Utes take important step, but questions remain
by JazzyUte on Sep 3, 2010 3:10 PM MDT
in Football
Email
PrintUtah's win over Pittsburgh Thursday night was electrifying. It was also, at times, very frustrating.
Frustrating because the Utes dominated the game. It shouldn't have come down to a field goal in overtime. Not when you out-gain the opposition on offense 405 to 266. Not when you hold your opponent's best player to only 75-yards on the night - a career low. Not when you're leading by eleven late in the fourth at home.
This game was one the Utes tried to throw away. In more ways than one, in fact. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Not when you consider it was the first game of the season and coming against a team that was, preseason or not, ranked 15th nationally.
That shouldn't excuse the mistakes, though. Turnovers almost doomed Utah last night and they are very fortunate to come off the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium winning their eighteenth straight at home. The good news is that many of their mistakes are correctable. The better news is that they learned what they needed to work on without losing.
To be sure, the game wasn't entirely bad. Utah's defense, the biggest question mark heading into the season, far exceeded expectations at almost every level. Outside of a few slip-ups late in the game by the secondary, the defense played nearly perfectly the entire night.
Dion Lewis, the Heisman hopeful for Pitt, was held to a career low on the ground. If it weren't for three turnovers and a blocked punt, the Panthers' offense struggles to score 14.
That is good and surprising news because even though there were some issues with the offense Thursday, they themselves were pretty consistent.
Jordan Wynn, making only his sixth start in a Utah uniform, played fairly well. He did have an inexcusable interception while the Utes were driving and there were some issues with pressure. But he still finished the night 21 of 36 for 283 yards and three touchdowns. Not bad.
Overall, I'm optimistic about this team. I think if they clean up the penalties and crack down on some special team mistakes, they will be very, very difficult to beat.
Thankfully, the schedule eases up a bit for the next few weeks. That will provide Utah an opportunity to really build on this huge win.
20 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I'm with you
That game last night was very frustrating, yet I came away from it encouraged. Like you said, the mistakes were largely mental/organizational mistakes that can be corrected. The team, as a whole, looked stronger than I had anticipated and with a few softer opponents lined up, have some time to work out the kinks. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.
Absolutely
But it was the first game of the season and some of those penalties we must learn to live with because that hard nose play is what beats teams down and makes them hate playing us and makes us win.
Utah rarely has good or pretty first games. You want an omen? OK, this game most closely resembles what other Ute opener?
2008
yes--here's an interesting item
From Rivals Winners and Losers, Winner column:
Iowa State. Many picked Northern Illinois to beat the Cyclones. Ha! Iowa State dumped a solid NIU team 27-10 behind good performances from quarterback Austen Arnaud and running back Alexander Robinson. The Cyclones surprisingly went to a bowl last season under first-year coach Paul Rhoads, and given that there are non-conference games remaining against Iowa and Utah, this one basically was a must-win for them if they wanted to return to a bowl this season.
Hard to take much from a win over a MAC team, tho.
Especially with their supposed top team down 14-10 to…Nova.
Penalties.... except
We shouldn’t be getting unsportsman like conduct and personal foul 15 yard penalties that kill our drives. If we didn’t get one on our last offensive drive in the 4th quarter, I don’t think that we would have gone to overtime.
Nothing I saw warranted that call against Cullen. Now, maybe it wasn’t shown on the Versus replay, but I think that was a bogus call that ruined our momentum there.
Props for the D stepping up to the task after the botched punt and holding the Pitt O (steamrolling with momentum mind you) to only a field goal…on the 3rd attempt :)
by Hockey Beard in SLC on Sep 4, 2010 12:27 AM MDT up reply actions
Defense was great.
But I have basically given up all hope of Utah ever returning a punt again. I want them all fair caught from now on (and even that won’t help, since Shaky’s fumble WAS on a fair catch). We have GOT to figure out how to return punts (and blocking for our own punter needs work as well).
With all that said, the defense really was fantastic. A great line makes everyone’s job easier, and the secondary and linebackers really played fantastically. Offense was good too, line was incredible and the running game and passing games were both firing very well, with some minor miscues. I am so glad to see DVC got his head screwed on straight, because I’ve been waiting to see a game like that from him for two years.
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
great returner
We just need to get another great returner. Maybe Shaky will make it big in the future.
I remember when we had Steve Smith returning kicks. Nobody wanted to kick to him, because they thought that he’d return it for a TD.
When is this team...
going to find a punt return who doesn’t fumble a return 2 or 3 times a year? Is it just me or does it seem like this has been happening for the last 5 or 6 seasons?
Overall, can’t complain about the outcome though. The turnovers and penalties are frustrating, but hopefully they can get those under control and have a great year. The talent is certainly there.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
Hopefully we got the fumbled punts out of the way.
We looked a bit better in the second half returning punts.
We'll get better
I’m sure Shaky got a earful from Whitt. I think Shaky was a taken a little bit out of the game after seeing his own music video come up on the video screen. But no excuses. If he can’t do the job we’ll find someone who can.
Phil Steele said on July 12?
Pitt at Utah Sept 2nd – Utah won in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl 35-7 (only prev meeting). Pitt is #107 in my Experience Chart (page 311) while Utah is #57. Utah’s altitude edge is expanded because they have been home all month. Pitt has a young QB and Oline making their first road starts at night in front of a loud and enthu…siastic crowd. Utah is 17-1 at home the last 3 yrs and will be fired up for this one. Utah 27-24.
Heh. New QB and O-line the difference at altitude and 27-24? Pretty good call.
My grade card:
Offense: B-
In the second quarter, the Utes showed they could make things happen. Jeremy Brooks proved that he was a great target who can get yards after the catch. DeVonte was outstanding, having two guys at WR with great talent could make this a great season.
The O-line was tremendous, especially keeping both of Pitt’s DE’s at bay. I’m hoping Jordan Wynn can get a little tougher though. Like the BYU game, he wasn’t the same after taking a hit. I realize that he got injured but I’m just saying. He also needs to work on adjusting to the blitz: in addition to the INT in the red zone, he didn’t seem to make good decisions when Pitt brought extra pressure.
Defense: A
If it weren’t for a break down that caused a late TD, I would give these boys a A++. The defensive line was outstanding in keeping Dion Lewis under control. I think the LB core did great given all the question marks. The secondary was the only thing that wasn’t great. (except the play of Brandon Burton shutting down a dangerous WR) I was a little concerned that after Pitt all but abandoned the running game late in the game, that we allowed a young QB to find holes in our defense. I know it’s the first game and all but they need to tighten things up in the secondary.
Special Teams: C
Don’t get me wrong, Joe Phillips gets an A but the rest of the play was well below standard. We all hoped our punt return problems were done. Hopefully it was just butterflies with Shaky. One blocked punt and one punt that went almost nowhere can’t be excused though (more particularly since that bad punt gave Pitt the chance to tie the game). The point is the miscues of special teams lead directly to a score, and two field goals. You won’t win a lot of ballgames with results like that.
As previously mentioned the bright spot was Phillips. The man looks to be cut from the same cloth as his predecessor King Louie. I’ll also give credit to the boys for taking advantage of Pitts muffed return.
Given it’s the first game of the season , I know there’s gonna be bumps but we need to fix the problems real soon. i’m sure many of you agree that if we turn the ball over three times, we won’t beat a team like TCU. In the end though you have to give credit where it’s due, we played against a top-tier team and won the game when it mattered.
(I know I wasn’t the only one who was nervous going into OT given the last outcome).
I'd disagree a little bit.
I thought the secondary actually did really well. Late in the 4th they gave up one bad drive, but the TE coverage was the linebackers, not the secondary, and other than that one drive the secondary played really well against some very good WRs. Not to mention Blechen, who played fantastically.
The OL was great, the RBs were very good, and Wynn played well prior to his injury. I don’t know if the blitz would have been a problem if his hand had been 100%, but he and the WR played really well. Problems? Sure, but overall it was a fantastic performance (120 yards rushing and 280 yards passing deserves an A, even with two turnovers).
Everyone hates a pink-shirt-wearing communist.
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
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
