense to lose the game for us" it's a fine line and as we saw in the 2nd half if they just open it a little bit they can still have some small success without letting the offense give the game away.
 
jazzman12 said:
Salty Wrote:


I still have tons of worries in regards to the QB situation in 2012. A quick breakdown:

Chase Hansen: Not only is he most likely a mission kid, he's probably not even going to end up being a QB at Utah. This seems alot like the Brian Blechen scenario all over again (which isn't a bad thing). Even if he does play QB @ The U, it's 3 years down the road.

Jordan Wynn: This is going to sound extreme, but I would seriously pull his scholarship and thank him for his time. Before I get flamed, here's my reasoning: The guy has had both shoulders rebuilt. He is literally Utah's version of Chad Pennington. Utah CANNOT bank on this kid coming back. What is the point of letting him rehab all year, and letting him work as the #1 during fall camp (with no contact)? WR's will get used to Wynn being the guy, as will the Oline and RB's. That's the QB they will be adjusted to. That is going to make it all the worse when in week 1 or 2 Wynn finally gets hit on one of those shoulders and is out yet again. Mark the tape: If Utah allows Wynn back into the starting line-up in 2012, there is no possible way he remains healthy. Why waste our time?

John Hays: The guy is tough and gritty, but he's not a D1 QB. Yes, a full offseason in the system combined with his starting experience in 2011 should make him better heading into next year, but it still doesn't make him a D1 QB. You don't make serious runs at Rose Bowls with guys like this playing the most important position on your roster.

Tyler Shreve: The guy who had to wait a year before joining the Utah football team because he beat the crap out of his High School baseball coach. He showed so much promise during spring ball that Utah coaches had to scramble to find a guy like John Hays. He also won't be able to take part in the extra bowl practices this December due to surgery. I'm not exactly feeling warm and fuzzy about this guy.

Travis Wilson: This is the bright spot for Utah as long as they can get him to honor his commit come signing day. Honestly, with the other 3 options I listed above, I would take a long, hard look at starting Wilson as a Fresh. Utah will have John White and what should shape up to be a pretty good O-line, plus a good defense. That's the perfect formula to bring a young kid along without heaping too much on his shoulders.
Click to expand...

Agreed on Wynn. What exactly would he bring to the table next year? He is a health risk who wasn't very good to begin with. Pull his scholarship and wish him well going forward. Wilson should get every opportunity to win the job for the reasons you stated.
 
Cope said:
Went to the Colorado/Utah game and Salty... you know I agree with you on many fronts.. but the playcalling wasn't the issue.

They didn't have a 1st down until the right before the half (Their 5th Drive)... that is not just playcalling. They were getting 0 push up front and White wasn't doing anything. The wind was a factor as well. The only issue with playcalling was there was 0 bubble screens ran to the wideouts but the way Colorado was playing bump they really couldn't. In the 2nd half, still facing 8 man fronts, Vakapuna was slicing up the defense. This game was lost due to mistakes/lost opportunties. Also the Utes defense could NOT get off the field on 3rd down in the 1st half. I would wager that all 5 3rd down conversions for Colorado happened in the 1st half.

1st drive - Mo gets the stupid personal foul or they are off the field - Colorado drives down for a TD
Onside Kick - Perfect call and all they had to do is fall on it yet somehow they don't with 4 guys around the ball
Fumble by Vakapuna
Missed 3 FGs
2 Sacks on the final drive
Kickoff throwback that if the guy doesn't 1 bounce it to Dunn the entire sideline is wide open
Click to expand...
I forgot about that botched onside kick. I thought the kicker should have had it for sure. He really had a horrible game.

I forgot about that throw on the return too. Looked like they were trying to do the Music City Miracle, lol. Agreed though, if he doesn't one hop that throw it goes for a TD.

The sacks on the final drive were ugly, no doubt. But I am assuming the coaches told him not to take any chances because they were already in FG range. He should have thrown the ball. But the kicker did miss a 26 yarder earlier so I don't know if he would have made it even without the sacks. That kicker just had a horrible day.

Plenty of blame to go around. I do still think the play calling in that first half was horrible though. Chow was a major disappointment this season. I hope he gets it together in the offseason.
 
jazzman12 said:
Salty Wrote:


I still have tons of worries in regards to the QB situation in 2012. A quick breakdown:

Chase Hansen: Not only is he most likely a mission kid, he's probably not even going to end up being a QB at Utah. This seems alot like the Brian Blechen scenario all over again (which isn't a bad thing). Even if he does play QB @ The U, it's 3 years down the road.

Jordan Wynn: This is going to sound extreme, but I would seriously pull his scholarship and thank him for his time. Before I get flamed, here's my reasoning: The guy has had both shoulders rebuilt. He is literally Utah's version of Chad Pennington. Utah CANNOT bank on this kid coming back. What is the point of letting him rehab all year, and letting him work as the #1 during fall camp (with no contact)? WR's will get used to Wynn being the guy, as will the Oline and RB's. That's the QB they will be adjusted to. That is going to make it all the worse when in week 1 or 2 Wynn finally gets hit on one of those shoulders and is out yet again. Mark the tape: If Utah allows Wynn back into the starting line-up in 2012, there is no possible way he remains healthy. Why waste our time?

John Hays: The guy is tough and gritty, but he's not a D1 QB. Yes, a full offseason in the system combined with his starting experience in 2011 should make him better heading into next year, but it still doesn't make him a D1 QB. You don't make serious runs at Rose Bowls with guys like this playing the most important position on your roster.

Tyler Shreve: The guy who had to wait a year before joining the Utah football team because he beat the crap out of his High School baseball coach. He showed so much promise during spring ball that Utah coaches had to scramble to find a guy like John Hays. He also won't be able to take part in the extra bowl practices this December due to surgery. I'm not exactly feeling warm and fuzzy about this guy.

Travis Wilson: This is the bright spot for Utah as long as they can get him to honor his commit come signing day. Honestly, with the other 3 options I listed above, I would take a long, hard look at starting Wilson as a Fresh. Utah will have John White and what should shape up to be a pretty good O-line, plus a good defense. That's the perfect formula to bring a young kid along without heaping too much on his shoulders.
Click to expand...

I would definitely keep Wynn around. I would not guarantee him the starting job, but I would keep him around. If nothing else, he's a pretty good backup. He may be injury prone, but he had so much promise as a freshman. He's been around long enough that his decision making should be top notch. His decision making was petty good anyway, but should be even better next year. Hopefully the problems with his arm were a result of him not being fully healthy, which shouldn't be a problem next year. He may be too injury prone to be guaranteed a starting spot, but he is still good enough to at least be a 2nd or 3rd string.

Hays is the one that should have his scholarship pulled. Like you said, the guy isn't a D1 QB, so why is he eating up a D1 scholarship?

I think Tyler Shreve will be a good player. Isn't he a pitcher in baseball too? I thought I read somewhere that he was actually drafted in the MLB draft or something. He has to be a whole lot better than Hays, and possibly better than Wynn.
I would love to see Wilson, Shreve, and Wynn battle it out for the starting and backup spots. And however it plays out, it will be a whole lot better than the situation this year.

I'm actually not too worried about the QB spot next year. If the Utes almost won the South division with Hays suddenly thrown into a starting role and Chow looking like he should have retired a few years ago, it can only be better next season.
 
here are missed kicks(which are all depressingly close)..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G66Y5tctxyY

the 2nd miss is still most shocking. mostly because there we were on what the 6 yard line, and got nothing out of it.
1st down - vakapuna run(understandable)
2nd down - hays run(?), i swear matthews was open in the back of the end zone
3rd down - busted play hays sacked
4th down - missed 26 yard field goal

game was lost here i believe. that and the personal foul penalty on the opening drive which whittingham admitted gave them a spark and they started playing with purpose.
 
Last edited:
Salty Wrote:

I'm actually not too worried about the QB spot next year. If the Utes almost won the South division with Hays suddenly thrown into a starting role and Chow looking like he should have retired a few years ago, it can only be better next season.
Click to expand...

I realize it boils down to semantics, but this statement is not exactly true. The Utes were a game away from winning the south division because USC wasn't eligible. Had they been, Utah would have been nowhere near winning the south. Next year, USC will be eligible to win the south. IMO Utah is going to need to have alot better luck with injuries and have one hell of a better plan at QB heading into the season if they hope to compete for the south title.

That's the bad news. The good news is: USC has to come to Utah next year ( and with a little luck from the schedule makers hopefully that happens in late November), Arizona will be rebuilding with Rich Rod who is a joke IMO, ASU will be rebuilding with a new HC and new starters almost across the board, Colorado will still suck and Utah should not be lacking any motivation when they head into Boulder next year and UCLA will most likely be breaking in a new coach with a new system or better yet- they let the Nuehisal era continue.

IMO the south could be a 2 team race next year but Utah has some big QB issues to shore up before they can be considered legit contenders.

***Edit- As soon as I finished typing this I saw the headline that UCLA has already fired their HC. That means 3 out of the 6 teams in the south will be playing with new HC's/systems.
 
jazzman12 said:
Salty Wrote:



I realize it boils down to semantics, but this statement is not exactly true. The Utes were a game away from winning the south division because USC wasn't eligible. Had they been, Utah would have been nowhere near winning the south. Next year, USC will be eligible to win the south. IMO Utah is going to need to have alot better luck with injuries and have one hell of a better plan at QB heading into the season if they hope to compete for the south title.

That's the bad news. The good news is: USC has to come to Utah next year ( and with a little luck from the schedule makers hopefully that happens in late November), Arizona will be rebuilding with Rich Rod who is a joke IMO, ASU will be rebuilding with a new HC and new starters almost across the board, Colorado will still suck and Utah should not be lacking any motivation when they head into Boulder next year and UCLA will most likely be breaking in a new coach with a new system or better yet- they let the Nuehisal era continue.

IMO the south could be a 2 team race next year but Utah has some big QB issues to shore up before they can be considered legit contenders.

***Edit- As soon as I finished typing this I saw the headline that UCLA has already fired their HC. That means 3 out of the 6 teams in the south will be playing with new HC's/systems.
Click to expand...
Not only do all those teams have new coaches, but USC will probably be losing Barkley, and they lose more scholarships too. I don't think they will be a major concern next year.
 
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....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page
Back
Top