Utah 27

Washington State 7

Many of the things I worried about - I was happy about today. 1st of all we opened it up a little. We passed on first down many times. We ran our fisrt reverse in three years. We did not get too conservative when we had a 13 - 0 lead like we have done in the past. Whetman did well. We did not have too many penalities. Overall, I am happy with the way we played. However, WSU is not a great team.

We have to address some issues. Our defense went into prevent way to soon IMHO. We need to throw to the running backs and tight ends more. We did not throw one pass to a back again. I swear McBride thinks it's against the rules to pass to a running back. We did not sack the QB today. We need to apply more pressure or we will get burned by better teams.

Great 1st game - still a long ways to go.

Go UTES!!!

voted for us in the coaches poll this week. Hey, none of the MWC teams are in the top 25, but we do have 4 that are threatening...of course Utah is at the bottom of that totem poll. But we do have two more votes than we did last week.

Just my two cents on the game. I was frustrated with the lack of zip on Darnell's passes, but was nonetheless impressed with his total yardage. I was more impressed, however, with the receiving core we have this year. Christensen, Bendiger, Russell and Smith all did a fine job. To have four receivers that are threats, coupled with a few passes to the TE's and RB's would really make open up the passing game and hopefully negate the weaknesses in Darnell's arm.

I am glad to see the running game pick up in the second half as well. I would have guessed that WSU's strength would have been the running defense instead of pass defense.

But, I do think the pitifulness of WSU's team contributed a lot to their loss as did execution contribute to our win. I am encouraged but will wait to jump on the bandwagon until after we smoke USU.

Insert 2 cents

I must admit, that was the best I've seen a Ute team play in a season opening game ever. Even the '94 team struggled to beat Utah State in the opener. During that game, I saw some good things, and some bad. Luckily, the good far outweigh the bad.

Things I liked:

1. Chris Christensen - I feel bad for being upset when he was announced as a starter. He was awesome. Don't hate me, but I compare him to the prototypical BYU receiver of the late 80's. He's not overly quick or big, but he runs clean routes, and had freakin' great hands. He didn't drop a single pass yesterday, and threw some good blocks downfield. He earned his scholarship.

2. The play of the secondary - sure, they gave up some plays, but they were never burned deep, and for the most part were solid on 3rd and long situations. Andre Dyson had a great game. If he's consistent this year, our defense could be better than last year's.

3. Kicking Game - I don't care if Whetman's first FG was only 48 yards. It was dead center, and had a lot of leg behind it. I hope that his miss was an aberration. Only a few more games will tell.

4. Overall Defensive Play - The line looked suspect early on, but then started getting to the QB with only a 4 man rush. They held the running game under 100 yds. There were very few missed tackles, and no chokes in crucial situations.

5. (and this is the biggest) Darnell - He actually looked like a QB yesterday. He made the throws on 3rd and long, used his speed to evade the blitz and throw the pass instead of taking off, and made the defense pay for blitzing by scrambling in appropriate situations. He looked poised and comfortable, and like he was actually having a good time.

Things I didn't like:

1. I know it didn't make a difference in the game, but I was mad they gave up the score in the 4th quarter. It was unnecessary. I'm not a proponent of running up the score by any means, but it appeared as if the defense packed it in when WSU was making their 80 yard drive. If they do that in a blowout, it's hard to tell how they'll react to a team doing that in a close game.

2. Injuries - If you'd have asked me before the game the players we could not afford to lose to injury, I'd have put them in order: Darnell, Kautai, John Frank, and then Kimball Christianson and a receiver. I was wrong. There are a lot of players who are less expendible than these two since I was proven wrong by the depth of our receiving corps and the pretty decent play of Colby Knight. But, Kimball is our best secondary player, (though he may have been passed by Andre Dyson yesterday) and we're already starting one walk-on in the secondary. Plus, the play in which he was injured was one of the dirtiest plays I've ever seen. That O-Lineman was blatantly trying to injure Kimball by rolling over his knee. Kimball's lucky he wasn't hurt worse.

3. Did I mention that the play that took out Kimball was FREAKIN' DIRTY?!

Well, I hope we build on this and not get cocky. The other MWC teams looked good yesterday, and we have a long way to go. We've easily got the potential to win the league this year, though. I just hope we can realize that potential.

Despite the outcome, I believe that this team has alot of room for improvement as well as the ability to accomplish alot. The next big test will be more mental than physical. Getting up for WSU of the PAC-10 was probably not difficult as most of the players felt they had something to prove. Getting up for Utah State in light of yesterday's outcome might be a little more difficult. We need to come out against Utah State with intensity and mental toughness. We need to control the game early and not let USU believe they have a chance to win. As for yesterday's game, I would rate the performance of the various components as follows:

QB: Very efficient. He ran when he needed to but did not take uneccessary risks with his body. His 10-15 yd. passes were on target. He did a better job running the play-action.

RB: Stronger as the game went on. Does Mike Anderson look bigger and stronger or what? He reminds me alot of Jamal with his ability to make the first defender miss. Anderson and Bacon form a very nice 1-2 punch. Mac continued to fail to use the RB's in the passing game, although they did make some nice blocks in pass protection.

TE: Still blockers and not pass catchers.

OL: Very solid performance. The center did a very nice job considering his lack of size and experience.

WR: Losing Russell could be a problem if Wells and Lundy do not recover. Christensen showed that he can get open and catch the ball. Smith showed some good speed. We use the lazer screen too much.

Kicking: Whetman had a good start and Hunter coninues to do a fine job.

DL: Very good against the run. We still need a more consistant pass rush.

LB: Wes Tuguga looks as if he's gained 30 lbs. He'll do very nice at MLB.

DB: Still a weakness in my mind. We have good hitters, but our cover guys still seem to be off the ball more often than not. Part of the problem is a lack of a strong pass rush. We didn't bl;itz much, but that may say more about our cover guys than the coaches willingness to blitz. It may also have been due to our control of the line of scrimage.

Go UTES!!! Next game: Utah 35 - USU 13

1- First half plays: 25 passes, ~10 runs. If nothing else, it sends a message to the MWC that we're no longer just a running team. Stack 8 guys in the box and let our WR's go 1v1, and we'll eat your lunch.

2- Washington State looked like Utah last year. Just as they started to get any kind of momentum, they would kill themselves with penalties/stupid plays.

3- Someone got McBride's ear and told him to get the coach's to mix up the play calling. Passing on first down. Lots of play-action. Hell, I about had a seizure when I saw us run a reverse. Anyone wonder if that was supposed to be Clifford Russell running that reverse?

4- The defense even mixed it up. Go Colby Knight! The guy weighs 1/2 of what those RB's do but he just throws himself in there. I loved watching him on kickoffs last year. It'll be fun to watch him play that position this year (especially if Christensen is hurt).

5- O-Line grade: A+. Even with a converted defensive lineman playing one of the most important positions on the field.

Bottom line, WSU sucked, but they'd still beat over 70% of the D1 teams out there. They've got size and experience. They won't compete in the PAC-10, but there's some good football teams in that conference.

Anyone have any injury updates (Russell, Christensen)?

Matt Smith

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