Utah's new Wynn-ing attitude
by JazzyUte on Oct 31, 2009 10:39 PM MDT
in Football
Email
PrintThe first half of Saturday's Halloween blackout game against Wyoming will certainly be forgettable, but the second half suggests that maybe Utah's offense is finding its groove. Much of this happened when Terrance Cain was pulled for freshman quarterback Jordan Wynn.
Wynn, who played the entire second half, sparked the Utes' offense and led them to a 22-10 victory over Wyoming in a closer-than-the-final-score-indicates game. That change will definitely bring about a new round of questions and the big one obviously centers around whether or not the Utes have found a new starter under center.
Honestly, I don't think Cain played poorly in the first half. But the offense needed a spark and Wynn gave them one and because of that, it's hard to imagine him not starting against New Mexico. Of course, it's just one game and Cain was 6-1 as a starter at Utah.
Who knows.
Regardless, the Utes win and are now guaranteed the seventh consecutive bowl appearance for the program. Oh and they're undefeated in conference play, which ain't bad.
22 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Cain is 7-1 as a starter at Utah.
We won this game too, which he started.
As for next week, I’m worried that if we start Wynn and he crushes UNM we’ll all be really excited and then we’ll get our asses handed to us by TCU and get all disappointed. If the coaches think Wynn gives us a better chance over TCU, then play him, but don’t do it because he has a great game against UNM. UNM has been outscored 284-125 over their first 8 games, an average of 36-16, and those were all losses, including against bad UNLV, average SDSU, average Tulsa, and horrible NMSU.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
That was my first thought...
UNM is going to offer us a false sense of security if Wynn goes off and dominates.
It is New Mexico. The Lobos suck. They’re not going to beat Utah. You can line me up under center and I’d probably score at least 21 on them.
TCU is going to be huge. I don’t envy Kyle Whittingham. But I think he knows what he’s doing. In fact, I heard he pulled Schramm from the box tonight and replaced him with A-Rod?!?
Yup, this was another factor that played heavily into the ‘re-energized’ offense in the 2nd half.
It is certainly debatable whether Wynn played any better/worse than Cain, but the improved playcalling as the game progressed is one thing that led to the W for sure.
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." - George Washington
by Hockey Beard in SLC on Oct 31, 2009 11:44 PM MDT up reply actions
i know you were at the game jazzy
was cain that ineffective or did we need a spark on offense?
by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 31, 2009 11:39 PM MDT reply actions
I don't think Cain was bad.
He had issues with getting free and took a couple of sacks that really hurt Utah. But I believe he was 10-13 and didn’t seem to really struggle much.
What really got things going in the second half was the defense. They played lights out and gave the Utes (and Wynn) great field position.
It’s going to be an interesting week!
Cain has the same problems that a young Brian Johnson had, holding the ball too long, being indecisive costing his team a sack and knocking his team out of field goal range. That obviously wasn’t a problem when Wynn came in. But do you really want to start a true freshman, he did look like a freshman on a couple forced passes into coverage. That’s what makes me think we want to go back with Cain as starter again for New Mexico and he plays poorly again in the 1st half than we can go back to Wynn like we did tonight
I think it doesn't matter now. Wynn is the man.
Pulling Cain probably killed his confidence. I don’t see how he rebounds. Maybe we start him against New Mexico and he builds confidence that way, but I’m thinking Wynn will be it for the rest of the year.
Hopefully he doesn’t melt down against TCU.
After last week...
and the first half this week the offense had to do something. When I first saw Wynn my reaction was damn, I was really hoping they were going to red-shirt him. I was impressed with his arm, but that throw in the red zone had freshman mistake and pick-six written all over it.
I didn’t think Cain looked bad in the first half and I was really surprised to see him pulled. I agree with Utahmanami. I see a lot of early BJ in Cain. The turnovers and decision making is questionable at times.
I didn’t think I could have more questions about this offense than after last week, However now I do. I really don’t know who the best option is at QB right now. Very grateful for the win. I just don’t know what to make of this team offensively right now. Other than Eddie Wide and David Reed have stepped up huge.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Yes. Our offense is a mess right now.
Our OC was essentially demoted. Our QB has been replaced. Our offensive line is a goddamn joke.
I don’t know what to think right now.
With that said, we're 7-1!
7-1 in a rebuilding year and a meltdown on the offensive end.
Not bad.
We’ll get it together. Maybe not this season, but it’ll get there. Two tough games left. If we can split, it’ll be a fantastic year.
the only loss utah will have is vs tcu
we will end up 11-2 with hard earned victory’s if that is our rebuilding year that is major progress. rebuilding years with ron mcbride were 4-7 and 5-6 years. i don’t think we want any of that back. i have complete confidence in coach whitingham.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Nov 1, 2009 1:37 AM MDT up reply actions
TCU is the MWC bright light
Jazzy, totally agree with you. I was dreaming of an 8 win season and we should get there. that and another bowl win would make it a great season. I think Wynn is the present and future. It is a rebuilding year, so lets get going Cain is a great athlete that could now be a better ‘wildcat’ option for the Utes and in the long run (Cain’s eligibility) could be another way to get our offense back on track to the days of BJ and Alex.
TCU...oops
my mind wandered and didn’t make any comment on TCU. I think they are fast, smarty, mature team that we should rally behind. I want a Ute win, but if it doesn’t happen then TCU should get a chance to bust the BCS and keep the argument rolling when the BCS selects a team to play Texas that doesn’t have either as good a record (undefeated) or as good as talent (IOWA).
I thought 10-11 wins was likely...
But I knew there was the potential for a couple bad losses early on. That didn’t happen.
I’ll admit, though, I totally miscalculated how the team would progress. Our defense is awesome, but the offense has regressed a bit since week one.
We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks, though.
I am gonna stick with my preseason good season list:
- BEAT BYU!
- MWC title
- Bowl win
- 10+ wins
Three of the four makes for a good season.
BCS Evolution -- Punctuating the Equilibrium - twitter
I think two are very likely...
A third (beating BYU) is possible and a fourth (winning the title) seems unlikely at this point. But who knows.
That was the biggest change imo...
putting Roderick up in the box to call the plays. I also think it was the correct decision. Schramm calling the same 3 or 4 plays every offensive series was killing me. Even though the offense was painful to watch at times last night you could tell something was different. The Utes were able to move the ball. They just couldn’t finish drives.
As for the O-line. Beadles is a beast, but the rest of those guys do need some work. I don’t think they’re a joke, but they do need to improve.
I love our defense. They will win the game against New Mexico without a problem. No matter what the offense does. However San Diego St. scares me a little. Yes, that’s a little odd to say. Their offense has been pretty good and they sling the ball all over the place. I’ve been less than impressed with our corners and San Diego St. has a couple talented WR’s. RJ stepped up last night and played his best game this year, but he has been burned a lot this year. That scares me.
I can’t see this team beating TCU and honestly, unless Boise St. stumbles somewhere (which I don’t see happening) that may not be a bad thing. I’m okay with TCU having their year in the light. I don’t think this Ute team is capable of playing with a TCU team or in a BCS bowl. The last thing I want to see is for the Utes to go to another BCS bowl, but this time get smoked by someone. That would cause us to lose a lot of the respect that we have earned and fought for in the last 5 years.
If the Utes can finish 3-1 with a loss in Fort Worth I’ll be thrilled. That game in Provo is going to be tough though. Anything can happen in that game. Hopefully the Utes superior athleticism will win out, but the Zoobs do have talent. I say a 10-2 year and the Las Vegas Bowl would be a great thing for this team this year. Especially considering the struggles this team has had offensively.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
I don't like it...
Sure, Wynn played fine, but he didn’t do anything we haven’t seen Cain do. Who knows, Cain might have had a 2nd half like the CSU game. Who’s to say? But if the Wyoming DB had been able to hold on to a very easy pick, I don’t think any of us would think much of Wynn right now. I guarantee a TCU DB comes away with six points from that throw.
Jazzy’s right, the decision to pull Cain has probably shattered his confidence, making it very hard to go back to him as the starter. Same with the decision to pull Schram. I will say, the play calling looked much better in the 2nd half, so I’m not as worried if that change ends up being permanent. (Afterall, A-Rod was supposed to be co-OC originally, before he pulled his little stunt with Washington…) I really wanted to see Wynn be able to redshirt this year, so that’s disappointing. I feel like Manis or even Christopher could have accomplished what Wynn did in the second half.
I hate to second guess our coaches, but I just don’t know about all this.
Offense too predictable
Our offense first half was predictable and easy to defend. That’s why they made the change, not because Cain was bad. Cain did what he always does, but the offensive scheme just wasn’t working with the quick passes.
When Wynn was making passes down field it opened up the run game. Hopefully we’ll keep mixing it up on offense because something has to change if we want to have a prayer against TCU.
by GodisBrianJohnson on Nov 1, 2009 9:35 AM MST reply actions
Good Job Utes,
Wyoming fan here who was at the game. It was a good game to go to, Utah fans were pretty classy for the most part( live in Bountiful, so I expected this). Even though my team lost, it would have hurt the MWC if you lost, so it didn’t sting to bad. Good job and good luck.
Denver rookie head coach Josh McDaniels doesn't have a grasp on how to build a team." - John Clayton, April 23rd, 2009
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
- Urban Meyer
"Wow. Wow. Wow."
- Daryl Johnston after Utah took a 21-0 lead on Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl
Related FanPosts on Block U
Related FanShots on Block U
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
