Utes nip Falcons in OT
by JazzyUte on Oct 24, 2009 7:08 PM MDT
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PrintI had a feeling today's game would be close and I was right. Though I don't think I ever expected it to come down to a 4th and 2 in overtime.
Great win - even if sloppy. The Utes didn't look impressive for a good chunk of the game, but they rarely ever do against the Falcons. Most importantly, they avoided the upset and move their record to 6-1 on the season.
Obviously I'm going to have more on the game later. But for now, I guess enjoy it (that's if your heart didn't stop there...)
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utah won the game like i said. i predicted 24-17.
it ended up 23-16. only if utah made that extra point i would have been off by only one point.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 24, 2009 9:00 PM MDT reply actions
That sucked ass...
and so does our offense.
Here’s a thought. I’m pretty sure that coach Sanford will be looking for a new job at the end of the year. How about he takes on an old job he had here in Salt Lake? I’m done with the Ludwig’s and Schramm’s of the world.
Nice to get a win an improve(?) to 6-1. However, right now, I don’t see how this team doesn’t get blasted by at least 3 TD’s in 3 weeks in Fort Worth.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Sanford burned any bridges he has with Utah
He may coach somewhere as an OC, but it won’t be here.
Schramm is still learning and may improve. He deserves at least a full season. And he does have the team at 6–1, which makes this the second best start during the Whittingham era. This 2009 team reminds me a lot of of 2003. We weren’t pretty, but we kept winning close games.
The team is 6-1...
in spite of Schramm. Not because of him.
Despite the bridges Sanford burned here, this team needs someone who truly understands the spread offense. Ludwig didn’t, and it appears Schramm doesn’t either. He obviously will get a full season, but he better start making some big time changes.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
You're expectations are too high
During the first 7 games of 2003 Utah scored: 40, 26, 31, 28, 17, 27, and 28 (28.14 ppg)
This year, Utah has scored: 35, 24, 24, 30, 24, 35, and 23 (27.86 ppg)
Maybe we should have fired Sanford (and Urban Meyer too!) after the 2003 season since they “didn’t truly understand the spread offense.” Even with arguably the best quarterback in Utah history — Alex Smith — for five of those games, they only average a measly .28 points per game more than the current team. Utah averaged 26.2 ppg in Alex Smith’s first five starts. That’s worse than Cain’s first five starts of 27.4 ppg.
It takes a quarterback some time to adjust to Football Subdivision Speed. I will gladly accept this season. We’re in contention for a conference title. We can’t go undefeated every season.
That's a bit of a hyperbole...
I know you expected more on the offensive end, but this is exactly how I thought it’d go. Air Force’s defense is the 2nd best defense Utah will face this season (behind TCU).
We might lose to TCU, but it won’t be by 3 touchdowns. I’ll bet my life on it.
I wasn't impressed...
with the Air Force defense at all. They’re second best only because their offense controls the ball so much that the other team doesn’t have as much time to score. The Utes didn’t challenge them at all today. Air Force could put as many guys in the box defensively as Utah did against them because the play calling for Utah was every bit as predictable as that of Air Force.
I have little to no faith in our offense right now. I think there is a lot of talent there. However the handcuffs are firmly on. The offense is extremely predictable. Combine that with the turnover and penalty issues and I’m very skeptical. I didn’t expect another perfect season. In fact I believe I predicted a 3 or 4 loss season. However I thought the offense would look much better than it has so far. A lot of that is Asiata being hurt and the play calling imo.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Just sleep on it...
It’s not fair to suggest Air Force’s defense is only good because of their ball control offense.
Utah’s offense has issues, no doubt, but why panic? Why panic until it actually proves to cost us a game? I don’t know…it just seems pointless to bitch about something after a win.
If you’re right…the Utes will falter badly to end the season and then you can bitch. But right now, with that horrible, terrible, awful offense, we’re 6-1.
I’d take 6-1 with a horrible, terrible, awful offense over 5-2 or 4-3 and an explosive, pedal to the metal offense that scores a lot of points.
Okay...
I slept on it, and this offense is still not very good. Perhaps sucks ass is a little strong, but the point remains.
As for this : Why panic until it actually proves to cost us a game? Well, it already has, in Eugene. Plus, this team was pretty lucky to get wins over CSU and Air Force too. You think 8 first downs against Air Force is a good offensive performance? How many times have the Utes gone 3 and out the last few weeks?
I have high standards for this team, no doubt. With the talent they have they should be performing better against the likes of CSU, Air Force, UNLV, et al. Like I said, I don’t think the offense is very good right now. The talent is there, but it’s too predictable right now. I’m not going to keep arguing the point either. That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking to it.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Great win
No one should be surprised it was a close game, air force always plays well against us and this game was no difference. I know the Air force defense could force us into punting the ball, their defense is underrated, they are really quick to the ball. But the Utah defense was the real star of this game(sounds funny when u give up 254 yards on the ground). But that was because they rushed the ball 75 times! Think about that for a second. That’s an insane amount, even by air force standards. Anyways air force lone offensive TD came off of a special teams mistake that set them up in field position. So our defensive did a pretty decent job all things considered as we stayed away from giving up any big plays(their longest run was 25 yards).
there was that triple ot win about 5 years ago where i think it was the backup tight end
throwing a pass for a td that won the game for utah
by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 25, 2009 1:55 PM MDT up reply actions
Defense was incredible
The offense didn’t look great, but it might have been a different story with Asiata. As for the defense, they played like champions. They gave up yards, but held them to FGs every time except when AF recovered a fumble on the ten. Say what you want about the offense looking sloppy, this team knows how to win and I’ll take that over looking pretty any day.
by GodisBrianJohnson on Oct 25, 2009 1:46 PM MDT reply actions
No one is debating that our offense has issues...
But the sign of a great team is one that can beat a good team when it plays poorly.. This has become a staple under Whittingham. We will lose a few games now and then, and our offense will suck from time to time, but coach W. has built our program around a strong defense and to borrow a tired cliche… “Defense wins championships”
That's none of your business...yet!!!
Offense could be better
But Cain’s becoming more than merely competent, he hit the clutch play to win it, and our defense was better than it has been all year—on the field the entire night and give up 16?
If we’d had the ball for 40 out of 60 minutes, we’d score between 40-50.
bcs poll came out. the good news is utah is up to 16. the bad news is tcu is only
6th. they are ahead of boise state. how iowa who beat a 40-45th ranked michigan state team on the last play become number 4 in the poll just boggle’s the mind. they have a 1 point win vs northern iowa at home. they had to hold on for a three point victory over arkansas state. that is such a good resume. new mexico would compete with arkansas state.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 25, 2009 7:10 PM MDT reply actions
Getting our heads on straight
Let’s put a little thought into what we are saying here. Our Utes won by a touchdown (yes in overtime) but TCU won their game against The Chair Force by T H R E E P O I N T S! Do you get the logic here folks? What is it that the wins championships – that’s right – DEFENSE.
I won’t dispute that standing the in the stands at the game Saturday it was hard to watch the offense but the bottom line is we put enough points on the board to put a another W in the WIN column. This Utah team is building some real character, figuring out how to win in a street fight. Now as fans of this team we need to get behind them and the coordinators and let them steady the ship. I called it that it was going to be an ugly win and you know what – I’ll take it!
TAO
you did not see the game sir. it was 19 degrees with the wind chill factor when the......
game started. by far the worst whether conditions by any two teams played so far this season. at the end of the game it was 8 degrees. check colorado springs temperature around 8 pm on said day. utah will win every game left except the game in fort worth. 11-2 season is quite good considering t. cain had not played fbs football.if we get asiata back next year the utes offense will average 38 points a game and the defense will still be good. we will continue our bowl winning streak to nine and hopefully beat a 5th place stanford or arizona state. i say those two teams b.c utah has beaten the other 7 in the last 11 years. wazzou has no chance to get there. peace.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 26, 2009 11:50 AM MDT up reply actions
My Grade:
OFFENSE: C-
I’m not pulling any punches here, the offense was absolutely horrible Saturday. Were it not for the sweet 90+ yard strike by Reed that got us back in the game and the great drive in OT, wouldn’t hesitate to give the Utes an F. I realize that AF is a team that likes to play keep away, but 5 bloody 3 and outs in a row is inexcusable. I’m also have to call out the team for the turnovers. When you fumble the ball 6 times, 9 out of 10 times you lose. The Offense desperately needs to find it’s grove if we have ANY chance to make the TCU match up a game.
DEFENSE- A-
I give lots of credit to the defense, bottom line they won the game for us in spite of our inconsistency at offense. Air Force is a team that has been a thorn in our side for years, Therefore the defense is always gonna have a long day ahead with the tricky triple option. Even though the Utes didn’t smother the run like they did last year, They stepped up big time when it mattered most. Keep up the good work boys!
SPECIAL TEAMS: B-
This ones a mixed result for me. The missed PAT turned out to be a huge factor and very well could have costed us the game. I also cannot let Luke Matthews muffed punt go unnoticed. However, Phillips showed up when we needed a FG and the ST unit did have a momentum swinging turnover after we got that huge TD from Reed. Like I said mixed result.
This was a great win for us (and an ironic one given the outcome of the 2007 game). It’s always nice to have AF in our rear view mirrors in the MWC race. This was a big test for the Utes. Somehow despite our inconsistency , we found a way to win the ball game. Great win boys.
GO UTES! 6-1
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