9 - The official 2019 Holy War Thread

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Originally Posted by sancho

The good:

-Zach Moss, obviously.
-The defense. Did their job. Got off the field often enough on 3rd downs and caused 3 turnovers.
-Enis' grab on 3rd and 8. That might be the play of the game.
-Huntley had some good runs in the 2nd half. That's an extra dimension that we could really use.
-Putting the game away with authority in the 4th quarter.

The bad:

-Kicking, obviously
-The drop
-Josh Nurse's knee, that looked bad, hope he's back quickly
-Coming up short on 4th and 3 gave them momentum early
-Lightning. Kalani should have taken advantage of the extra intermission to get a 2nd pep talk from the widow Edwards

The Ugly

-The far too long interview with Zach Wilson's parents. It was ugly, partially because you can see that Dad is dying inside over this and that he has some serious regrets about handing the family reins over to his wife. That was a man who would have been much happier making the weekly 4 hour drive to Boise to watch football.
-We didn't try to go deep once, which makes sense given Huntley's strengths. I'd still like to see it on occasion.
-I've been saying this for years now: Huntley is very accurate when rolling right. We need to take advantage of that more intentionally.
-The facemask on 3rd and 30. Wow, what a gift. Thank you, Mr. Late Hit Trash Talk Guy.
-ESPN not announcing that the game would continue on ESPN2.

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Nurse came back in the game (or at least there was another #14)

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Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

Nurse came back in the game (or at least there was another #14)

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That's great. I didn't notice. The defense was out there so little in the 2nd half.

For some reason, I wasn't nervous at all about the game being so close at the half. I just had the feeling that Utah's D and Zack Moss would just grind BYU down in the second half. It was satisfying to see that come to fruition.

Kyle finally spoke his truth on the rivalry game to kick off the season last night on the post game with Bill. He doesn't like it. The build up, the questions, months of hype, etc...doesn't like any of it. Nevertheless, he's won 9 straight and is now 11-3 vs. the Cougs.

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Originally Posted by DrumNFeather

Kyle finally spoke his truth on the rivalry game last night on the post game with Bill. He doesn't like it. The build up, the questions, months of hype, etc...doesn't like any of it. Nevertheless, he's won 9 straight and is now 11-3 vs. the Cougs.

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He said he doesn't like it...for game 1. I personally am quite enamored with game 1 wins.

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Originally Posted by Applejack

He said he doesn't like it...for game 1. I personally am quite enamored with game 1 wins.

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Yes. Edited. Thank you.

I have a few questions for those of you who know more about football - whether through your own experience or connections to the program.
-I've seen conservative game plans before out of Utah but last night struck me as one of the most minor dips into a playbook that I've seen. I don't mean this to be critical. It worked. I just wonder if it was the gameplan going in? If it became the gameplan? Any thoughts.

-Were any of you at the game? Did you see many receiver routes downfield? Were our receivers getting open? I thought Huntley held the ball a little too long on a few plays. For example, on the fourth down play in the first half, It looked like he had a couple of open targets over the middle but he chose to run. Perhaps he was so worried about turnovers that he really played conservative. Not necessarily a bad thing when you look at the role turnovers played in this one. Mitchell made a comment on the radio a couple of times that Huntley hadn't seen an open receiver down field - but only a couple of times.

-My only real frustration in this one was the number of times Ludwig ran the ball on second and long - I mean real long - nines, tens, and double digit yard distances. It seemed to be a rule rather than an exception. I don't mean to criticize him. I'm thrilled he's here but it happened so much last night that there had to be a strategic reason, didn't there?

Any thoughts?

What a terrific first win. Plenty of good and plenty to work on.

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Originally Posted by Utebiquitous

I have a few questions for those of you who know more about football - whether through your own experience or connections to the program.
-I've seen conservative game plans before out of Utah but last night struck me as one of the most minor dips into a playbook that I've seen. I don't mean this to be critical. It worked. I just wonder if it was the gameplan going in? If it became the gameplan? Any thoughts.

-Were any of you at the game? Did you see many receiver routes downfield? Were our receivers getting open? I thought Huntley held the ball a little too long on a few plays. For example, on the fourth down play in the first half, It looked like he had a couple of open targets over the middle but he chose to run. Perhaps he was so worried about turnovers that he really played conservative. Not necessarily a bad thing when you look at the role turnovers played in this one. Mitchell made a comment on the radio a couple of times that Huntley hadn't seen an open receiver down field - but only a couple of times.

-My only real frustration in this one was the number of times Ludwig ran the ball on second and long - I mean real long - nines, tens, and double digit yard distances. It seemed to be a rule rather than an exception. I don't mean to criticize him. I'm thrilled he's here but it happened so much last night that there had to be a strategic reason, didn't there?

Any thoughts?

What a terrific first win. Plenty of good and plenty to work on.

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Ludwig was committed to the run and it paid off. He was setting up the play action pass. the drops by Kuite and simpkins were play action passes. In years past we just wanted the oc to run the damn ball... I thought he called a good game.

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Originally Posted by Utebiquitous

I have a few questions for those of you who know more about football - whether through your own experience or connections to the program.
-I've seen conservative game plans before out of Utah but last night struck me as one of the most minor dips into a playbook that I've seen. I don't mean this to be critical. It worked. I just wonder if it was the gameplan going in? If it became the gameplan? Any thoughts.

-Were any of you at the game? Did you see many receiver routes downfield? Were our receivers getting open? I thought Huntley held the ball a little too long on a few plays. For example, on the fourth down play in the first half, It looked like he had a couple of open targets over the middle but he chose to run. Perhaps he was so worried about turnovers that he really played conservative. Not necessarily a bad thing when you look at the role turnovers played in this one. Mitchell made a comment on the radio a couple of times that Huntley hadn't seen an open receiver down field - but only a couple of times.

-My only real frustration in this one was the number of times Ludwig ran the ball on second and long - I mean real long - nines, tens, and double digit yard distances. It seemed to be a rule rather than an exception. I don't mean to criticize him. I'm thrilled he's here but it happened so much last night that there had to be a strategic reason, didn't there?

Any thoughts?

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Utah's strength is running the ball and if the defense cannot stop the run, keep running it. I think the ability of the O to move the ball with the run as the scoring margin widened resulted in fewer pass attempts than we will see in other games. If we average 65 offensive plays from scrimmage, my guess is that 40 of those will be designed runs and 25 designed passes. Some of those designed passes will turn into scramble runs.

It is tough to throw deep on a 3 deep zone, which is what BYU runs most of the time. It has been suggested that Huntley did not see a couple of deep routes that were open. When you have only 3 incompletions and 1 of those was a clear drop (I don't consider the Simpkins one a drop because the defender either got his hands on the ball or interfered with his vision) it is hard to criticize his decision making. I do agree with Whit that we need more chunk plays. The WR's need more opportunities in order to make a difference.

I was an offensive analyst for Lud the last time he was here. I believe the statistics will bear this out, but you have a better chance to get a 1st down if you can take 2nd and 8 or more and turn it into 3rd and 4. At least against that defense we had a better chance of doing that by running the ball on 2nd and long than we did by throwing it.

The fact of the matter is that many fans will again be frustrated by Lud's offensive philosophy because he does not throw the ball around the field. The coaches are about winning. Style points don't matter all that much.

I tried to post this earlier but must have done something wrong. I had a surprise from this year’s rivalry game, and i learned something from it. Because of an unusually long trial (a huge administrative hearing, actually) I was too busy to pay much attention to the annual pre-game hype and related nonsense. The hearing sessions went from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. 3-4 days a week, including a Saturday, and we spent the early part of each day preparing for that evening’s session. It was pretty awful. Any unoccupied time I had was for catching up on other work or for family stuff, so I paid little attention to the game.

The final hearing session was last night, during the game, so i couldn’t watch most of it. My kids texted me scores, but I was so deeply involved in my work I couldn’t pay attention. We finally got done and I listened in my car on the way home. Because of the time zone difference I was able to catch Riley and Mitchell’s broadcast for a lot of the 2nd half. I got home and watched the last 8-9 minutes (thank you, lightning delay). I was happy that the Utes won, enjoyed the post-game interviews on ESPN700, and called it a day.

In the morning I realized how much better it felt not to be surrounded by the whole Holy War thing for days on end. Instead, I was just a fan, I watched the game, the Utes won, and I was happy and I moved on. It was a much more enjoyable experience, and I realized how exhausting all that rivalry nonsense can be.

The experience also showed me that the BYU game just doesn’t matter much anymore. I’m much more excited about the games against USC and UCLA, Washington, and the rest. Playing BYU seems more and more like a chore. It’s become very unpleasant and there’s nothing important to be gained from it except the joy of beating them. But we are supposed to beat them now. If we do beat them, we don’t get much credit. If we lose, it’s an embarrassment.

i’m not one of those who say we should stop playing them altogether, but i really can do without the BYU game now.

Thank you Uteopia and Red Death (that is a scary name to me). Very helpful.

BTW, I really liked what I saw out of Jordan Wilmore. That kid looks like a fantastic addition this year.

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Originally Posted by sancho

That's great. I didn't notice. The defense was out there so little in the 2nd half.

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Like MRD said, Nurse finished the game and looked fine. I’m more nervous about the ankle injuries to both Umana and Maea. Umana seemed to be in significantly more pain than Maea.


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As much as I like Huntley as the Utes’ QB, his post-game comments were cringe-inducing.

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Originally Posted by LA Ute

As much as I like Huntley as the Utes’ QB, his post-game comments were cringe-inducing.

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I agree. Fortunately, the bar for awful post game Holy War QB comments has been set high enough to never be eclipsed.

He did keep his composure after a late hit followed by trash talk; maybe he just stored it all up for the post game.

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Originally Posted by LA Ute

As much as I like Huntley as the Utes’ QB, his post-game comments were cringe-inducing.

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They were delivered in a light hearted manner without any vitriol. Some have stated that there were some signs in the BYU student section with U of Pooh or some other nonsense. Whether true or not, it isn't like he went full Max Hall. I do believe that his comments will spawn some interesting shirt designs for next years game. Maybe BYU will cancel the series because it isn't safe for their fans or players. x:)x

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Originally Posted by UTEopia

They were delivered in a light hearted manner without any vitriol. Some have stated that there were some signs in the BYU student section with U of Pooh or some other nonsense. Whether true or not, it isn't like he went full Max Hall. I do believe that his comments will spawn some interesting shirt designs for next years game. Maybe BYU will cancel the series because it isn't safe for their fans or players. x:)x

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Agreed, not even in the same zip code as Max Hall.

I haven't looked at the stats but it seemed that Zach Moss was getting at least 5 yards per carry at will - so I'd think if it works you pretty much do that until they figure out how to shut that down. I'm glad we didn't expose much of the playbook - USC not having much to scout will be critical.

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Originally Posted by Rocker Ute

I haven't looked at the stats but it seemed that Zach Moss was getting at least 5 yards per carry at will - so I'd think if it works you pretty much do that until they figure out how to shut that down. I'm glad we didn't expose much of the playbook - USC not having much to scout will be critical.

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Agreed. BYU was rushing three and dropping eight into coverage, according to what I heard on Riley‘s radio broadcast. It sounded like they clearly were setting up to deny us any big passing plays, so why not run? It was working all night.

Looking back on it now, doesn’t that defensive strategy seem kind of strange? Did BYU really think a three-man rush was going to stop Moss? Why did they concede to us the power run game — the Utes’ bread and butter? And even with BYU dropping eight, Huntley still completed 13 of 16 (short) passes.

Anyway, Huntley didn’t throw any touchdown passes, but Zach Wilson threw two for Utah, so the passing stats worked out in the end. [emoji6]

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Originally Posted by LA Ute

.....Huntley still completed 13 of 16 (short) passes..... [emoji6]

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And 2 of those 3 incomplete pass attempts were easy catches that were dropped.....and neither one was a "short" pass.

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Originally Posted by mUUser

And 2 of those 3 incomplete pass attempts were easy catches that were dropped.....and neither one was a "short" pass.

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I am not least bit worried about Huntley this year, except for his tendency to get injured.

The absolutely most baffling aspect of the game on Thursday: Why in the world was KW wearing a dark blue hoodie? (at least I think it was a hoodie.) Why in the world did anybody make such a thing? What was he thinking? I thought for sure that would doom us. Never again, I hope.

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Originally Posted by concerned

The absolutely most baffling aspect of the game on Thursday: Why in the world was KW wearing a dark blue hoodie? (at least I think it was a hoodie.) Why in the world did anybody make such a thing? What was he thinking? I thought for sure that would doom us. Never again, I hope.

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I wondered the same thing. I thought maybe it was black and the color on tv was a little off.

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Originally Posted by Brian

I wondered the same thing. I thought maybe it was black and the color on tv was a little off.

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Looked black on my tv

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Originally Posted by hostile

Looked black on my tv

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It was black.


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Originally Posted by concerned

The absolutely most baffling aspect of the game on Thursday: Why in the world was KW wearing a dark blue hoodie? (at least I think it was a hoodie.) Why in the world did anybody make such a thing? What was he thinking? I thought for sure that would doom us. Never again, I hope.

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But it was a short sleeved hooded t-shirt. Not sure why that is a thing. I saw them at the bookstore and wondered what function the hood could possible serve on lightweight T-shirt.

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Originally Posted by chrisrenrut

But it was a short sleeved hooded t-shirt. Not sure why that is a thing. I saw them at the bookstore and wondered what function the hood could possible serve on lightweight T-shirt.

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They’re very in with the college age crowd.

The hoods have become a style thing.


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Brian Dunseth, the RSL television color commentator, quoted Huntley when reviewing the MLS scores of the day saying of a particular team, "they so poo poo."

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