Some preseason love for BCS bound Utes
by JazzyUte on May 10, 2011 12:57 AM MDT
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PrintThough the bulk of preseason previews have yet to hit the internet and magazine racks, there still are a few previews trickling out for the upcoming season.
For most, Utah is getting some pretty solid coverage as they embark on their journey into the Pac-12. CBS Sports' post-spring top-25 has Utah ranked 22nd, just behind Arizona State (21st) in the Pac-12 South. But the one I'm most intrigued by comes from footballphds.com. They have a preview out for the South and project the Utes winning the division with a ridiculously impressive 11-1 record.
1. Utah (11-1): 2010 was an eventful year for the Utes. The finally joined a power conference and they also brought in a FOOTBALLPHDS favorite Norm Chow as their new OC. The Utes’ inaugural season in the Pac 12 is going to be a fruitful one. The Utes will have early season tests with their September 10 visit to USC and September 17 visit to in state rival BYU. The lone loss that I see for the Utes is the November 5 game at my projected Pac 12 South second place team, Arizona. Finishing the season 11-1, expect a superb Pac 12 Championship game between Utah and Oregon.
If Utah does happen to go 11-1, it's not hard to believe a national championship berth is on the line when/if the Utes meet Oregon in the Pac-12 title game.
A bit too optimistic I'm guessing, but wouldn't that be an amazing start to a new era?
Regardless, Utah enters the 2011 season as one of the favorites in the Pac-12 South. That's both good and bad. Good because they're getting respect and no one can ever pooh-pooh respect. But it also means expectations are high and if the Utes stumble along the way, it certainly would suggest they're nowhere near ready to contend with the Big Boys.
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i rather have expectations high. the rest of the pac-12 will be gunning for us anyway since we are the "new" guys on the block.
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by wolfmanshowlforever on May 10, 2011 2:39 AM MDT reply actions
Wow, predicting an 11-1 season first year?
I hope Utah can do that, would be good recognition the hard work your coach has put in and the quality of players his teams have had over the past few years.
Don't give up, don't ever give up ~ Jim Valvano
11-1 would be awesome.....
but I am thinking 8-4 or 9-3 is more realistic. WIth Jordan Wynn’s status up in the air, I am not comfortable with picking us to finish that high. If he is healthy, it might not be such a bad pick.
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by BigBenSportsGuy on May 10, 2011 8:36 AM MDT reply actions
Maybe this is my own defense mechanism, but I'm setting expectations low...
Simply because I have no idea what to expect. Jordan Wynn alone is a HUGE question mark. He wasn’t spectacular last year. How much of that can be pinned on the injury?
Our offense overall didn’t finish the season impressively last year. How much can Chow change that? I’m certain he will over time, but it may take a season or more for Wynn and the rest to hit a stride in a new system.
None of our RB’s have taken a snap as Utes, and we had turnover in our WRs and secondary.
In other words, who knows what the Utes will do? Someone on UF.N astutely pointed out that the Utes have lost their mojo a little bit. I agree. No one is entitled to win, but the Utes seemed to lose that confident assumption that they would win (go back to the TCU game last year to see exactly when they lost that belief in themselves.)
I’m hoping for .500 or better. I know they CAN do better, but there are too many factors. If things don’t’ come together, it could also be worse than that. Anything better than 6-6 in such a strange, transitional year is gravy to me. If they go 8-4, I’ll be pleased as punch. 11-1? I’d be pinching myself to make sure it’s real.
Yeah, too much is in the air, but I put my expectation at 8-4. Anything less I’d be disappointed more would be gravy. What I see as the keys:
1) Obviously the secondary needs a major upgrade.
2) After hearing about spring ball it is clear that if Wynn’s shoulder is giving him problems or he gets hurt, the Utes will be in trouble.
3) Wynn got into a lot of trouble last year because the WR’s couldn’t create any separation. The line can’t pass protect all day. If the new receivers get locked down, Wynn may have a short year.
4) I think the RBs will be good, but also haven’t played a down of D1 football, so we’ll see.
5) The Utes have installed an entirely new offense. There will be growing pains.
6) Depth
Will definitely be an interesting season.
by UteinBrooklyn on May 10, 2011 9:17 PM MDT up reply actions
No threat of the run
Part of the reason that WR’s couldn’t get separation last year, was because there was no threat of the run. Especially in the last 4 games of the year. We abandoned the run so freaking early in those games, that defenders didn’t need to worry.
Football PHDs LMAO
pure garbage—worse than the bleacher report.
There is simply now way Utah goes 11-1!
I’ve never heard of football PHDs until today, but yeah Bleacher is unreadable.
by UteinBrooklyn on May 10, 2011 9:01 PM MDT up reply actions
Ted Miller
Ted Miller, ESPN’s PAC-12 reporter listed Utah number 7, 4 in the south, for his post-spring power rankings. This seems a tad low, but not too much. It makes sense, especially considering how you all ended last season, changes during the off season, and having to adjust to stiffer competition, that you would start off in the middle of the conference.
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/21480/post-spring-power-rankings
11-1 would be an amazing season
Way beyond my hopes or expectations. I will be thrilled if Utah hits 8-4.
I keep accidentally eating my pets. Maybe I should get something less appetizing, like a cat instead of a Twinkie.
Sort-of-daily sort-of-funny sort-of-thoughts at danoftheday.com
11-1??
Come on. Any rational person wouldn’t predict that. The Utes couldn’t do that in the Mountain West in 2009 when they had six NFL draft picks.
I would think a more reasonable goal would be 9-3. Ten wins would be amazing in year one. The PAC 12 will have the best QBs in the country and everyone knows Utah couldn’t defend the pass last year and had an NFL draft pick paying on one corner. I want to see how the secondary responds to Matt Barkley and USC. That game will reveal a lot.
Agreed
I keep accidentally eating my pets. Maybe I should get something less appetizing, like a cat instead of a Twinkie.
Sort-of-daily sort-of-funny sort-of-thoughts at danoftheday.com
Not that I agree with 11-1...
But your goal is 9-3, right? So is it really that far-fetched to see a potential for the Utes to flip two of those three losses? Not likely, I agree, but I wouldn’t say it’s irrational to think that way.
It just depends on injury status, coaching and how many breaks you get .
2 Guaranteed Wins, But no Guaranteed Losses
I agree with Jazzy, while 11-1 seems outrageous, and most on here are saying 8-4, 9-3 which I agree with, look at our schedule and 11-1 isn’t beyond the realm of possibility. Then again neither is 6-6.
We only have 2 guaranteed wins Montana State, and TDS.
But the nice thing is we don’t have any Guaranteed Losses. If Oregon/Stanford were on the schedule, that would be different.
The one that most people would pick as a Guaranteed Loss would be USC, but if anyone looks at that team realistically they aren’t as strong as they were middle of last decade. It’ll still be tough but it’s not a guaranteed loss.
TDS is a guaranteed win!?
Ummmm… I don’t think so.
I have ZERO love for the zoobs, but what makes you think that’s a guaranteed win? If we’re better, we’re not so much so that we’re going to march into their house and win without any doubt. No way. There is no evidence for that.
Listen, I hate giving BYU any credit, but they hung really tough with us last year in SLC, and they ended the season playing some good ball. Sure, their second half was back loaded with easy competition, but they still put it together—just like the Utes did in the first half of their season.
I’d say the two are evenly matched, and if we pull a win out of Provo, I’ll be very happy; and not one bit surprised if we lose that game.
by fountainofute on May 11, 2011 11:13 AM MDT up reply actions
Because we're BCS now, duh!
haha, I do disagree with UnHoly Ram. BYU isn’t a guaranteed win.
Utah will win…if they don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like they have the last two trips down to Provo.
If you pay attention to what the TDS boards say,
and on some other boards, Utah is a guaranteed win for TDS.
I don’t think either team should ever think of it as a gimmie.
Psst. It was a joke.
Never miss an opportunity to take a shot at our rivals.
I don’t know how anyone on either side of the rivalry could look at the last 20 years and say either team is a guaranteed to win the game.
I actually laughed
I liked the chutzpah
I keep accidentally eating my pets. Maybe I should get something less appetizing, like a cat instead of a Twinkie.
Sort-of-daily sort-of-funny sort-of-thoughts at danoftheday.com
Going into the season
I think 2004 was the only one of those years you could say that before the season started.
10-3 after Bowl Season
While 9-4 would be a very successful season considering the move up, I think that as long as JW and other key players stay healthy, there is no reason we can’t be 10-3 or even 12-1 when it’s all said and done. GO UTES!!!!
How can they project Jordan Wynn as 8th Best
They project Jordan Wynn as 8th best in the Pac12 but rank them number 1.
8. Jordan Wynn, Utah Like Jeff Tuel, Wynn is undersized (6’1" 195lb) for a QB. His stats from last season are pretty pedestrian at 62% completion, for 2,334-yards and 17TDs. His TD to INT ratio is poor at 1.7:1 and he has a tendency to disappear in the face of adversity (see the ass whipping handed to the Utes by TCU and ND). Maybe Guru Chow can work some magic with this kid.
http://www.footballphds.com/2011/05/10/stack-ranking-the-pac-12-quarterbacks/
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