Utes beat Wazzu, Period. Quote me.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
"This isn't a gentlemen's sport. This isn't tennis. This isn't an old-fashioned duel. This is football, it's a physical game." - Tony Bergstrom
I think we run the ball loads on Saturday. Not just because we'll be able to, but because it will eat up clock and the best way to stop Halliday is to keep him off the field. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with more rushing yards than passing. A little disappointed, but not surprised.
I'd also be a lot more worried about this game if WSU was more balanced. But since they are 90% through the air, I have confidence in Sitake scheming against a one dimensional offense. Especially at home. Utes by 17.
The way we press up on receivers, their timing will be thrown of.
Where we got burned last year was in the middle of the field with the slot receivers. IIRC, Honeycutt had a long day.
I think Thomas and Carter are a huge upgrade, not to mention Paul. I think we're more equipped to handle it this year.
What are these nasty rumors that Nate O. might not play on Saturday?
Well, this solves the question. (Is there a way to embed Vines?)
https://mtc.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/506...KXbmq6qxL2TqwM
The boot stuff is silly. Boots are used as treatment and prevention these days.
Since most of WSU's pass attack are quick outs, do we rush only 3-4 and put a lot of guys in the holes in the zone? I don't mind giving up 100 yards rushing to these guys if it means we disrupt their air raid.
Or, is that what they want us to do? I don't know much about air raids and how to stop them.
Orchard himself says he's fine and playing:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsut...coach.html.csp
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I'm starting to get a little nervous about this game - classic trap game. WSU is looking at a long season - they are essentially out of bowl contention. Even worse, they may not win a single game (I don't count Portland State); they don't have Colorado on the schedule.
I think they have this game (and Arizona at home) circled on their calendars as "must wins", in the sense that if they don't win one of those, they are looking at an 0-11 record against FBS. They are going to pull out all of the junk plays, tricks, and pirate booty that they have for us.
I hope their coaching staff follows their fans (I know that's unlikely)
Their fans believe they have vastly superior talent and gameplans. They believe utah doesn't have any ability to stop their running game (what running game?) or stay with their receivers.
They also believe Utah hasn't played any quality opponents and haven't played a good defense (apparently they didn't watch michigan game)
It's interesting reading their scout board. Their mostly dismissive saying they've proven their legit and utah hasn't.
The defensive line will all do a bull rush, nothing fancy just try to push the line back and get the hands up. There is absolutely no time for different stunts or fancy footwork. Just push 'em back and get those hands up. We likely won't see any 3-LB sets on saturday, and quite frankly, probably not many 2-LB sets. The LB's and safeties have to read the QB well to jump routes and break up/intercept these quick passes.
I've been nervous ever since the 2nd half vs Rutgers. Halliday was awful in the first half, but he came back and was great at the end. Seemed like they were scoring (easily) every time they touched the ball. Halliday was very precise, and his WRs were blocking very well. He basically won the game for his team, only to have his RB fumble the game away while trying to run out the clock.
You and I know they are eliminated from bowl contention, but they still believe that if they can win this game, they will be back on track. Dangerous team.
In watching/listening to all the player and coach interviews, it seems to me like this team is acutely aware that it cannot afford to overlook anyone. They very much seem to have a "take care of business" approach to this season and I think that will carry them through in this game. The first few drives will be critical for setting the tone, and then Kyle needs to keep his foot on the accelerator (which he probably won't because he and Leach are friends). I could see Utah having a 3 score lead heading into the 4th Quarter, and then winning by 14 or 10 after Wazzu outscores us 21-7 or 17-7 in the 4th. I think we win this game because we are the better team, playing at home, and we know we need this win for momentum's sake.
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
No point rehashing all of the horrors from last years game, but in spite of it all, we have 2nd and 2 from our own 37, mid-fourth down 6, and Kelvin York gets stuffed for no gain on back-to-back plays. Utah has to punt, the defense gets Wazzu into 3rd and 7, but Halliday goes 71 yards for a TD to Dom Williams, who had a career day against us. Ballgame.
I can guarantee you that if we're in a similar situation this year, we'll let Travis carry the water on at least one such play. If we don't turn the ball over, we win and probably cover. We're at home and I expect our crowd to carry us in moments like Wazzu had last week in Pullman.
I am amazed at the number of people who buy into this. Kyle and Leach ain't brothers, and you can bet Kyle didn't want WSU to avoid being shut out by scoring on the last play of the game. And Kyle's history is full of instances in where he's letting 2s and 3s play as if it's a tie game, rather than just piling into the line on three downs and then punting.
Here's one such example: In 2012, we're up 42-0 vs. Kyle's lifelong blood-brother Mike Leach, mid-fourth when we have the following play:
3rd and 5 at UTAH 47 Adam Schulz pass complete to Sean Fitzgerald for 44 yards to the WshSt 9, tackled by Tyree Toomer for a 1ST down.
It has less to do with Leach and Kyle being friends and more to do with the point that he just doesn't seem willing to pile it on with a lead. If we go up by 2-3 scores on Wazzu, I'd love to see the offense still rolling, but Kyle plays a very conservative game with the lead. Plus, your example from 2012 was like 4 OCs ago.
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
If it's possible (and it's not really likely, IMO) I'd love to see another beatdown and to see the Utes pile up some style points.
One thing I've heard Kyle say more than once about this game: It will be a top priority for the Utah defense (especially the Dline but also the DBs) to "shed blocks" in order to be ready for screen passes and to harass Halliday, even if they can't get to him very often because of his quick releases. Lots of those short pass plays are tantamount to running plays and the DL can't be tied up with a blocker, trying to get to Halliday, when he suddenly dumps the ball off to a RB that's right next to them. Or something like that.... Maybe better football minds can help.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Still, you can't just shut down your offense to protect a lead. The most glaring example of this off the top of my head is the ASU game last year. Up 19-7 going into the fourth quarter, we went into run, run, pass, punt mode and allowed those guys to come back and win that game. They really had no business winning that game (given the circumstances). That's mostly what I'm talking about here...don't change the game plan, or change what is working if the result of the game could still be in doubt. To slightly paraphrase Dan Hawkins..."It's the Pac 12 Brother!"
The Utes had 5 drives in the 4th quarter of that game, none of them went more than three plays and two resulted in turnovers, with the other three being punts.
Even in the 4th quarter of the Stanford game the drives were three and out, allowing the Cardinal to make that game closer than it probably should have.
I believe that (at times) Kyle has become very conservative in protecting the lead...and over the last two 5-7 campaigns, that has proven to be a detriment. I'm not saying let's go out there and throw it all over the yard, but figure out a way to move the chains, keep the clock moving, and keep scoring to reduce the opportunity for the opposition to get back in the game.
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
In other news, 4 of 5 ESPN writers pick the Utes this weekend.
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
Seriously, those who are better at rebuttals than I should go check out that WSU Scout thread "Is Utah Legit". There's some good stuff.
Some posters are recognizing they're on the road....others seem to think that won't matter. Many think Travis is soft, and think their defensive line will have a heyday.
I'm looking forward to the game.