Just rewatched Utah vs Oregon ST

[Utah]

1 - Brian Johnson is a very good OC. There were 3 plays that were perfectly called and poorly executed. One was a swing pass off a OSU blitz that had White open with nobody close to him. That would have been a touchdown. White dropped the ball. The other was a reverse call to DVC that would have been open for a touchdown. DVC fumbled the ball.

2 - On Wilson's first INT, that was an 18 year old kid making his second start in a big time situation. Hard to fault him for it. He gets happy feet, drifts to the right, and then has to make a throw across his body which sails on him. Had he stayed in the pocket, that is a completion. On Wilson's fumble, that is 100% on the OL. If Wilson doesn't get blindsided 2 before he sets his feet, then no fumble. Those are two mistakes that should not be there next year.

3 - Back to Brian Johnson. He called a damn fine game. The first drive of the game, we march down the field, missed FG. That would have been 3-0. On the second or third drive of the game, White drops a sure touchdown pass. That would have made the score 10-0. Completely different game if the players capitalize on the situations Johnson put them in. Could you imagine how good this young team feels if they take a 10-0 lead on OSU? At worst, they lose the game 17-21.

4 - Hooker. If he can get healthy and put on weight, he will be good. Every single play, he was there. He was just a little stick out there. There is a reason why they coaches put a redshirt on him, and a reason why they then wasted that redshirt. He has good instincts, just needs to get his body to the college level.

5 - OL. Wow. They were terrible. Beyond terrible. I don't know if there was a run play that they DL wasn't three yards deep or a pass play that Wilson wasn't knocked down or smacked around. That speaks a TON to Wilson's toughness.

6 - I'm not worried about the defense. OSU walked into Provo and put up 42 on that "top 10" defense. Ours only gave up 21, and 14 were 100% the offenses fault. I do think we will miss Joe Kruger the most. It is too bad he left early, especially since he is struggling to impress in Philadelphia (his biggest critique is that he isn't big enough to play end yet). Another year at Utah would have been amazing for him and Utah.

All that being said, we will be bowling this year. Utah State won't get us with a DII QB and missing a key piece of our defense. BYU's talent keeps dropping and ours keeps rising. I really think we beat OSU at home this year. That right there puts us up to 7 wins. I think we end up 7-5 or 8-4 and go bowling. I'm pumped to see what Johnson and Erickson can do to the offense, especially if our OL really is a lot better.

[Dawminator]

1 - Brian Johnson is a very good OC. There were 3 plays that were perfectly called and poorly executed. One was a swing pass off a OSU blitz that had White open with nobody close to him. That would have been a touchdown. White dropped the ball. The other was a reverse call to DVC that would have been open for a touchdown. DVC fumbled the ball.


3 - Back to Brian Johnson. He called a damn fine game. The first drive of the game, we march down the field, missed FG. That would have been 3-0. On the second or third drive of the game, White drops a sure touchdown pass. That would have made the score 10-0. Completely different game if the players capitalize on the situations Johnson put them in. Could you imagine how good this young team feels if they take a 10-0 lead on OSU? At worst, they lose the game 17-21.


I always thought BJ got a bad rap last year. I thought he improved significantly and that his calls were actually pretty good. Like you, I noticed poor execution. I think in a few years he will be one of best offensive minds in the country.

[Ma'ake]

I was in Corvallis for that game, and it's really hard to believe all the ways we coughed up that game. That game was basically how the season went, in a microcosm. And it's not like Oregon State didn't have some swagger themselves. "The enemy has a vote" is more true in the PAC than it ever was in the MWC. No teams rollover in this league, especially when they look at you as a limited opportunity to get a win. (Case in Point - how CU played us in the last game.)

The OL has to be better, and based on our size, I'm going to guess we'll do a lot of grinding on teams, so the stable of RBs need to be ready. Travis will be better, and I think the WRs will be better, as well, although the talent and leadership we lost was substantial. Last year's offensive problems go back to the OL, although Finn did a nice job with what we had, and I thought had the OL roughly on par with an underperforming DL by the end of the year.

This year will have it's own challenges, but it's hard to imagine we'll have as many problems as we did last year, which began at Logan with Wynn's final injury and Palamo completely blowing contain on the long run by Keeton.

[Hadrian]

These were basically my thoughts after I watched the game. The OL and the overall execution on offense is what killed us. It was just frustrating.

People on the Trib comment section wouldn't have it. All they could talk about was how bad BJ was.

[SoCalPat]

1 - Brian Johnson is a very good OC. There were 3 plays that were perfectly called and poorly executed. One was a swing pass off a OSU blitz that had White open with nobody close to him. That would have been a touchdown. White dropped the ball. The other was a reverse call to DVC that would have been open for a touchdown. DVC fumbled the ball.

2 - On Wilson's first INT, that was an 18 year old kid making his second start in a big time situation. Hard to fault him for it. He gets happy feet, drifts to the right, and then has to make a throw across his body which sails on him. Had he stayed in the pocket, that is a completion. On Wilson's fumble, that is 100% on the OL. If Wilson doesn't get blindsided 2 before he sets his feet, then no fumble. Those are two mistakes that should not be there next year.

3 - Back to Brian Johnson. He called a damn fine game. The first drive of the game, we march down the field, missed FG. That would have been 3-0. On the second or third drive of the game, White drops a sure touchdown pass. That would have made the score 10-0. Completely different game if the players capitalize on the situations Johnson put them in. Could you imagine how good this young team feels if they take a 10-0 lead on OSU? At worst, they lose the game 17-21.

4 - Hooker. If he can get healthy and put on weight, he will be good. Every single play, he was there. He was just a little stick out there. There is a reason why they coaches put a redshirt on him, and a reason why they then wasted that redshirt. He has good instincts, just needs to get his body to the college level.

5 - OL. Wow. They were terrible. Beyond terrible. I don't know if there was a run play that they DL wasn't three yards deep or a pass play that Wilson wasn't knocked down or smacked around. That speaks a TON to Wilson's toughness.

6 - I'm not worried about the defense. OSU walked into Provo and put up 42 on that "top 10" defense. Ours only gave up 21, and 14 were 100% the offenses fault. I do think we will miss Joe Kruger the most. It is too bad he left early, especially since he is struggling to impress in Philadelphia (his biggest critique is that he isn't big enough to play end yet). Another year at Utah would have been amazing for him and Utah.

All that being said, we will be bowling this year. Utah State won't get us with a DII QB and missing a key piece of our defense. BYU's talent keeps dropping and ours keeps rising. I really think we beat OSU at home this year. That right there puts us up to 7 wins. I think we end up 7-5 or 8-4 and go bowling. I'm pumped to see what Johnson and Erickson can do to the offense, especially if our OL really is a lot better.

I have mixed feelings about this post. I think we'll surprise and I think we'll go bowling. I'm not sure if we can get to 7 wins, but there are fanbases that have been proven to be universally wrong in both directions (OSU and Utah last year, from opposite ends of the spectrum, obviously) in recent memory. I hope the same holds true again this year and Utah wins 9 or more.

I'm not bullish yet on Brian as an OC. I would like for him to be. If Brian ever got a bad rap, it was during the 2005 and 2007 seasons. With health and experience, he put it all together in 2008 and we all know what happened there.

Maybe the lack of execution in key moments or an unsettled QB position kept Brian from shining last year, much like his separated shoulder in 2007 forced him into a game-manager like role and we let the run game do the work. Whatever the case, Erickson has to work and pump life into the offense. The seat starts warming up for Kyle if it doesn't, as his track record with the offense after Andy Ludwig -- save for the first half of the 2010 season -- has been abysmal.