| Utah
38 |
 |
San
Diego State
16 |
SDSU is a much better team than their record indicates, this was indeed a great win for the Utes. The game was much closer than the final score indicated, but the Utes will undoubtedly pick up more votes because of the final score.
The only thing I have to say negative about the game is the amount of damn injuries that are accumulating. I feel very sorry for Chuck Pine, that was a damn shame breaking his leg like that. The replay on ESPN was sickening, he's without a doubt gone for the year. On a bright note, the D is deep and will survive.
SDSU has a couple of very good running backs and the D's only flaws today were not wrapping up the backs very good and it resulted in a lot of yardage after initial contact.
The offense looked great today. The play calling was good, execution good, and Darnell didn't miss as many open receivers today (although there were two certain TD's if he doesn't overthrow or throw out of bounds). Anderson looked great and Bacon really struggled today. Bacon trips over the feet of the linemen every time he runs up the middle, and I don't know why he continually tries to stretch the D, this isn't HS in Arizona any more.
Great win Utes, keep it up and give the Rams all they can handle on Thursday.
BTW, congratulations mac! I almost forgot to give him the credit he deserves.
I am starting to notice a nice trend becoming apparent these last three games. It is becoming obvious that the Utes are learning how to close out games. The win against a tough San Diego State team today was a great example, especially when contrasted with the SDSU game of a year ago. Not only did the Ute defense that had been rattled by big plays throughout the first few quarters make some stout defensive stands in the fourth, they showed they know how to put a team away with the Frank sack and fumble recovery for a touchdown, the interception and subsequent Mike touchdown run, and the Kautai fumble recovery. This ability to close teams out was something the team Utes never seemed to posses last year, as early leads often gave way to letting teams get back in the game and win. The Utes showed a lot of heart today and are definitely playing with a great deal of confidence heading into the home stretch of conference play. The team is proving to have the heart of a champion, and with each win is gaining the mental toughness it needs to win the MWC crown.
This was a good hard nose game today. Unfortunately it seemed like the Utes were the one who's nose looked worse after. I would compare this game to the USU game. In these two games we failed to control the line of scrimmage but won games with scores that didn't indicate how close the games were. I hope that we don't face a team with a better OL and RB tandem then them. Their OL was simply consuming us on those counter OT plays. Larry Ned is the best back in the league.... IMO a major key was when Simon Gourdine (#1) went out for the game in the first quarter. It rendered their passing game ineffective. Before he went out they threw 5 balls all of them to Simon... During the play that Smith returned the punt to the 50 and we took the illegal block and personal foul. Someone from the west bleachers threw a full water bottle from about 50 rows up and almost hit Toellner (actually hit a SDSU player in the back). Pretty classless act, but the person who threw it made the best deep pass of the entire game.... And how about the cannon being yanked by the official after the do over PAT in the first quarter? Personally I love it, the hole thing is overdone. Happy to see it especially since those ROTC guys were the same one's who played cop when the Frat boys ran the field on homecoming.
Offense looked real good in the first half. I was glad to see Coach Lee stretch the field and do away with the screens (I think only one all game). We got conservative in the fourth, my personal feeling is we should go for the jugular in those situation. Things like high percentage passes, quarter back sweeps, etc... If Darnell ever learns to throw the long ball look out. He missed Utu and Russell twice. Intermediate passes looked real good. He continues to get hurt after being touched. The switch in the third quarter to Croshaw hurt the Utes especially the fumbled snap on third and short play in the fourth. OL looked good not great. I would like to see the unit stay together for a couple weeks. Steve Smith (7 TD in last 3 games) is the surprise of the year. Anderson, Russell, and Nichol had a real strong game. What happened to Nick Morgan? I would love to seem him get Bacon's carries.
Defense was generally poor IMO. Made big play when they needed to (the Frank sack/Smith TD), but what do you say when they give up 300 plus on the ground? LB and DL played terrible against the run. Tufunga made a couple of turnover plays and Olevao continues to struggle. It may be time to move him off the tight end and put him in the middle or weak side. DB continue to be our strength, although their QB missed as many deep balls as Arceneaux.
In general, a win is a win. Injuries are beginning to take their toll. A major key for CSU is how fast we can get back healthy. CSU is a similar smash mouth team that we will need to be more physical with. As this is a national TV game the Utes can't allow a letdown. Ute fans beware, we can still lose to anybody still on the schedule.
Air Force and SDSU have both been very nice wins in which the Utes have shown heart and determination. However, the outcomes could have been different had the ball bounced the other way. If Smith's fumble on the punt return for a TD or the fumble he picks up for a TD bounce the other way we could be on a two game losing streak. Knowing how little separates a win from a loss leaves me concerned.
SDSU ran over, around and through the Ute defense yesterday. It wasn't the 303 total rushing yards that cause me the most concern for 150 of those came on two plays. What concerned me was the number of missed and sloppy tackles. On several plays we had more than one defender with his hands on the runner only to have him break loose for more yardage. On one of the 70+ yard runs we had him in the backfield. The Utes will have to be more physical defensively and more sure tacklers if we want to beat CSU.
Offensively, we have avoided the costly turnovers, although we have had our share of miscues. The Smith fumble recovery and the Aztec drop of a sure int. in the endzone are illustrative. Fortunately SDSU could not take advantage. I still do not believe that our offense has found its stride. The running game, while steady, has not been dominating. The passing game, while full of big plays, can still improve if the Arceneaux can manage to hit WRs running open down field.
The Utes are 3-0 in the MWC with big wins over Air Force and SDSU. The best thing about it is that there is still a lot of room for improvement. The scary thing about it is if there is no improvement, when that funny shaped ball starts bouncing the other way, it will hurt.
Well, we're at the two-thirds juncture of the season and Utah is 6-1. If only they hadn't stumbled with Boise, although looking in hindsight, BSU may have been the toughest OOC game they played this year (pathetic).
Anyhow, 6-1 is still 6-1 even though they don't deserve too much merit or a national ranking because of the low quality schedule (although I find it kind of funny that in last week's Sagarin poll, Utah had the 86th ranked schedule and BYU had the 82nd. Funny).
The SDSU game still doesn't show us fans how good Utah really is. They have been extremely opportunistic by capitalizing on their opponents errors, especially against the Aztecs, and they have also been lucky. But as the saying goes, you've got to be lucky to be good, or something like that. It would be safe to say at this point of the season though that BYU, Utah and CSU are 1-2-3 in the conference right now.
The game against the Rams this week is huge, even bigger than AFA. If they win, they will get ranked; and even more importantly, will be in the driver's seat the rest of the way. I don't see the Utes losing at home to UNM and Wyoming (fingers crossed) and that game in Provo on Nov. 20 isn't too intimidating because Utah has owned BYU at Cougar Stadium this decade.
The low spots on Saturday:
-Darnell is just too brittle. Every time he takes a nasty hit, he goes down. I commend him on his competitive spirit and drive, but he really needs to protect himself in the open field. He leaves himself too vulnerable to injury (especially him).
-Our DB's seemed to get burned too often with SDSU's big play ability. It seems like the CB's never put any pressure on the opponent's wideouts at the line. Give them a nice bump from time to time.
-Play calling still seems to be too predictable and conservative, although the occasional passing on first down, AND to the TEs was refreshing.
-Our RBs weren't built to be east-west runners. Mike Anderson has a really tough time coming around on the sweep, but I understand that they used that play to spread the D, which seemed to work, because Darnell had an easier time finding his targets.
-The crowd. Considering it was the deer hunt and the game was televised, 27,000 or so isn't respectable, and not too bad either, but if the school says 38,000 paid, well... more money in the school's coffers (screw the no-shows). The half-filled student section was still pathetic (as per usual)
The highlights:
-Stingy D in the Red Zone. SDSU seemed to be able to move the ball at will, but once they reached the 20, the Ute D just plain shut them down.
-John Frank. This guy has outmanned every opponent he's faced this year by a long shot. And that tackle of the QB and subsequent fumble into the endzone at the end of the game to seal the victory may have just guaranteed him MWC Defensive MVP (Sorry Rob Morris, no soup for you! Too many games missed).
-Stevonne Smith. The guy is THE Playmaker. I was glad to see him go off on the team that shunned him because they felt he was too small and not a D1 talent. It will be interesting to see how his stock rises next year as a senior for the draft.
Go Utes against CSU!
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