First off, I am having a real difficult time believing that our program is getting any better. It seems every year we as fans have to put up with this bullshit. I can forgive a team if they are overmatched physically and talent-wise, but what I cannot tollerate is lack of execution, lack of desire, and overall ineptitude when the abilities to achieve and win are placed squarely in one's hands.

Notes from the game:

-I find it utterly inexcusable for the offense to be so anemic. You can blame players for poor execution with what happens on the field, but ultimate blame has to fall on the shoulders of poor coaching and preparation. I've seen high school teams with much better execution than what I've seen the last two weeks out of the Ute offense. How much patience does Mac have with Tommy Lee? I sure hope it has run out, for everyone's sake.

-There is no question that Crockett isn't a solid D1 back. If so, you would see some creativity out of him. I see nothing. Again, only so much blame can be placed on the OL, but a RB is responsible for making things happen regardless. Barry Sanders did amazing things for years with a piss-poor OL with the Lions. In the little bit that Hunter played, it appeared he can do much more than Crockett. I say start him next week.

-TD should only play the rest of the year if Darnell is unable or the others (Alvarez and Rice) can't prove themselves worthy as the first backup. Where has all the poise and promise we saw from TD last year. He looks like nothing more than a second-rate Div II quarterback. I don't thinks he would even start at Southern Utah. Darnell is a leader, and even though he may not be very accurate on his reads and his passes, the guys on offense seem to respond better when he is in. TD is just plain soft and just not a good QB.

-I feel sorry for Kyle Whittingham. Did anyone else notice on the TV broadcast the "stink-eye" he was giving Mac after every bum play on offense. You just got to feel for this guy. I wonder if he wants Tommy Lee gone just as bad as everyone else. In a word, the defense was again awesome today. It's unfortunate that they maybe playing with one of the worst offenses in the country.

-Will Golden Whetman and Phillipe Wells still be on the team next week? Note to Golden: I'd chain your helmet to one of your earings so next time you don't misplace it. That was rediculous. As for Wells, what a bonehead. How can one be so selfish and not think about the implications of not getting back to the line quick enough in the closing seconds so Utah could get off another play?!? Utterly embarrasing. Which leads to the next point....

-How much longer are we going to put up this kind of coaching, especially from RonnieMac? Every year we go through these stupid lapses, it's now expected that the Utes will embarass themselves time and time again. Note to MAC: Enough with the "MAFU" bullshit. If you really cared about this at all, your players wouldn't pull the crap they do all the time. It's time for some new magic mud karma to roll around in because the MAFU shit is just plain stupid. If Mac were truly dedicated to these slogans, you'd see a well-oiled machine out on the field every Saturday, not a Ringling Bros. Circus. Belive it or not, it's getting easier and easier to stomach these lousy losses because it's expected that the Utes will embarass themselves often.

I know some of my comments will annoy, especially the Mac "loyalists" that defend him constantly. That's fine, and I don't give a rat's ass. What I do care about is seeing a team that doesn't struggle to find focus and execution, regardless whether they are the better team or not. There are those that say Ute football is better now than it used to be, especially when defending Mac and the team after a loss like this. That is one of the stupidest excuses I've ever heard. You should always be striving for excellence, and frankly, this team doesn't strive for excellence on a constant basis. How long do we have to suffer through crap like THIS?

and I don't think I am a Mac loyalist, I've just been saying that aftre all he's done for the program, we owe him the benefit of the doubt.

A few more games like today's and last week's, however, and Mac won't have any support. Not from me, anyway.

Maybe they could make him a special assistant to President Machen and move Whittingham up to head coach. What would you think of that?

Nothing like that could happen till the end of the season anyway. We'll have to suffer through this season at least. I wish I could say the Utes are through embarrassing themselves this year, but who can say that now?

Time will tell. This is not going to be a fun season. I hope I am wrong about that.

"I don't know what that guy was thinking" when talking about Whetman on the sidelines with his head up his ass. Newsflash Mac, you are the head coach and if this guy can't keep his head in the game he shouldn't be playing!

He made the same comments about Wells not getting back to the line and the Utes losing one more play.

Marcroft and Dolce were commenting on the missed TD call, I had to listen on the net so I don't know if it was caught and the PI call on Smith. The bottom line is that you can't put yourself in a position to rely on a call. Way too many missed opportunities.

Although the Utes scored 21 the offense only accounted for 7.

As I type this Marcroft and Dolce commented about the lack of team discipline. I ask this question for I think the forth or fifth year in a row; who's fault is that?

It's maddening that Utah seems to have that problem in football year after year. I agree that's a coaching issue because they provide the leadership, but these players are old enough to take control of themselves. My thoughts on distinctive Saturday snafus:

Whetman can't find helmet and we take a delay of game -- Just lucky he made it. How can a guy more than 8 years old lose track of his helmet? It seems to me every player should be ready all the time should they need to get in there. Having your equipment seems to be part of that.

Wells gets busy trash talking and takes too much time off the clock when there was none to spare -- Inexcusable, but understandable in the modern game where the mouth is too much a part of it. To compare to basketball, Big Rick doesn't allow trash talking and we never get burned by really stupid crap like this one. McBride should take a page of Rick's on this and ban it. Let the football do the talking.

Field goal team not ready and makes potential tying field goal 55 yards long -- Almost too stupid for words.

This is shaping up to be a very disappointing year. Mostly we can get through it if players and coaches look like there's good effort. Without discipline on the field, they look like morons. I hope someone turns some screws on this during this week's practice.

When Cal's TE caught the ball for a first down, Norseth says "It's just not fair to the Utah defense. They don't see the interior players catching the ball in practice."

I just about fell off the couch I was laughing so hard...

Good job Mike!

U-Ute

I SWEAR I read on this board earlier this year that Tommy Lee was leaving Utah. I remember thinking, "There is a God!" I remember that warm, fuzzy feeling a Ute fan gets when he thinks that next year's offense would have different plays. Plays that work. Plays that the opposing defense isn't already prepared for. I remember feeling the optimism that stems from the very thought that a new offensive coach would be willing to make adjustments at halftime. To come out of the locker room with a fresh plan of attack. One who would have already ironed out plans B, C and D, before the game.

These dreams and hopes are based on some of the debacles I witnessed last season. Fortunately, circumstances have prevented me from suffering through the first two games of this season. Last weekend, I was out of town for a wedding. This weekend I had to work and help my mother move. I was only able to catch glimpses of both games.

I managed to catch the last 5 minutes of the game yesterday. I saw something I couldn't believe. I saw the back actually run off-tackle--something that Cal obviously wasn't expecting--instead of the same old "ram it down the middle" approach. I saw Utah's offense score a touchdown. The first of the year. The first one in eight quarters of football.

Then I saw another Stevonne Smith miracle. I got a little excited, but was still skeptical. I shook my head and thought how stupid it is that our special teams and defense have to keep bailing out our impotent offense.

Then I learned that an earlier touchdown return was called back on a penalty. That figures. Smith's second return would have been the go-ahead score for the win. But it wasn't. Utah's lack of discipline kept us from winning again.

But now my thoughts take me back to the BYU-Florida State game. The commentators mentioned how FSU teams have always been penalty-prone. They had something like the 3rd highest penalty yardage in the nation last year, yet still managed to get over week in and week out and haul in the trophy.

How would that be? How would it be that your team could fuck up all it wanted and still dominate 8 out of 10 opponents, eek by the good ones, and bring home the title?

So, how much blame can we put on Tommy Lee and the coaches? A lot. I've seen undermanned, undersized, and undertalented Idaho, Utah State, Boise State, and other teams, roll over Utah and whack us. They wack us with ingenius play calling. Totally off-the-wall calls that you'd never expect.

Kind of like Wyoming last year. How many times did the 'Boys run that play where the man in motion would run behind the QB just as the ball was snapped? Our defense looked totally, uncomprehensibly unprepared for that. Was it the first time they had unveiled it that season? And where is Utah's inventive play? Oh, yeah, it's called "the duck" or "the Anaheim" or, as I call it, "the I can't believe they're trying that stupid play again that hasn't worked since it was renamed 'the Anaheim.'"

Normally, after a summer of baseball, golf, and tennis being the only sports to watch, I'm really geeked for football to start. Well, I am still geeked for football, just not particularly geeked to spend 5 hours at R-E Stadium watching another debacle while gnawing on a turkey leg and finding the scenery walking by and the frat-boy antics to be more interesting than the game.

McBride is an unusually superstitious man. I wonder if he's still clinging to the memories of 1994. Something worked that season. There were specific plays that worked and players to work them. It makes me wonder if he's been trying to recapture that "magic" for the past 6 years, but with different personnel and players? Is he holding to some superstitious notion that it worked before so, dammit, it's going to work again?

Like I said, I thought Tommy Lee had left Utah and I was pumped. I must have missed that follow-up post that said it was all a joke.

Go Utes! (I guess)
UtahBoy

 
• First and foremost, our offensive line sucks. They're getting blown off of the ball. They're getting manhandled. They're getting pounded. They did a bit better in the second half against Cal than they did in the first half, but it still won't cut it. We'll be lucky to be a .500 team if this line doesn't improve.
• TD vs Arceneaux. Who cares. It doesn't matter. We could have Joe Montana back there, and without an offensive line, he'll just get killed. I believe that's the reason Arceneaux looks better than TD. When the defense blows through our used tissue of an offensive line, Arceneaux has the ability to run for his life, TD doesn't. Plus, the offensive line *did* seem to block a little better in the second quarter, and even improved in the second half after Arceneaux went in. They just seem to respond to him better for whatever reason.
• Running backs. Again, who cares. Without an offensive line, it doesn't matter who you give the ball to. Mike Anderson showed that yesterday. Not to take away anything from Mike who had an awesome game, but My God those holes were huge. My grandma could've gotten a 100 yards behind that offensive line. If I had to choose though, I'd have to agree that we need a big back carrying the ball. Someone who can fight his way through traffic on his way back to the line of scrimmage.
 
• Crockett The Rocket. I love how quick this guy is, but sometimes he is too quick. Sometimes he needs to slow up and wait for his blockers to get into position. Cal's RB (#6 - Igbor?) is about the same size as Crockett, but he was a lot more patient. Then again, waiting for our offensive line to throw a block is like waiting for Orrin Hatch to act intelligent.
• Receivers. Stevonne Smith alternatively astounds me and anguishes me. He does stupid things that make you wonder where his head is, then the guy keeps finding the end zone. You have to love his desire to get out there and block when the opportunity arises. You gotta love his ability to run punts back for touchdowns. You gotta be terrified that all his extra effort is going to result in fumbles each time he touches the ball. As for Wells, you gotta believe that all the time he's spending with Stevonne is rubbing off on him. Stupidity is contaigous sometimes.
• Tight ends. Do we have any? I'm still chuckling about Norseth's comment.
• Defense. They rock. Our front 4 have been able to put defensive pressure on opposing QB's. They might need to be a little stronger against the run is the only thing I can criticize.
• Special teams. Who the hell gets flagged for a delay of game penalty on an extra point? What the hell was that all about? Same thing late in the game when we're shooting for the field goal. That's just horrible. On the flip-side, you gotta love feeling like you always have a chance for a TD when they're kicking to Smith. When we got that TD and we stuffed them in their own endzone, I was thinking this would be a really good opportunity for Smith to run one back. He didn't fail me.

KoulAid Kougar
(aka: U-Ute)
 

its about time for basketball. This football season stinks for all the schools in Utah. These teams all seem to be heading in the wrong direction. BYU and Utah are middle of the road football schools who can win a big game against some big-name school who is having a down year. I am getting tired of wasting my time following this crap. I can hardly wait for basketball to start. At least there is more of a chance at doing well in that sport for Utah and BYU.

AlbertaBlue

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