Depressing

Well, that didn't go well. I am tired of seeing an ineffective offense when playing anyone with real defensive skill. The Utah defense should be tired of seeing an ineffective offense. Kyle Wittingham, most of all, should be sick of seeing it. Ever since he has been the head coach, Utah has had mediocre offense saved by talented players. They have continuously had great offensive lines, receivers and Brian Johnson, not to mention the fantastic RBs. Andy Ludwig coached the option read wrong in my opinion and this duel offensive coordinator thing with Aaron Roderick calling the plays isn't working. The other guy didn't work last year either. They need someone with experience calling the plays going into the Pac-12.

I would love to see a guy like Detmer come in and call the plays in Utah. Again, the west coast offense would work really well with Jordan Wynn. Man, if you want to run what I call the Utah Spread (Urban Meyer's offense with a good RB) than bring in Mike Sanford. He has currently taken a Louisville offense and moved them from a 90th ranking to 30th this year. Bring him back out west. You are in the Pac-12 now, I know you don't see the money yet, but you can't afford to sit on what you have. Speaking of Louisville, why not Steve Kragthorpe? It's a Pac-12 OC job. A big name like that could bring splash to a program in the flux. Success at Utah could get Kragthorpe mentioned for another head coaching job. It's win-win.

Here is what I would like to see. I don't care if it's under center, shotgun, pistol or a new thing, but I'd like to see a consistent, multi-faceted running game that is not limited to one style (power read). Added to that a good play action QB who can pass the ball well (read Andy Dalton type). I think Jordan Wynn could fit that role, in a good scheme. Than grab some athletic wideouts and you have a winning combo on offense.

BYU is doing the right thing here, even though I think it's kind of cheesy the way they are doing it (you are being evaluated right now, so it's a good idea to start looking elsewhere). But they are looking for a fresh start from an inconstant offense that has clock management issues, not to mention position management issues, to something knew. It's a chance they have to take. It's a chance Utah should take.

In regards to the bowl game, I have to first say kudos to the defense! They played their guts out! Great job guys. Secondly, good job Boise State for sticking with what got them there and not panicking when it looked bad. Other than that, Utah should fire their offensive staff and start from scratch, as a Pac-12 team.

Vegas Bowl

I know it's late in coming, but here it is. My breakdown of the Vegas Bowl. Normally, even with Utah being a 17 point underdog, I would tell you why I think the mass media is dead wrong and Utah is going to win big. I'm not sure it's going that way this year, but don't count out the UTES! First of all, you have to look at this year. What has happened? Boise beat Va Tech in Washington DC this year and than Va Tech went on to lose to an FCS team (meaning Weber State quality). However, Virginia Tech hasn't lost since and won out in the ACC finishing 10-2 and going to a BCS bowl. And then Boise State went out and rolled through the WAC until they got to Nevada. Nevada beat them in overtime on the 2nd missed field goal of the game by BSU. Utah went on a tear at the beginning of the year starting 8-0 and in the top 10 of both defense and offensive scoring. Jordan Wynn hurt his shoulder in the Iowa State game, a fact they covered up until after the season, and they changed their offense. They beat Air Force not playing well and running way to much and ran into the buzz-saw that I call TCU. Then they lost to Notre Dame by playing their worst game of the season and went on to finish 10-2.

Also, if there was an Achilles Heel to the defense this year is the pass defense. Even though they held TCU and San Diego State to the lowest run totals of the season, both teams threw all over the field on them. If Boise State has one Achilles Heel to their offense, it's staying to committed to the run when it isn't working. You saw that against Virginia Tech and Nevada. So that plays into the Utes hands, however, if they decide they can pick apart Utah's defense by short passes and deep throws, they will be hellish to stop.

So this is going to come down to coaching, and my money on coaching for a bowl game is going with Kyle Wittingham. Utah is 9-0 since 1999 and Boise State is 6-4 in the only 10 games they have played in. BSU's record is kind of a misnomer since they last 5 games they are 2-3. Again that's miss leading because they lost all 3 of those games by a combined 10 points. So who knows what that even means.

The biggest thing with these two teams is that BSU is coming off a loss (Utah State doesn't count) and Utah is coming in with attitude. Here is my hope, they understand their weaknesses and learn from them and surprise BSU and beat them with the physicality. Here is my fear, Utah doesn't understand what they are up against and Chris Peterson abandons the run after the first quarter and blows Utah out of the water by throwing for 500+ yards and scoring 55 points. My predictions for the game, BSU 21-18. And I will cry in my geek soup tonight.

Coaching Changes

Some old and new changes that could and will change the face of football here in Utah have happened. Let's start with some of the old. Miami and Florida both went looking for new head coaches and found them in an up and coming, Urban Meyer-esk Al Golden and Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Golden comes from turning Temple from winning 22% of their games in 30 years to 9-4 in 2009 and 8-5 in 2010. Can they become Golden's Hurricanes? Will 9-4 be good enough? In Florida they are going for a mindset change, kind of. Urban Meyer is known for his offense and scoring, but if you go back to 2004 in Utah, his most successful teams have all won from the defense setting up the offense. However, Texas is known for their defense and that all came form Will Muschamp. He will bring the hard hitting attitude that some of these speed demons on the Gator defense need. How does this affect football in Utah? It doesn't. It could have, but it doesn't. The original rumor was Dan Mullen to Florida, but who would have went to Miss St? You know the top 2 names would have been Kyle Wittingham and Gary Patterson. But that's all water under the bridge now. It didn't happen and we have another year to breath.

The things that will change the face of football here in Utah is what BYU just announced. Well, not announced, but leaked. Robert Anai is out as OC and the entire offensive staff has been let go and are free to reapply for whatever position they choose. I have a friend who has a friend who knows somebody (c'mon, it's about BYU so he probably heard it from his wife in Relief Society, those girls know everything that's going on everywhere) that told him that Brandon Doman is going to be the new OC and Ty Detmer would be the new QB coach. Can you imagine Detmer coaching Jake Heaps?! Talk about 3 years of brilliance. There is one catch though, Doman as the OC over Detmer? I'm sorry, as a BYU observer and not a fan, I really hope it's the other way around. I have been reading posts about some BYU fan's saying they wouldn't be comfortable with Detmer being an OC. What's his coaching back round? REALLY?! His last 8 years in the NFL as a player was really just coaching. It was either Andy Reid or Mike Holmgren that said he was invaluable on their staff as a QB coach when he was a player. He is a high school head coach right now. What experience does Brandon Doman have? He has been BYU's QB coach for 5 years and was a drug rep before that. For experience, I'd go with Detmer. Plus, can you imagine a younger, more spread out version of the Chow offense run by those young freaks at BYU? Man, that would be scary for an opposing DC.

With all that said, either way, I think they are better off. Both QB's played for, and said they like, a more traditional West Coast style offense. I would love to see Heaps hand off to Quezada on first down, play action pass down the field to Hoffman on 2nd down for a TD. I love it. Man, I wish Utah would get with the program and maybe bring in Mike McCoy? I wonder what he's doing now? He was a QB coach for the Panther's for a few years in the same way Detmer was for Atlanta. In fact, when Atlanta went to the Super Bowl and beat the Panthers in the NFC Championship game, they were both listed as emergency QB's. Anyway, BYU will grow from this and get better, maybe on both sides of the ball.

Bowl Season

First I'd like to apologize for my lack of writing the past few weeks. I've been geeking out and I'll be better and more consistent.

Right now BYU is killing UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl. Not even very exciting to watch really. I am really impressed with this young BYU team and how they have changed this season. I also wonder why recruiting was so poor for a couple years. Not last year obviously, but what happened in between Max Hall and Jake Heaps? Think about it BYU fans, the future is bright because Jake Heaps (Freshman QB), Joshua Quezada (Freshman RB), and Cody Hoffman (Freshman WR) could end up being BYU's version of "The Triplets" from the '90's Cowboys team. All three have come on strong in BYU's resurgence and Heaps to Hoffman and a play action pass to Quezada could get very familiar over the next three years. What about the older guys though? Where did they go or why aren't they the quality of the younger ones? Let's hope that during BYU's independent foray that it's not a pattern that continues.

For the rest of the bowl games, I'll focus on the BCS and a few others. My main bowl, The Vegas Bowl, I will get into at a later date. I'll start at the granddaddy of them all. The Rose Bowl. Wisconsin vs. TCU. Kinda brings back memories of growing up and watching the Rose Bowl on New Years day and both these historic programs... wait, Wisconsin won the Big Ten (which will keep it's name with 12 teams)? TCU is going in place of a Pac-10 team? My pick is TCU, who I think is the best team in the country. Oregon may have a better offense, Auburn may have the Best pro player (if you get paid, you are a pro, not a student athlete), but TCU leads the country in almost every defensive category and is 9th in total offense. They are DAMN good. TCU by 12.

Fiesta Bowl, which should be a rematch between Oklahoma and Boise St. except the stupid BCS gave Uconn the bowl bid even though they didn't deserve it. Oklahoma by 21. At least.

Orange Bowl. Stanford vs. Virginia Tech. Both really good teams. However, my top 5 looks like this: 1. Oregon, 2. TCU , 3. Stanford, 4. Auburn, 5. Boise St. So, I think Stanford will prove that physical football can win in the west and the east. They will beat Va Tech by 10.

Arkansas and Ohio St. are playing in the Sugar Bowl. I honestly can't gauge either team here. The Big 10 was pretty good this year and the SEC was WAY down this year so is Arkansas really any good. Honestly, I'm going Ohio St. to buck the trend of the Big 10 losing to the SEC and win by 10.

For the Independence Bowl, I am taking Air Force to roll over Georgia Tech, proving that they are legit.

The New Era Pinstripe Bowl, All I'm going to say is Syracuse is back in a bowl game for the first time since Donavan McNabb was the QB there. So I really don't care, I just think it's cool that they are turning it around.

The Hyundai Sun Bowl pits Notre Dame vs. Miami. I honestly want ND to win so Utah looks better, but I hope Miami wins because growing up, I loved the Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson Miami teams. I don't know why, but I did. On a side note, I want to go through all the coaching changes that may happen and how it will effect Utah but I will do that on a different post.

In the Fight Hunger Bowl, Nevada is going to run all over Boston College. I honestly think this could be the "surprise" blow out of the year.

And finally, the "National Championship". Oregon against Auburn. Pac-10 vs. SEC. You've read my top 5. I think it will be a high scoring, close game until mid way through the 3rd quarter. Oregon has better coaches, and better players at almost every position and will pull away from the one man team of Auburn. I've seen Auburn a couple times this year and have not been impressed by the defense at all. The only reason they beat Miss St is the Miss St wideouts kept dropping balls. I watched 2 td's dropped and another pass that would have put them in field goal range in the 4th to tie it. I have seen a lot of Oregon games and the only time I thought anything bad about them is when they blew up Stanford in the 2nd half. The first half was dominated by Stanford's run game and Andrew Luck (Best QB in the country) beating them in the play-action pass. They fixed it at half time and destroyed the 3rd best team in the country. Oregon by 3 at the half, oregon by 24 at the end. Go DUCKS.

Post for Wynn

This explains a lot. If Jordan Wynn hasn't been healthy since Iowa State? That makes TONS of sense. That's when he started throwing the ball in the dirt, the offense got really conservative and wasn't able to throw the ball down field. Here is the article that I got it from. Now maybe all the Wynn haters will go away and realize it wasn't all his fault. I'm not absolving him of blame either, but I will excuse him a bit now. Also, I'm going to delve into the bowl match ups for both Utah and BYU in another post, but let's hope it's Nevada and NOT Boise State in the Vegas Bowl against Utah. It's the defense that worries me.