Breaking down Utah--looking forward to the game
- Thread starter wrightaboutit
- Start date
Bolded...I made a post about Nebraska int he big 12 Power rankings thread saying just that.
You are right about Utah. I don't care who they have played. They have shown that they are a team that can play anyone anytime and give them a run. Because of that, they have earned their #10 ranking. They are a model that ISU should follow in building the program. Their recruiting classes are what I dream ISU will get consistently. They are three star Texas and Cali kids that are overlooked or are missing a measuarbale. Then throw in a four star or two. They are lunch pail kids with something to prove. Utah consistently out recruits us and has higher ranked classes. FWIW- We recruited Wynn but lost out.
I am sure CPR and the team will take Utah seriously and they better because UTah will be a tough opponent. I actually worry more about this game than I do any other game on the schedule.
Last edited:
If I had a dollar for everytime someone told me that __________ could have their way with Utah.
Nothing but respect for the Cyclones team and fans, But there are some things that
we as Utah fans will always hear.
#1. Wife/Mormon Smack. Honestly I believe it is as weak and Outdated as Corn/Potato smack.
#2. The We have not played anyone and Phil-in-dablank University would run us over.
If we are all hype then You guys will crush us on Saturday.
If we are not all hype then we will beat You. Then next week someone will ask us who we have beaten that is any good.
A friend of mine told me once the best thing about being a Ute fan is the chance to have the whole world call U a polygamist Mormon 11 games a year. But for that one special week against byU we are drunken devil worshiping heathens.
There are just some thing that You know will happen when You are a fan of the Utah Utes
If I had a dollar for everytime someone told me that __________ could have their way with Utah.
Nothing but respect for the Cyclones team and fans, But there are some things that
we as Utah fans will always hear.
#1. Wife/Mormon Smack. Honestly I believe it is as weak and Outdated as Corn/Potato smack.
#2. The We have not played anyone and Phil-in-dablank University would run us over.
If we are all hype then You guys will crush us on Saturday.
If we are not all hype then we will beat You. Then next week someone will ask us who we have beaten that is any good.
A friend of mine told me once the best thing about being a Ute fan is the chance to have the whole world call U a polygamist Mormon 11 games a year. But for that one special week against byU we are drunken devil worshiping heathens.
There are just some thing that You know will happen when You are a fan of the Utah Utes
But Mormon smack is just so damn much fun! As far as the 2nd smack, I don't think people feel that at the end of the year when you beat BYU and TCU. And from here on out, no one will ever hold schedule against you anyways.
Honestly, I don't think many of our fans really think we're a better team, or that Utah sucks, just that Utah hasn't beat any that's better than us. There's a big difference. I suspect that Pitt is a better team than us, but they have such terrible QB play (ours hasn't been that good outside of the first game, and last game).
I said on saturday that Utah could be the best team left on our schedule. I think it's between you guys and OU.
Just so you know...some of us here have great respect for what Utah has done over the last 7-8 years. They have been consitently good. Some people fail to realize that we beat a mediocre TT team that is going through a coaching change and complete philosophy change. On the other hand, we will be facing a Utah team that ranks 7th in both total defense and scoring defense. I don't care who they have played, their defense will be better than what we saw against TT. ISU will have to play great football to pull out the victory.If I had a dollar for everytime someone told me that __________ could have their way with Utah.
Nothing but respect for the Cyclones team and fans, But there are some things that
we as Utah fans will always hear.
#1. Wife/Mormon Smack. Honestly I believe it is as weak and Outdated as Corn/Potato smack.
#2. The We have not played anyone and Phil-in-dablank University would run us over.
If we are all hype then You guys will crush us on Saturday.
If we are not all hype then we will beat You. Then next week someone will ask us who we have beaten that is any good.
A friend of mine told me once the best thing about being a Ute fan is the chance to have the whole world call U a polygamist Mormon 11 games a year. But for that one special week against byU we are drunken devil worshiping heathens.
There are just some thing that You know will happen when You are a fan of the Utah Utes
On a side note, it seems most of the games Utah has lost the last few years have been on the road. College football fans greatly underestimate the effect long travel has on football teams. Throw in a night game where tehy have to travel and then get to sit aorund all day and it will have an affect.
I expect a good game but this game worries me. It will either be a close game or Utah's front seven will get to Arnaud and he will get flustered. Especially if the shoulder isn't better. If Utah runs a little option, I worry about them being able to get to the edges with our less than stellar DE play. All in all, there are some match ups that concern me a lot. If Utah blitzes, then Franklin has to come up big again.
If I had a dollar for everytime someone told me that __________ could have their way with Utah.
Nothing but respect for the Cyclones team and fans, But there are some things that
we as Utah fans will always hear.
#1. Wife/Mormon Smack. Honestly I believe it is as weak and Outdated as Corn/Potato smack.
#2. The We have not played anyone and Phil-in-dablank University would run us over.
If we are all hype then You guys will crush us on Saturday.
If we are not all hype then we will beat You. Then next week someone will ask us who we have beaten that is any good.
A friend of mine told me once the best thing about being a Ute fan is the chance to have the whole world call U a polygamist Mormon 11 games a year. But for that one special week against byU we are drunken devil worshiping heathens.
There are just some thing that You know will happen when You are a fan of the Utah Utes
Great post, interesting and funny to see from your perspective. Being an ISU football fan in a conference of Texas/OUs/Nebraskas kind of takes a special outlook as well but for different reasons.
Please ignore any wives/religion insults. I assure you they don't represent our fanbase in general.
The way I see it there are 3 kinds of college football fans:
1. Fans who only follow their own team (lots of top teams have these fans)
2. Fans who only follow their own conference
3. Fans who follow all national games and scores
The first two will never realize Utah is good and the third kind understands it very well. ISU has our share of 1 and 2 like any school, I'm sure you get tired of listening to it.
I spent some time analyzing the statistics so far for ISU and Utah. As expected, and mentioned by wrightaboutit, Utah's statistics are hard to compare to ISU because of the great disparity in the level of competition.
ISUs opponents average around 40 to 50 in the nation in most statistical categories. In particular, we've faced good pass offenses (the average QB rating for our opponents ranks 33rd nationally) and good pass defenses (the average QB rating for the opponents of our opponents ranks 34th nationally).
I'd say the statistics point to ISU having an above average rushing game, average passing game, below average rush defense, and above average pass defense.
Utah's opponents average around 80 to 90 in the nation in most statistical categories. The best feature of their opponents have been their rush defense (bolstered heavily by Pitts top 20 rush defense), but even so the average rank for their opponents rush defense is about 80th nationally.
Probably Utah's best performance to date was their rush defense against Pitt. Pitt ranks 52nd in the nation in rush offense at 169.75 yards per game, and Utah held them to 82 yards and a 2.28 average. However, it appears that Pitts top RB (almost 10 ypc) was out for that game, and there is a big drop off to Pitt's #2 RB (3 ypc).
I'd say the statistics point to Utah being above average in all phases of the game, and possibly have a very good passing game.
From my point of view, ISU's advantages are:
- Turnovers (we generate more AND give up fewer)
- Utah's first real road game (@New Mexico doesn't really count)
- Best rushing attack Utah has faced, given that Pitt's top RB was out for their game.
- Best pass defense Utah has faced
In any case, this looks to be possibly the most balanced team we've played this year, next to maybe Iowa, but I don't think they are significantly better than we are. We have a good chance to win if we bring our A game. Given the balance they have across the board, I don't think we can afford many mistakes, so we definitely need to eliminate the red zone penalties this week.
ISUs opponents average around 40 to 50 in the nation in most statistical categories. In particular, we've faced good pass offenses (the average QB rating for our opponents ranks 33rd nationally) and good pass defenses (the average QB rating for the opponents of our opponents ranks 34th nationally).
I'd say the statistics point to ISU having an above average rushing game, average passing game, below average rush defense, and above average pass defense.
Utah's opponents average around 80 to 90 in the nation in most statistical categories. The best feature of their opponents have been their rush defense (bolstered heavily by Pitts top 20 rush defense), but even so the average rank for their opponents rush defense is about 80th nationally.
Probably Utah's best performance to date was their rush defense against Pitt. Pitt ranks 52nd in the nation in rush offense at 169.75 yards per game, and Utah held them to 82 yards and a 2.28 average. However, it appears that Pitts top RB (almost 10 ypc) was out for that game, and there is a big drop off to Pitt's #2 RB (3 ypc).
I'd say the statistics point to Utah being above average in all phases of the game, and possibly have a very good passing game.
From my point of view, ISU's advantages are:
- Turnovers (we generate more AND give up fewer)
- Utah's first real road game (@New Mexico doesn't really count)
- Best rushing attack Utah has faced, given that Pitt's top RB was out for their game.
- Best pass defense Utah has faced
In any case, this looks to be possibly the most balanced team we've played this year, next to maybe Iowa, but I don't think they are significantly better than we are. We have a good chance to win if we bring our A game. Given the balance they have across the board, I don't think we can afford many mistakes, so we definitely need to eliminate the red zone penalties this week.
Agree. Our offense will need to operate better than they did Saturday in order for us to have a chance in this game. EW can't have the mental errors we had in the first quarter or we could be looking at a deficit that we can't overcome
I think the only improvement needed out of our offense is to continue to cut down on penalties at poor times. We had 2 100 yard rushers, another close to 50, and our QB went 20/28 w/4 TDs. I don't think you can ask much more out of an offense, realistically.
We need a better defensive effort. I thought there was some of that poor tackling we saw against Iowa and KSU against Batch (even though his stat sheet isn't that impressive). We also can't have as much miscommunication in the defensive backfield, or Wynn will torch us.
Good work.
I still maintain that our pass defense rankings are a by product of teams abilitiy to run on us. I thought TT showed that on staurday. When they decided to give up running, they moved the ball effectively against our defense. Now, they did have some great plays made by their receivers but they still moved the ball well.
I don't like the look of Utah's backfield Asiata looks like a power back which we struggle against, and then they bring in Wide, who can get us on the edges.
I bolded the road game because I think this is huge. When Utah has lost, it has been on the road. Long road trips do not bode well for most teams and I don't think Utah is immune. Their longest road trips the last couple of years have been to Corvallis, OR and Michigan. They lost to OSU and they barely beat a poor Michigan team.
Hopefully, the travel and the late start have an effect on them and our rush defense continues to improve
Those would be the mental errors I alluded to in the first quarter. We can't have them against Utah. I just assume our defense will give up points until we get a pass rush. IMO- a pass rush won't happen until next season at the earliest
Tangwaci, hi. Seems to me that for every silly comment here about Utah being a less than stellar team, there are 10 remarks stating that the Utes have a scintillating program, one like we wish to have.
From me, you won't hear trite and silly remarks about Utahans (?) lifestyles; many of us here cringe when a few of our members sink to the lowest common denominator.
Utah football has earned all the accolades that have come its way in recent years. Utah has risen to the heights; with our outstanding coach and staff, we believe we are rising. IMO, two classy programs will meet Saturday night at JTS.
I hope you feel welcome here. Ute fans posting here have been cordial and positive.
We still need more consistency out of our rushing game. Take away 2 big runs, and we rushed the ball 48 times for 125 yards (2.6 ypc). That leads to way too many 3rd and longs.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I like breakdowns by Utah fans a lot more than breakdowns of Baylor history.
Welcome aboard!! Should be a fun week!
Welcome aboard!! Should be a fun week!
It seemed like Texas Tech was passing all over us, but they ended up right about their averages for completion percentage, yards per attempt, and QB rating. Their yards were up a fair amount because they attempted more passes.
I hear what you're saying though regarding our rush defense, and that may be the case. However, looking deeper at the statistics, we've held our opponents below their season averages for passing statistics nearly in all case. The reason I think that is significant is that it includes yards per attempt and completion percentage. If teams are not running the ball effectively on us, I would only expect those two statistics to go down.
Also, we've faced better passing attacks that we thought to this point in the season, and fared pretty well against their season averages.
Dion Lewis played against us, we just completely shut him down. Unless you were talking about someone else.
It looked like Ray Graham was just out for the first game, but looking at it closer it seems that Ray Graham seems to have stolen the starting job from Dion Lewis. Graham and Lewis split time in the second and third game, and Graham was the starter for the fourth game.
In any case, it looks like you didn't face their best RB.
TT had 77 yards more than their average and Potts had a better than average compl %.
If teams can run on you, then they are usually waiting until third and long to throw or they are taking shots deep. Both lead to a lower completion% as the defense can play to stop the pass. iowa and KSU combined to throw 32 balls against us. That is it. They ran the ball
Dion Lewis did play yes You are correct.
....Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
LEWIS,DION 25 ..83 ..8 ....75 ...1 18 3.0
25 rushes for 83 yards.
The 18 yard rush was the 2nd or 3rd play of the game also.
As a whole our defense is shutting down opposing rushing attacks.
Granted with our sugar cupcake schedule to this point it may be a bit inflated.
Yet our Team is solid on Defense every single year.
Lewis is gaining 3.04 yard per carry for the season and gained 3.0 yards against you. And he didn't play at all in their last game.
I'm not saying that Utah's run defense isn't any good. Just that it looks like they haven't been tested by anything resembling a good running game yet.
