For years I've been a fringe baseball fan. I love going to the Bees games and taking in all of the sights, smells and sounds of a summer evening game. The crack of a bat, the chatter of the crowd, the popcorn, peanuts, the drunken stupor of the guy next to you. I love all of it. I love the tradition of the 7th inning stretch and signing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." I really enjoy walking into a ball park and feeling like you are stepping into tradition and history. It's not something you get with football or basketball on any level. But baseball oozes such feelings on almost every level. I don't mean the hyper competitive little league where parents are yelling at the umps or even heckling the other 10 year old kids, which is a major problem in all sports. I really mean the old ball fields that feel like you could watch your dad holding his dad's hand walking into park pointing at the sights and explaining the game to his boy. Baseball has that feeling, for good and bad, of always looking into it's history. Even the new parks, with all the entertainment options and new architecture, feel nostalgic. Mostly anyway, I haven't been to the Disney park that house the Los Angeles of Anaheim of California in the southern part of the state below Hollywood but not quite to Chino Angels, but I hear even with all the extra stuff they have, it's a great field.
I recently flew over Chicago and it made me smile to see all this foriegn land where large buildings were seemingly sticking up out of the earth like the crystals in Superman's Fortress of Solitude, and dotting the landscape were the beautiful diamond shapes that told me there were children here who were laughing and having a good time with their teammates who would become life long friends.
Baseball means history changing events. This week a movie is hitting the theaters about a few men who changed the history of sports and hopefully the history of mankind. 42 is the story of Jackie Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers. For those of you with no historical sense of greatness, it was April 15th 1947 and Jackie Robinson was the first man to break the color barrier in all professional sports. This was more than 20 years before the Titans in Virginia. If you get nothing out of this Baseball love fest of mine, get this: Jackie Robinson is a national hero and you should see this movie for it's historical significance alone. Or at least read as much as you can on it.
I say fringe though because as a Mariners fan it's hard to watch sometimes. What I mean is that I walked into a sports apparel store wearing a Mariners cap and a Seahawks shirt and a random man there asked if I was married and after my positive response, he said "Your wife must really love you." I said "Thanks, but why do you say that?" "Because she knows you are loyal." The Mariners have dashed my hopes more often than Michael Jordan. Not as bad mind you, but more often.
In fact, I don't like the structure of the league very much at all. Don't get me wrong, I love the dynamic between the NL and AL with the DH. But what I really don't like is the lack of disparity among the league. Honestly, how bad is Kansas City? And did you know that the Pittsburgh Pirates are in fact a Major League team? (sorry David, I had to mention it). Miami and Tampa Bay both have Major League teams, though the people there don't yet realize it. This league is not set up as a league to succeed. It's succeeds despite that fact. It is truly set up for the rich to get richer and the poor to suffer longer. The Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers now, are set up to buy their way into the World Series and more often than not, it works. In a perfect world, the league would work together to make sure that the playing field was level. I love the theory of Money Ball and how it works to not ever over pay for a statistic, but also not fall in love with a "5 tool" guy who has never won. All in all, I love the game but not really the league.
Now I've been going to Jazz games my whole life and I love them. I've sat everywhere from the 7th row all the up to the last row and loved every second of all of it. I love the modern feeling of the arena. I also have been going to college football games for as long as I can remember and I've been to quite a few stadiums and even some old ones. They are great fun places to be and watch football, but none of them offer that same feeling of ease and nostalgia that Spring Mobile ball park gives. It's not the park either, it's baseball. Why do you think three quarters of all the good sports movies are about baseball? It's because of the feelings that it spurs in all of us with a heart.
Recently I had the opportunity to go and watch the Mariners play the White Sox in Chicago. I took the hour long train ride from my hotel to U.S. Cellular field. I walked in by myself, an outsider in an unknown land. I had even forgotten my hat at home and because of my Scandinavian heritage, I had to buy the hat of the enemy (not my first White Sox hat though). The clouds were grey and ominous. I sat in my seat as to not draw attention to myself and curled up to keep myself warm. The first pitch was thrown by a 9 year old girl who was representing the girl scouts and she tossed that sucker dead on over the plate into the catchers mitt. The crowd really cheered for first time. The wind settled down a bit and the White Sox took the field to the first rays of sun I'd seen all day. My shoulders relaxed, my senses opened up to the baseball atmosphere that surrounded me. An old man was sitting next to me and we started to chat while we watched the game. He grew up on the north side of Chicago. Three up, three down for the Mariners. He was an usher for the Blackhawks and Cubs while earning his doctorate. He had worked at all the major sporting arena's in Chicago. This man was a treasure trove of information. Felix Hernandez started blowing batters away as I quietly cheered to myself. I asked him about Wrigley field and he told me it felt like home to him and he hoped the don't lose the nostalgia when they remodel. Felix retired the side in order. We talked of baseball fields across the country and his love of the great game. Top of the 2nd, Raul Ibanez is on second when Jeff Keppinger reaches on a fielding error (worst stat in all of sports) Mariner's up 1-0. The guys behind us who are season ticket holders begin talking to us about the man's incredible history and start picking his brain just as I was. Bottom of the forth the Sox finally get a hit off King Felix. He talks about the legacy of a place like Wrigley Field or Fenway Park and how places like these should be held in great honor. Also of how architects shouldn't be allowed to touch a baseball field unless they know baseball. He references my now known teams foul pole debacle. When Safeco Field was built, the architect put the poles in foul territory, in contrast to the rest of the world where they are actually in fair territory. Bottom of the fifth, White Sox Hector Gimenez sac fly to center allows Conor Gillaspie to score. 1-1. A breeze blows in and it becomes a little chilly again. We start talking of all the cold weather games we'd been involved with. Me talking about Utah vs BYU, Boise State at BYU etc. and the guys behind us talk about a Blackhawks game they went to at Soldier Field. The old man decides to let us feel special for only a moment before telling us of a Notre Dame game he ushered for where the bleachers had iced over the night before and they couldn't chip it off fast enough because of the snow still falling. It still sold out and the Irish won. Bottom of the sixth Alex Rios hits a two run shot shot out of left field. White Sox 3-1. The older gentleman decides to leave us at this point to find some nachos in a baseball cap. Literally $12 of food over flowing from a plastic White Sox helmet. Awesome. The other guys and I continue to talk sports, and Chicago. They are both in the 200 club. Which means they've been to over 200 White Sox games. They tell of places to go and see in Chicago. I have to go see the bean. During the 7th inning stretch all the fans, and I do mean all the fans stand and sing at the top of their lungs. "Root, root root for the WHITE SOX!!" By the way, shame on you Bees fans. I know you are one of the best selling tickets in the AAA, but small traditions like this get more mocked than anything sometime. Bottom of the 7th, sac fly allows Conor Gillaspie to score again. White Sox 4-1. I have to go check out the bar on the 96th floor of the Hancock building. It over looks the whole city and gives a view of the most amazing sunset you'll ever see. They had decided they'd seen enough of the 17th row on the 3rd base line. We moved down to three empty seats on the sixth row, right behind the dugout. Top of the 8th with a man on and no outs, Michael Saunders homers over the left field wall. 4-3 White Sox. We start talking Bulls and how I laughed while watching the Nets and Bulls two nights prior because with Boozer screaming "AND ONE!!" and Deron scowling at everyone and shooting threes whenever he wants to, I felt like I was watching a Jazz scrimmage form 4 years ago. Top of the 9th, two outs and a man on first, White Sox still leading by 1 the crowd gets up on their feet and starts cheering on their young closer Addison Reed. He blows by the batter with his first two pitches making it an 0-2 count. The third pitch goes a wee awry and the count gets up to 1-2. The next pitch was fouled back into the crowd. Still 1-2. 96 MPH fastball right down the gullet leaves the Mariners waving goodbye. I say goodbye to my new comrades, they console my loss while cheering their win. I walk up the stairs and leave the park. As I do so, the clouds start coming back out and cover the sun and the wind picks up a little bit more. By the time my train ride was over, the rain had begun to pour down. Nothing could ruin this perfect day for me.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
I'm back... again
Hello all you faithful and awesome followers!! I know you've missed me and I've missed doing this so I'm back to give my schpiel on sports as we know it. Here is a quick rundown of everything that has happened in my biased sports world since my last post.
Utah football: one meh year with Norm Chow (now the HC at Hawaii) was attempting some weird combo of the spread and west coast offenses and one abysmal year under the youngest offensive coordinator I've ever even heard of (I mean really? BJ was the QB for the team in 2008) and where even the defense looked lost most of the time. Throwing up seemed a more pleasurable experience than watching the garbage that was displayed by the Utes. In fact, every coach but one that the Utes beat in the Pac-12 has got fired over the last two years. And the Mike Leach experiment in Pullman is yet to be decided. That is how bad the were. However, in the off season, they finally made a solid choice (hopefully) in offensive coaches. Bryan Johnson is still the co-coordinate, but they brought in Dennis Erickson (yes that Dennis Erickson, of the Miami two time national championship and leaving to coach the Seahawks) to help him along. They have narrowed the offense from a non functional "multi" scheme mess to a fast paced spread offense. Erickson has been quoted in saying he wants at least 80 offensive plays a game. The Utes averaged under 65 last year. So that's a huge jump. That's Oregon like numbers. Hopefully they can hit it and Travis Wilson proves he is a bigger man than Jordan Wynn was.
Running Utes Basketball: New coach, same results... so far. They did go nuts and beat two teams in the conference tourney this year and show some major promise. But I seem to remember saying something like that in 2004...
Seahawks: The Pete Carrol thing is going much better than I originally thought. They have drafted well and attacked the free agent market this year and are a favorite to come out of the NFC West, even with the 49ers Super Bowl loss.
The Utah Spazz, I mean Jazz. They look great against the mid range teams and have even learned to beat the lower level teams. But they seem star struck whenever they see a really athletic and disciplined team. They are currently in the 9th spot in the west with seven games left and 1/2 game out of the 8th spot. Honestly it doesn't look good to make the playoffs and even if they do, they'll be playing the Spurs again. Yikes. If they re-sign Big Al Jefferson, the biggest defensive liability I've seen since, well Boozer, I'm becoming a Sonics fan again. Even though they may not even have a team next year, I'll just wear my old green and gold and wait.
The Mariner's. They look solid. they are a grand 2-0 this year and I am super excited about the next 400 or so games they play in a season. On a side note, I may actually be becoming more of a White Sox fan than I have before. Those who've known me for a long time know that I've quietly sported the gear since I was 14, but now I'm actually starting to follow them a bit.
All in all, I'm back. Back again. Look who's back.
Utah football: one meh year with Norm Chow (now the HC at Hawaii) was attempting some weird combo of the spread and west coast offenses and one abysmal year under the youngest offensive coordinator I've ever even heard of (I mean really? BJ was the QB for the team in 2008) and where even the defense looked lost most of the time. Throwing up seemed a more pleasurable experience than watching the garbage that was displayed by the Utes. In fact, every coach but one that the Utes beat in the Pac-12 has got fired over the last two years. And the Mike Leach experiment in Pullman is yet to be decided. That is how bad the were. However, in the off season, they finally made a solid choice (hopefully) in offensive coaches. Bryan Johnson is still the co-coordinate, but they brought in Dennis Erickson (yes that Dennis Erickson, of the Miami two time national championship and leaving to coach the Seahawks) to help him along. They have narrowed the offense from a non functional "multi" scheme mess to a fast paced spread offense. Erickson has been quoted in saying he wants at least 80 offensive plays a game. The Utes averaged under 65 last year. So that's a huge jump. That's Oregon like numbers. Hopefully they can hit it and Travis Wilson proves he is a bigger man than Jordan Wynn was.
Running Utes Basketball: New coach, same results... so far. They did go nuts and beat two teams in the conference tourney this year and show some major promise. But I seem to remember saying something like that in 2004...
Seahawks: The Pete Carrol thing is going much better than I originally thought. They have drafted well and attacked the free agent market this year and are a favorite to come out of the NFC West, even with the 49ers Super Bowl loss.
The Utah Spazz, I mean Jazz. They look great against the mid range teams and have even learned to beat the lower level teams. But they seem star struck whenever they see a really athletic and disciplined team. They are currently in the 9th spot in the west with seven games left and 1/2 game out of the 8th spot. Honestly it doesn't look good to make the playoffs and even if they do, they'll be playing the Spurs again. Yikes. If they re-sign Big Al Jefferson, the biggest defensive liability I've seen since, well Boozer, I'm becoming a Sonics fan again. Even though they may not even have a team next year, I'll just wear my old green and gold and wait.
The Mariner's. They look solid. they are a grand 2-0 this year and I am super excited about the next 400 or so games they play in a season. On a side note, I may actually be becoming more of a White Sox fan than I have before. Those who've known me for a long time know that I've quietly sported the gear since I was 14, but now I'm actually starting to follow them a bit.
All in all, I'm back. Back again. Look who's back.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
What a Wynn!
Sure, the week after I blast Jordan Wynn for the first time he actually shows he can still play. He played better tonight than he has since his freshman year. How did he go from lofting balls across a ten yard space that were in the air for what seemed like ten minutes to zipping the ball into double coverage and completing those passes? Where has this guy been? Was he holding back in the first two games because he knew BYU was coming? Was he perfect though? Not really, he lead some of his WR's into some massive hits. In fact, I don't think DeVonte Christopher knows his own name right now. Plus, on two occasions, if BYU DB's could catch, they would have turned the ball over on gimme interceptions. However, he played really well tonight and it was wonderful that it came against BYU.
Speaking of holding back, when did the O-line learn to block? It was amazing to see Jordan sitting back in the pocket with all the time in the world. I think one of the major changes was bringing Vakapuna in more. He seems to know the blocking schemes better than White IV. That blitz pick up in the third quarter to let Wynn toss the ball to Anderson for that 56 yard run was amazing.
Speaking of that, thank you Norm Chow for changing your offense enough to allow Wynn to get comfortable. A lot of shotgun plays and 5 step drops rather than the 3 step drops he was having issues with last week. As well as moving the pocket a bit more than usual for a Chow coached offense.
The Defense though. These guys are all ball hawks. All of them fly to the ball to tip, pick, hit, put a helmet on it, pull, push, anything to get the ball back. It's amazing. It may be the most opportunistic defense I've ever seen at Utah. The bend but not break thing looks to me to be bend until we take it philosophy.
Were the Utes perfect tonight though? Not even close. Utah had 29 yards rushing in the entire first half. That is unacceptable. They did fix it though with a dominating second half where Utah's O-line was blowing holes in the defense so big you could drive Miss Daisy through it. I would love to see more Harvey Langi inserted with Vakapuna and White IV. Make it a three headed monster. Also, while I am dreaming big, I might as well ask for sooner take aways so the defense doesn't look like they are getting pushed into the endzone. But this bodes well for the rest of the year.
If Utah plays the way they played tonight, I don't see anyone in the South beating them. The Pac-12 South is Utah's to lose right now. IF they can keep up what they have been doing, 10 take aways in 2 games in an amazing stat and needs to be relished and continued for them to be really successful. I'll see up close and personal on OCT 1 against Udub, so I'll be more able to tell you then. But I am really looking forward to that game and seeing the Utes dismantle another former Coug in Sark (who I really like and route for unless they are playing Utah or WSU, just like I route for BYU unless they are playing Utah or WSU).
Also, I am going to get back into my routine of last year where I would post predictions and thought on Thursday nights (hopefully before those games) and it looks like this week could be interesting for another conference re-alignment craze. Pitt and 'Cuse just applied to the ACC in what looks like could be the death of the Big East unless they take some of the Big 12 schools that would be left in the wake. I'll get more into this later, but I really hope that the SEC remains at 14 schools and the Big 12 rebounds by getting BYU, Air Force and TCU to join them and the Big East stays together as well. I love regional sports with the occasional travel game in the regular season.
All in all though, what a great night to be a UTE!
Speaking of holding back, when did the O-line learn to block? It was amazing to see Jordan sitting back in the pocket with all the time in the world. I think one of the major changes was bringing Vakapuna in more. He seems to know the blocking schemes better than White IV. That blitz pick up in the third quarter to let Wynn toss the ball to Anderson for that 56 yard run was amazing.
Speaking of that, thank you Norm Chow for changing your offense enough to allow Wynn to get comfortable. A lot of shotgun plays and 5 step drops rather than the 3 step drops he was having issues with last week. As well as moving the pocket a bit more than usual for a Chow coached offense.
The Defense though. These guys are all ball hawks. All of them fly to the ball to tip, pick, hit, put a helmet on it, pull, push, anything to get the ball back. It's amazing. It may be the most opportunistic defense I've ever seen at Utah. The bend but not break thing looks to me to be bend until we take it philosophy.
Were the Utes perfect tonight though? Not even close. Utah had 29 yards rushing in the entire first half. That is unacceptable. They did fix it though with a dominating second half where Utah's O-line was blowing holes in the defense so big you could drive Miss Daisy through it. I would love to see more Harvey Langi inserted with Vakapuna and White IV. Make it a three headed monster. Also, while I am dreaming big, I might as well ask for sooner take aways so the defense doesn't look like they are getting pushed into the endzone. But this bodes well for the rest of the year.
If Utah plays the way they played tonight, I don't see anyone in the South beating them. The Pac-12 South is Utah's to lose right now. IF they can keep up what they have been doing, 10 take aways in 2 games in an amazing stat and needs to be relished and continued for them to be really successful. I'll see up close and personal on OCT 1 against Udub, so I'll be more able to tell you then. But I am really looking forward to that game and seeing the Utes dismantle another former Coug in Sark (who I really like and route for unless they are playing Utah or WSU, just like I route for BYU unless they are playing Utah or WSU).
Also, I am going to get back into my routine of last year where I would post predictions and thought on Thursday nights (hopefully before those games) and it looks like this week could be interesting for another conference re-alignment craze. Pitt and 'Cuse just applied to the ACC in what looks like could be the death of the Big East unless they take some of the Big 12 schools that would be left in the wake. I'll get more into this later, but I really hope that the SEC remains at 14 schools and the Big 12 rebounds by getting BYU, Air Force and TCU to join them and the Big East stays together as well. I love regional sports with the occasional travel game in the regular season.
All in all though, what a great night to be a UTE!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Utah Falls Short
Utah fails to capitalize on 3 USC turnovers and falls to the Trojans 17-14. The biggest hit came on the final play when John Cullen got blown up by a USC lineman (again) and a 41 yard field goal attempt by Utah was blocked and ran back for a touchdown that was called off because of an unsportsmanlike conduct call on the USC bench (long enough sentence for you?).
A lot of people will talk about how competitive Utah looked and the how they fought to the end blah blah blah. What should be talked about is how will Utah over come the 2 glaring flaws on the team. The Offensive line is not only bad, but it makes swiss cheese look like a better choice. Even worse than that, Jordan Wynn looks really bad. I mean really, really bad.
I'm not a QB coach nor could I be, but almost everything I have seen from him this season looks wrong. I don't know if his shoulder hasn't rehabbed correctly so his shoulder no longer rotates right (see my dad's shoulder injury) or what else could be wrong. I'll tell you though, that side arm delivery is a new thing that developed at the end of the season last year after his injury. It's what get the ball knocked down at the line of scrimmage. It's what floats the ball to the receivers. It's what takes the any zip out of the ball. Zip? What am I talking about? I've seen 4 year old's throw a ball with more power.
His 3 step drops don't look right either. He steps back 2 and 1/2 steps and tries to launch the ball off his back foot. What should happen is he takes 3 steps back and than throws it, not on his 3rd step. The best throws were when he was either in the shotgun or a 5 step drop (only if he had time). Wynn had no time to make any good decisions and couldn't make the quick throws that were needed when USC blitzed.
When he got any kind of pressure he would spin, turning his back to the play and not looking downfield. You can't do that and expect to know where everyone is on the field. That was very evident as well and USC started blitzing because of it.
Also, every deep throw was under thrown and at least 4 times the balls that were caught could have been bigger plays if they were on target. Particularly on that last drive. Twice he over threw the wideout and on one of those plays the WR dove out and caught the ball with no one within 20 yards of him. The second one was so over thrown that the diving attempt by the wide open WR was still not good enough. If he is 100% healthy, he is having the same mental block that you see some catchers do where they can no longer throw the ball back to the pitcher. If he's not, it may be time to move onto the back up.
I also want to blame this on the O-line. I haven't seen a Utah team with only 82 yards rushing for a long time. This Utah O-line has done it 3 times in the last two years. Aside from Tony Bergstrom, this line looks like Carlos Boozer on defense. John Cullen, the LT looks good but makes too many mistakes. Most of the sacks came against him, or the LG on that side as well. Plus his play on that field goal attempt was ridiculous. He is suppose to be this strong thug of a man and got stood straight up and walked back into the kicking lane. It was absurd and shouldn't have happened. I don't care who or what is pushing against you, your job is to not let him do that. They only time I've ever seen anything like that is when Bingham had a DT who picked up a guard and threw him at the QB. The DT was 6'4" 335 lbs and the OG looked like he was 5'5" and 185 lbs. John Cullen is HUGE. 6'5" and 300 lbs. It is not OK that Utah's best option at LT is getting thrown around like that.
The defense of Utah looks pretty good right now, but not great. The bend but not break philosophy works well for them but they bent a LOT. It seems as though they got a lot of breaks by the turnovers, but they were great plays by the defenders, not mistakes by the offense of USC. In fact, Utah could have and should have had 2 more INT's. One could have even been a pick 6 and would have changed the game from the get go. I do feel bad for them though because the offense put them in bad spots every time.
I don't want to get on the Norm Chow head hunt band wagon... yet. But I will say this, why not call plays that work? I saw 2 run plays work really well for Utah and they never called them again. The toss sweep worked really well to the left side and the stretch play worked really well to the right. Every other run I saw was either off tackle or A gap and it just wasn't working. It almost looks like Norm Chow doesn't have the faith in his athletes to call the outside plays.
I didn't watch the BYU game enough to break anything down. From what I've heard, Brandon Doman called a pretty conservative game plan in the second half. Even running the ball on a crucial 3rd and 8. Hopefully for Y fans, Jake Heaps can learn to put the ball in the end zone sooner than later. I just hope it doesn't happen next week.
Go Utes!
A lot of people will talk about how competitive Utah looked and the how they fought to the end blah blah blah. What should be talked about is how will Utah over come the 2 glaring flaws on the team. The Offensive line is not only bad, but it makes swiss cheese look like a better choice. Even worse than that, Jordan Wynn looks really bad. I mean really, really bad.
I'm not a QB coach nor could I be, but almost everything I have seen from him this season looks wrong. I don't know if his shoulder hasn't rehabbed correctly so his shoulder no longer rotates right (see my dad's shoulder injury) or what else could be wrong. I'll tell you though, that side arm delivery is a new thing that developed at the end of the season last year after his injury. It's what get the ball knocked down at the line of scrimmage. It's what floats the ball to the receivers. It's what takes the any zip out of the ball. Zip? What am I talking about? I've seen 4 year old's throw a ball with more power.
His 3 step drops don't look right either. He steps back 2 and 1/2 steps and tries to launch the ball off his back foot. What should happen is he takes 3 steps back and than throws it, not on his 3rd step. The best throws were when he was either in the shotgun or a 5 step drop (only if he had time). Wynn had no time to make any good decisions and couldn't make the quick throws that were needed when USC blitzed.
When he got any kind of pressure he would spin, turning his back to the play and not looking downfield. You can't do that and expect to know where everyone is on the field. That was very evident as well and USC started blitzing because of it.
Also, every deep throw was under thrown and at least 4 times the balls that were caught could have been bigger plays if they were on target. Particularly on that last drive. Twice he over threw the wideout and on one of those plays the WR dove out and caught the ball with no one within 20 yards of him. The second one was so over thrown that the diving attempt by the wide open WR was still not good enough. If he is 100% healthy, he is having the same mental block that you see some catchers do where they can no longer throw the ball back to the pitcher. If he's not, it may be time to move onto the back up.
I also want to blame this on the O-line. I haven't seen a Utah team with only 82 yards rushing for a long time. This Utah O-line has done it 3 times in the last two years. Aside from Tony Bergstrom, this line looks like Carlos Boozer on defense. John Cullen, the LT looks good but makes too many mistakes. Most of the sacks came against him, or the LG on that side as well. Plus his play on that field goal attempt was ridiculous. He is suppose to be this strong thug of a man and got stood straight up and walked back into the kicking lane. It was absurd and shouldn't have happened. I don't care who or what is pushing against you, your job is to not let him do that. They only time I've ever seen anything like that is when Bingham had a DT who picked up a guard and threw him at the QB. The DT was 6'4" 335 lbs and the OG looked like he was 5'5" and 185 lbs. John Cullen is HUGE. 6'5" and 300 lbs. It is not OK that Utah's best option at LT is getting thrown around like that.
The defense of Utah looks pretty good right now, but not great. The bend but not break philosophy works well for them but they bent a LOT. It seems as though they got a lot of breaks by the turnovers, but they were great plays by the defenders, not mistakes by the offense of USC. In fact, Utah could have and should have had 2 more INT's. One could have even been a pick 6 and would have changed the game from the get go. I do feel bad for them though because the offense put them in bad spots every time.
I don't want to get on the Norm Chow head hunt band wagon... yet. But I will say this, why not call plays that work? I saw 2 run plays work really well for Utah and they never called them again. The toss sweep worked really well to the left side and the stretch play worked really well to the right. Every other run I saw was either off tackle or A gap and it just wasn't working. It almost looks like Norm Chow doesn't have the faith in his athletes to call the outside plays.
I didn't watch the BYU game enough to break anything down. From what I've heard, Brandon Doman called a pretty conservative game plan in the second half. Even running the ball on a crucial 3rd and 8. Hopefully for Y fans, Jake Heaps can learn to put the ball in the end zone sooner than later. I just hope it doesn't happen next week.
Go Utes!
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