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!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
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!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Draft Quandary
Who do the Jazz take at 3? Who do the Jazz take at 12? Do they draft the 3rd pick with the 12th pick in mind? Or do you pick the "best available?" For that matter, who is the best available? In my opinion you follow what has historically worked for not only your franchise, but in the league for years. Let me back up and I'll get back to this in a moment.
I'm not going to give a Mock Draft here. They are all over the internet by people who know a lot more than me about these players. I'm going to say what I hope doesn't happen in this draft, but looks more and more like it will happen. It looks like the Jazz are going to be picking Brandon Knight at 3 and a front court player at 12. I have seen Centers, Power Forwards and Small Forwards all in that spot.
There is an idea in the NBA that scoring Point Guards win. I don't believe it because I've never seen it. Magic Johnson was an anomaly so I don't want to here about him in this argument. Isiah Thomas had to have the perfect defensive team built around him to win it in Detroit (Dennis Rodman again). Other than those two though, no PG has been the focal point of the teams offense and the "star" of the team and have it work. Let's go back a little.
If we go back 20 years, that puts us at MJ's first in 1991, but let's go back 5 years before to 1986 with the Celtic's last of that era. They beat the Houston Rocket's led by Hakeem Olajuwon with an aging team starring the one and only Larry Bird. After that, you have the Lakers led by Magic and Worthy, and than the Detroit Bad Boys with Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas (Rodman x2). After that is the Bulls for 6 of the next 8 and MJ was the leader with Scottie Pippen as the leaders of those teams (Rodman x3). The other 2 years, Hakeem's Rocket's.
Enter the post Jordan era in the NBA. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Sorry, I fell asleep again thinking about those early years. But here we go, Tim Duncan's Spurs in '99, '03, '05 and '07 (the only year when someone other than Duncan dominated that team). The Laker's winning 3 in a row with Shaq and Kobe starting in 2000 and going on to the Celtics, the Heat, the Pistons, more Lakers and on into this year with Dallas winning it. The Piston's were the only team dominated all year long by a point guard. His domination though is not the same as what some would have you believe. His domination was not in using up possessions in trying to score as much as he could, he dominated by setting up a good offensive scheme and taking the RIGHT shots. Before the pair of Piston guards, you have to go back to Dennis Johnson with Seattle in '79 before you find a team that won the NBA championship with a dominant PG. His contributions were also of a different nature than what is perceived today as a good or even great PG. His were the records that John Stockton broke, steals and assists.
So why is it that all these young PG's want to be the next Daron Williams? Why don't they want to be the next Stockton, Dennis Johnson, Steve Nash, Marc Jackson, or Gary Payton? Hell, if I was an up and coming PG, I'd settle for the next Steve Kerr. He was a five time NBA champion. 3 with the Jordan Bulls and 2 with the Duncan Spurs. I mean who can forget the story of Phil Jackson calling a play at the end of game 6 in the '97 finals and Jordan grabbing Kerr after the TO and saying "they are going to double me, be ready and hit the shot."
For that matter, why are organizations going after these guys with the shoot first mentality? Where has that gotten these PG's in the recent past? D-Will got the Western Conference finals once, Chris Paul has yet to get there. What about Ty Lawson? Not even that close. OK, the younger guys, look what happened to New Orleans this year when the Mavs crowded the passing lanes and confused Westbrook. What about in the east? Derrick Rose may be the one to buck my theory... eventually. But not yet. His team got beat when they faced a team that actually played defense.
I think that to win in the NBA you need 3 things. 1 guy in the middle to mess with the other teams psyche on either end of the court, a distributer in the back court to get the ball to the real playmakers and a dominating wing player. Take this years Mavericks. Dirk Couldn't win the whole thing until Tyson Chandler got there. Great defensive player who can score when needed. With Jason Terry on the wing to open the middle for Dirk and Jason Kidd feeding them the ball, winning combo. And don't tell me the Bulls lacked a middle man. Dennis Rodman is in my opinion one of the most under rated 4's in the history of the game. Steve Kerr once said that with the "worm" under the basket, who wouldn't shoot with confidence? If you missed, he just took the ball out of the air and gave you another shot. That's also why I don't think the Heat will win until they figure the down low issue out. They have 3 players that are all the same, wing players who love the mid range jumper. We can go the Celtics here with Garnet, Pierce and Allen (Rondo was huge here, as a passer). We can go Lakers with Fisher, Kobe and Gasol and before that Fisher, Shaq and Kobe. Go back and look, almost every PG that has won an NBA title has been the "oh yah, I forgot about him" guy on the team.
We here in Utah were spoiled by having the best prototypical PG in the history of the game in Stockton and we took what we had for granted. The issue the Jazz had was they never had that 3rd piece until it was almost to late. Plus they ran into the buzz saw that was 23. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but you even look at the teams that lost most of these finals. The teams that repeated all had the same combo. The teams that showed up one year just to go back to the obscurity that is the middle ground of the NBA are the teams that thought they could buck the system. I.E. The Nets (with a younger, Kidd and Harris), the 76ers (AI), I would place the Sonics here too, except they had Payton, Kemp and Schrempf. So they had the combo that worked, but when they got to the finals, they were awestruck by the Bulls and were completely out matched. I mean Gary Payton asked MJ for his auto graph after Game 1.
All in all, I guess I am saying that I think the Jazz are in for another D-Will type era if they draft another scoring PG and I'm not really looking forward to that. But I would love feedback to see what you think and who you think they should get.
I'm not going to give a Mock Draft here. They are all over the internet by people who know a lot more than me about these players. I'm going to say what I hope doesn't happen in this draft, but looks more and more like it will happen. It looks like the Jazz are going to be picking Brandon Knight at 3 and a front court player at 12. I have seen Centers, Power Forwards and Small Forwards all in that spot.
There is an idea in the NBA that scoring Point Guards win. I don't believe it because I've never seen it. Magic Johnson was an anomaly so I don't want to here about him in this argument. Isiah Thomas had to have the perfect defensive team built around him to win it in Detroit (Dennis Rodman again). Other than those two though, no PG has been the focal point of the teams offense and the "star" of the team and have it work. Let's go back a little.
If we go back 20 years, that puts us at MJ's first in 1991, but let's go back 5 years before to 1986 with the Celtic's last of that era. They beat the Houston Rocket's led by Hakeem Olajuwon with an aging team starring the one and only Larry Bird. After that, you have the Lakers led by Magic and Worthy, and than the Detroit Bad Boys with Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas (Rodman x2). After that is the Bulls for 6 of the next 8 and MJ was the leader with Scottie Pippen as the leaders of those teams (Rodman x3). The other 2 years, Hakeem's Rocket's.
Enter the post Jordan era in the NBA. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Sorry, I fell asleep again thinking about those early years. But here we go, Tim Duncan's Spurs in '99, '03, '05 and '07 (the only year when someone other than Duncan dominated that team). The Laker's winning 3 in a row with Shaq and Kobe starting in 2000 and going on to the Celtics, the Heat, the Pistons, more Lakers and on into this year with Dallas winning it. The Piston's were the only team dominated all year long by a point guard. His domination though is not the same as what some would have you believe. His domination was not in using up possessions in trying to score as much as he could, he dominated by setting up a good offensive scheme and taking the RIGHT shots. Before the pair of Piston guards, you have to go back to Dennis Johnson with Seattle in '79 before you find a team that won the NBA championship with a dominant PG. His contributions were also of a different nature than what is perceived today as a good or even great PG. His were the records that John Stockton broke, steals and assists.
So why is it that all these young PG's want to be the next Daron Williams? Why don't they want to be the next Stockton, Dennis Johnson, Steve Nash, Marc Jackson, or Gary Payton? Hell, if I was an up and coming PG, I'd settle for the next Steve Kerr. He was a five time NBA champion. 3 with the Jordan Bulls and 2 with the Duncan Spurs. I mean who can forget the story of Phil Jackson calling a play at the end of game 6 in the '97 finals and Jordan grabbing Kerr after the TO and saying "they are going to double me, be ready and hit the shot."
For that matter, why are organizations going after these guys with the shoot first mentality? Where has that gotten these PG's in the recent past? D-Will got the Western Conference finals once, Chris Paul has yet to get there. What about Ty Lawson? Not even that close. OK, the younger guys, look what happened to New Orleans this year when the Mavs crowded the passing lanes and confused Westbrook. What about in the east? Derrick Rose may be the one to buck my theory... eventually. But not yet. His team got beat when they faced a team that actually played defense.
I think that to win in the NBA you need 3 things. 1 guy in the middle to mess with the other teams psyche on either end of the court, a distributer in the back court to get the ball to the real playmakers and a dominating wing player. Take this years Mavericks. Dirk Couldn't win the whole thing until Tyson Chandler got there. Great defensive player who can score when needed. With Jason Terry on the wing to open the middle for Dirk and Jason Kidd feeding them the ball, winning combo. And don't tell me the Bulls lacked a middle man. Dennis Rodman is in my opinion one of the most under rated 4's in the history of the game. Steve Kerr once said that with the "worm" under the basket, who wouldn't shoot with confidence? If you missed, he just took the ball out of the air and gave you another shot. That's also why I don't think the Heat will win until they figure the down low issue out. They have 3 players that are all the same, wing players who love the mid range jumper. We can go the Celtics here with Garnet, Pierce and Allen (Rondo was huge here, as a passer). We can go Lakers with Fisher, Kobe and Gasol and before that Fisher, Shaq and Kobe. Go back and look, almost every PG that has won an NBA title has been the "oh yah, I forgot about him" guy on the team.
We here in Utah were spoiled by having the best prototypical PG in the history of the game in Stockton and we took what we had for granted. The issue the Jazz had was they never had that 3rd piece until it was almost to late. Plus they ran into the buzz saw that was 23. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but you even look at the teams that lost most of these finals. The teams that repeated all had the same combo. The teams that showed up one year just to go back to the obscurity that is the middle ground of the NBA are the teams that thought they could buck the system. I.E. The Nets (with a younger, Kidd and Harris), the 76ers (AI), I would place the Sonics here too, except they had Payton, Kemp and Schrempf. So they had the combo that worked, but when they got to the finals, they were awestruck by the Bulls and were completely out matched. I mean Gary Payton asked MJ for his auto graph after Game 1.
All in all, I guess I am saying that I think the Jazz are in for another D-Will type era if they draft another scoring PG and I'm not really looking forward to that. But I would love feedback to see what you think and who you think they should get.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Utes first Pac-12 season
9/1- Montana St
9-/10- @ USC (Div)
9/17- @ BYU
10/1- Washington
10/8- Arizona State (Div)
10/15- @ Pittsburgh
10/22- @ California
10/29- Oregon State
11/05- @ Arizona (Div)
11/12- UCLA (Div)
11/19- @ Washington State
11/25- Colorado (Div)
So there it is, Utah's first Pac-12 schedule. I'm going to be a little biased here but also use some reason. I don't see anything that keeps Utah from being a major contender in the South Division and maybe even going to the Conference Championship game in the first year. First let me say that Utah is lucky not to have to play the 2 best teams in the conference in Oregon and Stanford, than indulge me as I break down the schedule.
Montana St gives Utah their first win and puts them at 1-0 and let's them not show to much of what they will be doing offensively. That will play well with them facing their first conference opponent the next week. I think Utah will be pumped up for it and I think Lane Kiffen is a moron. A low scoring win for the Utes putting them at 2-0, 1-0 in both the conference and division. Than Utah hosts Washington, who is coached by Steve Sarkisian, former BYU QB under Norm Chow and also, former USC QB coach under Norm Chow. This game will also be a close win for Utah, making them 3-0 and 2-0 in the Pac-12. Than they face the most dynamic passing attack they will face all season in Arizona State. This game will come down to the pass rush of Utah. If they can get to the QB, they can keep it close and fight for the win in the 4th quarter, however, if they can't get to the QB, they will get blown out because they don't have the talent at CB to keep the Arizona St. WR's covered to long. I'm going to say Arizona St. in a close game making Utah 3-1 and 2-1 in conference and 1-1 in the South Division. The Utes get a slight rest from the Pac-12 schedule here and go to Pittsburgh who will be trying to find themselves under new head coach Todd Graham. My first instinct here is Utah and move on, however, after thinking about last years meeting, and also how well Utah played against Notre Dame last year, I'm going Pittsburgh in a close, hard hitting battle making the Utes, 3-2. Utah gets to 4-2 at Cal and wins another at home against the high flying Beavers the next week making them 5-2 and 4-1 in the Pac-12. Utah goes into Arizona and beats them in another hard hitting match up getting to 6-2 overall, 5-1 in conference and 2-1 in the South division, all the while trying to chase down the Sun Devils. Then Utah goes to UCLA and puts up 45 points on them, just so Coach Chow can show his distractors what they did in not letting him run his own offense. Also adding 1 more win in each column, overall, conference and division. Than they go to Pullman and play the Cougars. With my affinity for Washington State as well, I'm just going to say it will be a win and leave it at that. Utah is now 9-2 overall, 7-1 in the Pac-12 and 3-1 in the South Division coming home to face their bitter rival, the Colorado Buffalos. And, as history shows, Native Americans eat Buffalo meat, (I'm sorry, I had to go there, at least once) Utah wins this one going away making them 10-2 overall, 8-1 in the Pac-12 and 4-1 in the South division. That puts them in a tie with Arizona St. for the top spot in the division losing the chance to play against Stanford in the Championship game.
Some of the games I think could go the other way, I debated on the Arizona, Pittsburgh, Washington and even USC. It could be the other way real quick to, this is the Biased Sports Report though and I reserve the right to be a practical homer. And of course, this is all dependent on Jordan Wynn's play in the new offense, which I think fits him MUCH better than the spread option, which no one thought was ever an option with him back there. But as is, here is my breakdown of the division.
PAC-12 South Division:
Arizona State: 10-2 overall, 9-1 Pac-12, 4-1 South
Utah: 10-2 overall, 8-2 Pac-12, 4-1 South
Arizona: 7-5 overall, 5-5 Pac-12, 3-2 South
USC: 6-6 overall (Lane Kiffen fired), 4-6 Pac-12, 2-3 South
UCLA: 4-8 overall, 3-7 Pac-12, 1-4 South
Colorado: 3-9 overall, 1-9 Pac-12, 0-5 South
This is all from someone who has not attended any spring games or practices of any team outside of Utah but who followed the Pac-10 as a fan of Washington State over the years and I truly believe Utah is in a sweet spot to surprise people this year. They don't have to play Stanford or Oregon and they get the toughest Division opponent at home. USC and UCLA or both going through some tough times and I don't see it getting better this year and Washington isn't quite there yet. Man, that North division looks to be scary for a while. My prediction is the Stanford to the Rose Bowl and Oregon to the Fiesta Bowl with only 1 loss. Mean while, Arizona State and Utah or left out of the BCS but both get to play tough opponents in bowl games and show that the Pac-12 is no longer USC and the rest.
9-/10- @ USC (Div)
9/17- @ BYU
10/1- Washington
10/8- Arizona State (Div)
10/15- @ Pittsburgh
10/22- @ California
10/29- Oregon State
11/05- @ Arizona (Div)
11/12- UCLA (Div)
11/19- @ Washington State
11/25- Colorado (Div)
So there it is, Utah's first Pac-12 schedule. I'm going to be a little biased here but also use some reason. I don't see anything that keeps Utah from being a major contender in the South Division and maybe even going to the Conference Championship game in the first year. First let me say that Utah is lucky not to have to play the 2 best teams in the conference in Oregon and Stanford, than indulge me as I break down the schedule.
Montana St gives Utah their first win and puts them at 1-0 and let's them not show to much of what they will be doing offensively. That will play well with them facing their first conference opponent the next week. I think Utah will be pumped up for it and I think Lane Kiffen is a moron. A low scoring win for the Utes putting them at 2-0, 1-0 in both the conference and division. Than Utah hosts Washington, who is coached by Steve Sarkisian, former BYU QB under Norm Chow and also, former USC QB coach under Norm Chow. This game will also be a close win for Utah, making them 3-0 and 2-0 in the Pac-12. Than they face the most dynamic passing attack they will face all season in Arizona State. This game will come down to the pass rush of Utah. If they can get to the QB, they can keep it close and fight for the win in the 4th quarter, however, if they can't get to the QB, they will get blown out because they don't have the talent at CB to keep the Arizona St. WR's covered to long. I'm going to say Arizona St. in a close game making Utah 3-1 and 2-1 in conference and 1-1 in the South Division. The Utes get a slight rest from the Pac-12 schedule here and go to Pittsburgh who will be trying to find themselves under new head coach Todd Graham. My first instinct here is Utah and move on, however, after thinking about last years meeting, and also how well Utah played against Notre Dame last year, I'm going Pittsburgh in a close, hard hitting battle making the Utes, 3-2. Utah gets to 4-2 at Cal and wins another at home against the high flying Beavers the next week making them 5-2 and 4-1 in the Pac-12. Utah goes into Arizona and beats them in another hard hitting match up getting to 6-2 overall, 5-1 in conference and 2-1 in the South division, all the while trying to chase down the Sun Devils. Then Utah goes to UCLA and puts up 45 points on them, just so Coach Chow can show his distractors what they did in not letting him run his own offense. Also adding 1 more win in each column, overall, conference and division. Than they go to Pullman and play the Cougars. With my affinity for Washington State as well, I'm just going to say it will be a win and leave it at that. Utah is now 9-2 overall, 7-1 in the Pac-12 and 3-1 in the South Division coming home to face their bitter rival, the Colorado Buffalos. And, as history shows, Native Americans eat Buffalo meat, (I'm sorry, I had to go there, at least once) Utah wins this one going away making them 10-2 overall, 8-1 in the Pac-12 and 4-1 in the South division. That puts them in a tie with Arizona St. for the top spot in the division losing the chance to play against Stanford in the Championship game.
Some of the games I think could go the other way, I debated on the Arizona, Pittsburgh, Washington and even USC. It could be the other way real quick to, this is the Biased Sports Report though and I reserve the right to be a practical homer. And of course, this is all dependent on Jordan Wynn's play in the new offense, which I think fits him MUCH better than the spread option, which no one thought was ever an option with him back there. But as is, here is my breakdown of the division.
PAC-12 South Division:
Arizona State: 10-2 overall, 9-1 Pac-12, 4-1 South
Utah: 10-2 overall, 8-2 Pac-12, 4-1 South
Arizona: 7-5 overall, 5-5 Pac-12, 3-2 South
USC: 6-6 overall (Lane Kiffen fired), 4-6 Pac-12, 2-3 South
UCLA: 4-8 overall, 3-7 Pac-12, 1-4 South
Colorado: 3-9 overall, 1-9 Pac-12, 0-5 South
This is all from someone who has not attended any spring games or practices of any team outside of Utah but who followed the Pac-10 as a fan of Washington State over the years and I truly believe Utah is in a sweet spot to surprise people this year. They don't have to play Stanford or Oregon and they get the toughest Division opponent at home. USC and UCLA or both going through some tough times and I don't see it getting better this year and Washington isn't quite there yet. Man, that North division looks to be scary for a while. My prediction is the Stanford to the Rose Bowl and Oregon to the Fiesta Bowl with only 1 loss. Mean while, Arizona State and Utah or left out of the BCS but both get to play tough opponents in bowl games and show that the Pac-12 is no longer USC and the rest.
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