I know the Utes played like idiots some of the time, but they did dominate, and more importantly, they won. The monkey's off their backs, and I personally feel like I've been at the dentist's office needing a root canal, and now the Novacaine's finally kicking in.

However any of us feels about McBride, the program needs to have something other than a disastrous season this year, and a loss to USU would have been an utter disaster (and an 0-5 record). Bitter as we might be about lost opportunities and a botched season, we needed this-- and let's be happy about it, if only for that reason!

Some observations:

Kaneshiro made all his PAT's. (I'll take bright spots wherever I can find them.)

If Arceneaux says anything about the football gods suddenly liking the Utes, I think we should form a posse and take him out and shoot him.

UNLV is leading Air Force right now, late in the third quarter. They might be better than everyone thinks they are. And maybe BYU's narrow win over them isn't so bad.

OTOH, BYU is getting slaughtered by a bad Syracuse team-- 28-0, early in the second quarter. Can't hear the game, but the BYU defense looks pretty porous-- three of Syracuse's four TDs came on a 61-yard run, an 18-yard run, and an 81-yard pass. So maybe BYU is just weak this year. (Their excuses about the "unfair" scheduling of their first four games don't seem to work with this one.)

OTOH, if BYU's weak, what are the Utes??? I haven't got much of anywhere to go with that one, do I?

Finally, I don't think we'll be getting much smack from that Wyoming fan who was posting. The Pokes got creamed by New Mexico, 45-10.

I get the impression the naysayers wanted an embarassing defeat to justify and accelerate their agenda.

Damn this board is quiet after a convincing victory!

I watch team after nationally prominent team make mistakes like delay of game, false starts, ad nauseum and yet their fans aren't asking for their coaches' heads. God forbid Gary Barnett came to Utah instead of Colorado - we would have treated him to 30,000 crowds and would be asking for *his* head.

I wonder if there is *anything* Mac could do to satisfy these wolves.

What decent coach on Earth would want to take this position? Maybe one who was looking at us like a stepping stone, like Wyoming gets all the time.

Hello ! ? ! We WON ! ! ! Convincingly ! ! !

The Utes looked good and they really were beating down the Aggies late in the game. They weren't perfect though, and this was against a team picked to finish last in the Big West. Dumb penalties are still there and Arceneaux did only complete 9 passes. Tate looked very good. Time will tell.

As for the crowd, they get almost 30K in Logan for this game and we can't pull 25K to the Homecoming game against a conference opponenent. That's embarrassing for us.

Go Utes!!

I have several points that I would like to address...mostly in response to Great Basin Ute and a few other Polyannas....

1) To assume that the Ute's woes come from lack of fan support is alarming. I certainly think that the Ute's woes are more directly related to coaching. From what I have read, the team didn't improve as much as the quality of opponent dropped off substantially this week. Fan support will come with wins......also, I have to believe that if FSU played in a stadium with only 20,000 fans, they would win.
Great Basin Ute also stated that he/she believes that recruiting is hurt by fan support....I agree to some degree...however, if I were a recruit, I would be more concerned by the lack of player development....the only things that have stopped Jamal Anderson in the last 6 years.....Ron McBride and an injury. How can you explain that? Who has Mac developed as a player? Arceneaux is the same player that he was when he got here... I think that if the coaching staff developed and took advantage of the talent on the team (including disciplining them!!!), the TEAM WOULD LIVE UP TO EXPECTATIONS AND FAN SUPPORT WOULD INCREASE!

2) You stated that perhaps this win would calm the tide of fans calling for Mac's head. I hope you are wrong for a couple of reasons. First, I would hope that fans wouldn't call for a coach's job after a single season's 0-4 start. I In addition, to think that we should be satisfied with a win against a piss poor Aggie team when the team is assessed over 100 yards in penalties...... UNBELIEVABLE!??!?!?! There are still MAJOR problems with this team........problems that have been apparent and worsening for several seasons.

I will continue to be a fan of the Utes. I am not a fan of winning, I am a fan of the team. That is why I continue to care about this team......winning is obviously not the draw. I was raised right...by a father who taught me to love Ute athletics, to go to every home game, to arrive on time and NEVER, EVER leave early. When I return to live in Utah, I will continue this tradition. When I have children, they will be taught the same. In spite of this, I am not a fan of any INDIVIDUAL that is associated with the U's athletics if that persons continued employment/playing time prohibits the TEAM from realizing it's potential. Sadly, I think that Ron McBride falls into this category..........

Your thoughts are appreciated!

OK a win is a win and I am very happy we won. BUT

1. We had SIX personal fouls on Saturday. That has to be close to a record. Two of three aggies scores were helped in a big way because of these penalties.

2. Two miss handled snaps. One of which cost us a TD that could have put the game away. Instead the momentum changes and the next thing you know we are tied.

3. Still poor play calling in my opinion. The 1st drive we punt from the 35. Why?

4. Arceneaux'a passing is till something to be desired.

5. Our Dbacks continue to give up big pass plays. What will happen when we face a real QB?

6. I don't beleive we played any better Saturday than we have played this season. We just played an awful team. (Sorry Aggies)

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE:

1. Arceneaux's running ability was as good as ever Saturday.

2. I like Cliff Russell more and more and he is just a junior.

3. Tate is proving to be a very solid running back and Hunter a solid back up.

4. Josh Savage came in off the bench and played well until he got injured. I hope it won't prove to be too serious.

There have been good things every week. But we need to put it all together without bone headed mistakes to win on a consistant basis.

For starter those of you who decided to stay home and watch the game on the WB, I hope your reception was poor and you were forced to do odd jobs all day. You missed a great day for Fball not to mention a small yet very intoit Utah crowd.

Offense, in general. Just one new twist this week with the qb draw. It worked each time and once for a TD. Dispite the critics TL called a good offensive game. USU defensive front is terrible and we ran around 80% of the time on first down. We weren't overly efficent but good enough to win.

QB- Darnell will never be a true QB. Defenses are leaving receivers once Darnell drops his head. Once in the first quarter Darnell had #89 and #1 wide open for touchdowns downfield, but never saw them due to happy feet. We can't afford to have our 5th year Sr fumbling snaps inside the 20 yard line. Dispite great reviews in Sunday papers I don't give Darnell more then a C+.

RB- Great game for Tate (133 3TD). He punished a weak D front. Hunter fumbled inside the 10 (even though we got it back) we can't do that. A-

OL- Great game for the OL. Pushed around a weak DL all day. Gave Tate plenty of holes and Darnell had plenty of time to throw (even though he would never use it). A+

Defense in general. Good performance but way to many gifts to USU. Good teams will take advantages of those stupid Defensive penalties. One or two of them were bad calls but once you develop that bad reputation you never get the benefit of the doubt. Kyle W. was blitzing more then any Ute team I've seen.

DL- Stuffed the run all day. Put great pressure on their QB with a 4 man rush. Dumb penalties by Garrett Smith (3 or 4 personal fouls in 5 games) and Kaufusi. I wonder if there is a team penalty (run your ass off) for picking up a personal fouls. B- (penalties factored in)

LB- Stuffed the run, put good pressure on their QB, too many penalties. B

DB- Patrick Dyson was toast all day long. Never played the ball once. His pick was a poorly thrown ball in which he left his man to help. If USU didn't get that personal foul on a deep ball that put them at the 5 yrd line we were in big trouble. Andre played well. Great pick in the 1st quarter, they didn't go against Andre very often. Safeties played well, Christensen, Parker and Potter. Dart has always been overly aggressive. You'll continue to see personal fouls from him. Why is it that the younger players make less mental mistakes then the older players? C

K/P- 5 for 5 in PAT's (that's expected). We still have a major kicking problem. Whetman remembers to run on the field, killed the ball inside the 10 once or twice and consistanly kicked the ball out of the endzone. C+

I noticed a difference in watching the team warm up. They seemed to be taking it more seriously. No Steve Smith sliding one handed catch attempts. Watching Smith sitting on his ass in the 4 quarter on the side line made me sick. We wonder why Whetman forgets to run on the field. This guy may be a great player but I wouldn't be surprised if he is a cancer in the clubhouse.

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