How can a team go from blowing out Virginia to completely laying an egg against a mediocre at best Northwestern team? The Utes put together their worst loss of the season and were utterly dominated by a Wildcats team that has done nothing this season. And once again, the rollercoaster ride that's been this year continues.
I don't know where to begin except with the fact that only an inept coaching staff can follow up such a great performance with such a poor one. In a span of 24 hours the Utes recorded their most impressive victory of the year and possibly their most depressing loss in decades. This has become an all too often trend under Ray Giacoletti and it's clear he's barely hanging on by a thread, now here's to Hill pulling out the scissors and snipping it.
Utah is now 5-7 on the season and things look even bleaker right now than they did a week ago. I think it's pretty much assured the Utes won't accomplish anything this year and I'm afraid it's just going to get even uglier. UNLV should roll, SDSU will dominate and I quiver at the thought of what Air Force will do to this Utah team. Man, what a lousy way to enter Christmas break. I truly hope football can at least get a bowl victory, that should hold me over until spring ball kicks off.
This team looked completely lost (or at least sounded lost, since the game wasn't seen at all -- not like that's a bad thing though) and it's clear Giacoletti just does not have the ability to rally his troops when it's needed the most. When Utah looks down and out they perform decent enough, but when they're in position to string together a few successful weeks of basketball, they choke it away like a fat man at an all you can eat rib joint. Speaking of fat men, god I miss Majerus. I know, I know, it's never good living in the past and I'm not about to do that...but I've completely forgotten what a fundamentally sound basketball team looks like.
So where does Utah go from here? Well they're probably going to pick up a victory against Albany and then start the conference season with a loss to UNLV. A probable home victory over TCU and a probable road loss to CSU would mean the Utes should be looking at a 1-2 start. After that, it doesn't get much easier. A road game against New Mexico will be a sure loss, a home game against Air Force will be unbearable to watch and a home game against Wyoming can go either way. After that, Utah would be lucky to split against SDSU and BYU, though I could see a total sweep.
Realistically, as the first half of the conference season comes to a close, the Utes will most likely be sitting at 2-6 and 8-13 on the season.
I guess the only suspense left in this season is whether Giacoletti is let go during it, or at the end of it. I truly hope it happens the day aftr Christmas, that would be a truly great Christmas gift, even if it's a day late.