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A rose, a thorn and a bud are common analogies used to describe what was good, what was bad and what you’re looking forward to. This applies to our 2-2 Utes who are seeking their first PAC-12 win of the 2018 college football season. Utah has beaten their write in wins but now faces a daunting conference schedule already down 0-2 and a great chance to start off 0-3. There is some light ahead as the Utes are starting to discover their offensive identity and the PAC-12 south division has been an extremely weak division in P5 football. We will start with the thorn just to get the negative feelings out of the way first.
Thorn:
The Utah
offense. You really thought it was going
to be something else? The Ute’s offense
has been overkilled by countless media members and fans in the last decade so I
won’t be trying to kill a dead horse here.
However, the offense so far, this year has only produced 10 touchdowns
in 4 games which is only 2.5 per game.
Drops and fumbles have plagued this receiving core who ended fall camp
with tons of hype and they do have the talent but it is just a much longer and
slower process then fans anticipated.
Zack Moss has been his usual tank self even with an ankle injury where
he doesn’t seem as explosive he is still averaging 5.2 yards a carry,
establishing the run game and luring the defenses to stuffing the box and
exposing them with quick passes would be my choice of an identity for the Utes. The offensive line still has had growing
pains, (NIU and Washington St. just in case you forgot.) This unit still has
room to grow and they could be a lot worse.
Having center Lo Falemaka on the injured list won’t help this unit but they
will improve as the season goes on. This
offense will be as good as this line can keep them going.
Rose:
Surprise,
surprise the defense has been by far the biggest positive from this team this
year. The defensive line in my opinion
doesn’t have “that guy” but they are an extremely effective unit and are on
their way to claiming their spot among the many elite defensive lines in school
history. Mika Tafua has been outstanding
in his freshman year, Bradlee Anae is his usual self and the interior lineman
John Penisini and Leki Fotu have been extremely effective in clogging up the
middle. Once Fotu came in to the second
half against Washington St, you could immediately see his impact on the
defense. Cody Barton has taken massive
strides forward starting from the end of last year and Chase Hansen is Chase
freaking Hansen. This line backing group
along with Donovan Thompson could give that 2015 group of Norris and Paul a run
for their money. They are smart,
effective tacklers and we have yet to see a game where the linebackers aren’t
the strongest unit on defense. The
secondary has been strong once again and even though they had a rough game
against Mike Leach’s air raid offense they did enough to win the game in
limiting Washington St. to 28 points.
I’d like to see more interceptions but the corners and safeties have all
done their job so far. Julian Blackmon,
Jaylon Johnson and Javelin Guidry are living up to their hype and are holding
opposing receivers to a completion percentage of 50.4%. Corion Ballard had a rough Washington St.
game but he did come up with that huge interception in the first quarter and
he’s been a reliable center fielder for the Utes. I’m extremely relieved to see Marquise Blair
looks to be fully recovered from his torn ACL last year. He is a human missile and his versatility has
been a huge strength and puts opponents on their toes. Overall, we have an elite defense in 2018 and
as long as they do their part this team has a chance to win every game.
Bud:
What I’m
looking forward to is a matchup against Stanford that should be much easier
compared to going against an elite Washington team as well as the Mike Leach
air raid which is always a tough matchup for this team. Especially with Stanford giving up large amounts
of rushing yards in recent games and with Bryce Love’s status up in the air,
the Utes have a good chance at returning from Palo Alto with a W. In addition, this is a weak south this year
and if Utah can run the table against their southern opponents we could be
looking at the possibility of playing at Levi’s Stadium after the BYU
game. I don’t want to get ahead of
myself but if the offense can keep taking the steps forward and this defense
continues to be elite I can’t see a reason why Utah can’t compete this
year. Not all is lost and we need to
support this team through the rough patches, it will make the joy of victory
even sweeter.
