Breaking down Utah--looking forward to the game

[Tangwaci]

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.

Sadly that goes along with our schedule to this point.
Make no mistakes, I by no means think we have taken on the world in our first 4 games. Quite the opposite.

Myself as well as all of the Utah fans I know are a bit leery about this game.
Being on the road in Ames Iowa under the lights is alot different then PITT at home.
The only things that we as Ute fans can point to at the moment is that we have taken these horrible teams to the woodshed and that is all that can be asked of us.

If You would like more banter with Ute fans, Other than the 3 or so of us that have come to visit this great site. Feel free to come visit us at

Utefans.Net | Fans of Utah Football, Basketball, Tailgating, and Everything Utes

 

[dualthreat]

UTAH... Bringing a strong message board crowd!!

has CF ever had this many (non hawk fan) opponents visiting?

 

[Al_4_State]

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.

That YPC includes a few sacks, too. We weren't struggling to run the ball, IMO. We had something like 6 consecutive run plays on the drive that ended with the strike to Hammerschmidt.

Also, I really don't worry about a run game that is skewed by a couple huge runs. Those huge runs aren't a fluke, that's how football, and the run game generally work. Sometimes it's a 3 yards and a cloud of dust and then, BOOM, someone breaks it long.

 

[salUTE65]

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.

I hate to tell you this ahaselhu, but for as dreadful as Pitt has looked this year, they still have a higher rated rush game than Iowa State.

 

[Al_4_State]

Sadly that goes along with our schedule to this point.
Make no mistakes, I by no means think we have taken on the world in our first 4 games. Quite the opposite.

Myself as well as all of the Utah fans I know are a bit leery about this game.
Being on the road in Ames Iowa under the lights is alot different then PITT at home.
The only things that we as Ute fans can point to at the moment is that we have taken these horrible teams to the woodshed and that is all that can be asked of us.

If You would like more banter with Ute fans, Other than the 3 or so of us that have come to visit this great site. Feel free to come visit us at

Utefans.Net | Fans of Utah Football, Basketball, Tailgating, and Everything Utes

The Utah fans seem like good folks, but the layout of that site makes my eyes bleed. Such an inconvenient format.

 

[ahaselhu]

That YPC includes a few sacks, too. We weren't struggling to run the ball, IMO. We had something like 6 consecutive run plays on the drive that ended with the strike to Hammerschmidt.

That's good to know. I didn't have the opportunity to watch the game, so I'm mostly going off of statistics, which I realize are sometimes flawed.

Also, I really don't worry about a run game that is skewed by a couple huge runs. Those huge runs aren't a fluke, that's how football, and the run game generally work. Sometimes it's a 3 yards and a cloud of dust and then, BOOM, someone breaks it long.

I assume this is somewhat a response to the Hawk poster earlier in the year talking about "outliers" :smile:.

Anyway, I agree to an extent. However, against top run defenses, its going to be harder to get those huge runs, so it would be nice to get a better average of the rest. Also, averaging only 2-3 yards per carry when you don't break a big gain means that you'll likely see lots of 3rd and longs, which is certainly an undesirable situation.

 

[salUTE65]

The Utah fans seem like good folks, but the layout of that site makes my eyes bleed. Such an inconvenient format.

If you get an account you can change the format. The default format you see is a bit tedious.

 

[ahaselhu]

I hate to tell you this ahaselhu, but for as dreadful as Pitt has looked this year, they still have a higher rated rush game than Iowa State.

I'll try to phrase it differently, because I don't think my point is getting across.

Just going on statistics to this point, ISUs rushing game is probably quite a bit better than Pitt's rushing game is with Dion Lewis at RB, which is more relevant to the game this Saturday.

If you just look at the team rush total for Pitt against Utah and Pitt's average yards per game, you'd think that Utah's rush defense was excellent against Pitt. However, looking deeper the Pitt rush defense essentially held Pitts RB to his average at this point. So it MAY not be as good a performance as it looks at first.

Remember that in the end, I'm an ISU fan so I'm looking for places that ISU may be able to have some success against Utah. What I see is that Utah's defense hasn't been tested by any RBs averaging much over 3 ypc. Alexander Robinson is averaging 5.32 ypc and Shontrelle Johnson is averaging 6.79 ypc, so in my opinion both of those guys present a better test than anyone Utah has faced so far.

 

[Utahute72]

The Utah fans seem like good folks, but the layout of that site makes my eyes bleed. Such an inconvenient format.

Interesting because most fans on that site prefer it to sites laid out like this one. Personal preference I guess, most sites are laid out like yours.

 

[nrg4isu]

I have nothing but good things to say about Utah's football team, and I think they're right up there with OU, Texas, and Nebraska as our toughest games left.

Interesting because most fans on that site prefer it to sites laid out like this one. Personal preference I guess, most sites are laid out like yours.

But, in regards to message boards, I can't disagree more. The only reason I visit CycloneFanatics.com as much as I do is because it doesn't look anything like Utah's fan site. I haven't done a lot of searching, but it beats any fan site I've ever seen, and it's mostly due to layout and site design.

 

[Cyhart]

Inflated stats aside, while I imagine we will face a better defense against Utah on Saturday than we faced this past Saturday, I have to expect that we will face a lesser offense. I cant imagine Utah has more firepower than Tech.
It will be an exciting game. I cant wait.

 

[Cyrocks]

I have nothing but good things to say about Utah's football team, and I think they're right up there with OU, Texas, and Nebraska as our toughest games left.



But, in regards to message boards, I can't disagree more. The only reason I visit CycloneFanatics.com as much as I do is because it doesn't look anything like Utah's fan site. I haven't done a lot of searching, but it beats any fan site I've ever seen, and it's mostly due to layout and site design.

Utah's schedule is what it is. Who knows what their stats would be like if they played Iowa (maybe we will find out when the bowl pairings are announced :spinny and K-State instead of New Mexico and UNLV? It's quite possible they could have two losses right now, or they could still could be undefeated.

Regardless of who Utah has played so far, I would expect (and hope) this upcoming game to be a slobber-knocker. I like ISU's chances to pull off the upset, but then what else would expect a die-hard ISU fan to say?

 

[salUTE65]

I'll try to phrase it differently, because I don't think my point is getting across.


Remember that in the end, I'm an ISU fan so I'm looking for places that ISU may be able to have some success against Utah. What I see is that Utah's defense hasn't been tested by any RBs averaging much over 3 ypc. Alexander Robinson is averaging 5.32 ypc and Shontrelle Johnson is averaging 6.79 ypc, so in my opinion both of those guys present a better test than anyone Utah has faced so far.

Well they say hindsight is 20/20. I've never heard of Alexander Robinson or Shontrelle Johnson before this week, but before we played Pitt, Dion Lewis and Graham supposedly made up the best backfield in the country and Dion Lewis was a top Heisman contender.

Here are a couple points to consider from my perspective. The trend in Utah losses from highest impact to lowest impact are as follows:

1. Utah struggles to contain opponent run game.
2. Special teams breakdown.
3. Leave points on field inside of red zone.
4. Give up the big play
5. Turnovers

Now, keep in mind I only have 4 losses since Sept. 22, 2007 from which to identify these trends. Why Sept. 22, 2007 you ask? For starters because its irrelevant to go back too far, but mostly because it is since Kyle Whittingham's darkest day as the Utah HC that this program has really taken on trademark Kyle Whittingham football, which, at the foundation is based on hard-nosed, run-stopping defense.

If ISU fans are feeling excited about their run game after the performance seen vs. Texas Tech, then the upcoming game vs. Utah will be a huge barometer for you. Ute fans believe this is the best DLine we've ever had - and that's saying a lot. It certainly is the deepest DLine Utah has ever had and you'll see that Utah rotates no less than 10 guys across the line. The reason for it is because all of them are too good to not play. It will be interesting to see how the battle develops on Saturday.

 

[ahaselhu]

I have nothing but good things to say about Utah's football team, and I think they're right up there with OU, Texas, and Nebraska as our toughest games left.



But, in regards to message boards, I can't disagree more. The only reason I visit CycloneFanatics.com as much as I do is because it doesn't look anything like Utah's fan site. I haven't done a lot of searching, but it beats any fan site I've ever seen, and it's mostly due to layout and site design.

The only advantage I can see is that it is easier to browse through the titles of replies and only read the replies you are interested in. However, its much harder to make sense of the different threads.

 

[Cyrocks]

Well they say hindsight is 20/20. I've never heard of Alexander Robinson or Shontrelle Johnson before this week, but before we played Pitt, Dion Lewis and Graham supposedly made up the best backfield in the country and Dion Lewis was a top Heisman contender.

Here are a couple points to consider from my perspective. The trend in Utah losses from highest impact to lowest impact are as follows:

1. Utah struggles to contain opponent run game.
2. Special teams breakdown.
3. Leave points on field inside of red zone.
4. Give up the big play
5. Turnovers

Now, keep in mind I only have 4 losses since Sept. 22, 2007 from which to identify these trends. Why Sept. 22, 2007 you ask? For starters because its irrelevant to go back too far, but mostly because it is since Kyle Whittingham's darkest day as the Utah HC that this program has really taken on trademark Kyle Whittingham football, which, at the foundation is based on hard-nosed, run-stopping defense.

If ISU fans are feeling excited about their run game after the performance seen vs. Texas Tech, then the upcoming game vs. Utah will be a huge barometer for you. Ute fans believe this is the best DLine we've ever had - and that's saying a lot. It certainly is the deepest DLine Utah has ever had and you'll see that Utah rotates no less than 10 guys across the line. The reason for it is because all of them are too good to not play. It will be interesting to see how the battle develops on Saturday.

Not saying your guys aren't a good group, but I think ISU has already went up the best D Line in the country when they played at at Iowa. I still think they are a top 10 team.

Now, if your D line is equal to Iowa's then, yeah ISU will be in for a long night.

 

[ahaselhu]

Well they say hindsight is 20/20. I've never heard of Alexander Robinson or Shontrelle Johnson before this week, but before we played Pitt, Dion Lewis and Graham supposedly made up the best backfield in the country and Dion Lewis was a top Heisman contender.

Here are a couple points to consider from my perspective. The trend in Utah losses from highest impact to lowest impact are as follows:

1. Utah struggles to contain opponent run game.
2. Special teams breakdown.
3. Leave points on field inside of red zone.
4. Give up the big play
5. Turnovers

Now, keep in mind I only have 4 losses since Sept. 22, 2007 from which to identify these trends. Why Sept. 22, 2007 you ask? For starters because its irrelevant to go back too far, but mostly because it is since Kyle Whittingham's darkest day as the Utah HC that this program has really taken on trademark Kyle Whittingham football, which, at the foundation is based on hard-nosed, run-stopping defense.

If ISU fans are feeling excited about their run game after the performance seen vs. Texas Tech, then the upcoming game vs. Utah will be a huge barometer for you. Ute fans believe this is the best DLine we've ever had - and that's saying a lot. It certainly is the deepest DLine Utah has ever had and you'll see that Utah rotates no less than 10 guys across the line. The reason for it is because all of them are too good to not play. It will be interesting to see how the battle develops on Saturday.

I would say that we were excited about our run game coming in to the season, and have been disappointed by it until the Texas Tech game. Robinson missed more than 2 full games last season, and still finished just behind Daniel Thomas of K-State for the league rushing title. We lost 2 offensive linemen from last year, and haven't seen the kind of productivity we were expecting. We're hoping that the line is starting to gel into the kind of unit they were last year, and the performance against Texas Tech is encouraging. I'd say we're capable in the run game, with the potential to be really good.

As far as the DL, I have trouble believing that Utah really has 10 top notch defensive linemen. More likely that there are 10 good defensive linemen, and nobody is distinguishing themselves as a great defensive linemen. Maybe I'll feel differently after Saturday, but I hope not :smile:.

In any case, I certainly don't think we'll run for 200+ yards against Utah. I'd expect somewhere around our average of 150 yards.

 

[salUTE65]

As far as the DL, I have trouble believing that Utah really has 10 top notch defensive linemen. More likely that there are 10 good defensive linemen, and nobody is distinguishing themselves as a great defensive linemen. Maybe I'll feel differently after Saturday, but I hope not :smile:.

In any case, I certainly don't think we'll run for 200+ yards against Utah. I'd expect somewhere around our average of 150 yards.

:yes: Bookmarked.

 

[Cyrocks]

If ISU fans are feeling excited about their run game after the performance seen vs. Texas Tech, then the upcoming game vs. Utah will be a huge barometer for you. Ute fans believe this is the best DLine we've ever had - and that's saying a lot. It certainly is the deepest DLine Utah has ever had and you'll see that Utah rotates no less than 10 guys across the line. The reason for it is because all of them are too good to not play. It will be interesting to see how the battle develops on Saturday.

Sounds like you guys have stockpiled too many D linemen. How about you guys giving us a couple of those guys because ISU is razor thin in that area and in return we will give you a couple of our pom-pom girls?:wink:

 

[RunningUtes]

Hey! I've been lurking on this board for a couple of days and signed up.

I am pleasantly surprised that most of the fans here seem to be even keeled and hey, I've only seen one or two Mormon jokes which is always nice.

I, like many other Utah fans, have been looking forward to this game because we haven't been tested outside of PITT.

Here's to hoping for an injury free and great game on Saturday!

GO UTES!

 

[spyclone]

Utah is a very good team and would have their way with over-rated nebraska.

ISU has a chance this week but will need lots of luck to win.