Optimism and Realism About the Team

On the optimistic side:

This sounds like a solid game, especially for the first game of the year. Above all, we got a "W." We didn't give the game away. Few mistakes were made. Defense looked good as always, and the offense was not predictable. Yeah, the QB is underwhelming. But at least he didn't make any dumb-dumb plays like last year's guys did. He reminds me a little of Mike McCoy in his early starts, when he was very scary to watch. All in all, it looks like the groundwork is being laid for a decent season. 7-4 might be a reasonable hope.

On the realistic side:

We apparently do not have a QB. If Breska or Elliott could play better than Rice, one of them would be starting. (Unless one subscribes to the "he's Bob Rice's grandson and that's why he's starting," which I do not.) We had better get used to having a journeyman QB who doesn't make bad mistakes, and hope that the sparkling, game-winning plays will be made by others. Not very exciting, but realistic.

Ron McBride will not be dumped in mid-season. He might not ever be dumped, and probably should not be. How do you dump the second-winningest coach in school history, the one who resurrected the program and took us to so many bowl games after almost thirty years with none? Don't get me wrong-- I do not think McBride has the ability to take the program any farther than he has. I just think the University has a real problem in deciding what to do with him.

My prediction: We'll have a 7-4 season at best, and McBride will be "kicked upstairs" like John Robinson was at USC years ago. He'll be in the Park building or at the Alumni Association, doing university relations work or something like it. This will enable the program to move forward, will save Ron's pride, and will be, frankly, the right thing to do.

Thoughts?

Unless the quarterback play improves, we will not have a winning season.

I don't think Mac will be dumped during the season, but he will be gone at the end of the year, again, unless quarterback play improves, primarily because he is losing the support of the fans.

> We apparently do not have a QB. If Breska or Elliott could play
> better than Rice, one of them would be starting. (Unless one
> subscribes to the "he's Bob Rice's grandson and that's why
> he's starting," which I do not.)

I do not subscribe the "Bob Rice's grandson" theory. But I do subscribe to the "Coach Mac is clueless about quarterbacks" theory. Rice is lousy and, if Breska and Elliot aren't better, then Mac should have found someone who is. Rice is a super nice kid, but he just hasn't shown D-I ability.

Good post. I agree that McBride probably won't take the program any further but should be allowed to serve out his contract since he has done a pretty good job in his tenure. And the U would be wise to promote him upstairs at the end of his contract. It's just a shame that he hasn't had much luck with quarterbacks when he has done well with 20 of the other 22 positions. (The tight-end position hasn't done well, IMO but correct me if I'm wrong on this one.)

After reading this board yesterday and today I wanted to sound off on a couple of things.

First of all, there are a few reasons to be pessimistic about our football team after seeing one game, but I feel there are a whole lot more reasons to be optimistic. Yes, Rice sucked last night. He had a case of the yips and couldn't make easy throws. It reminded me of Chuck Knoblauch's demise. But (as silly as it may sound) Rice played a fine game other than the throwing part. He did have the fumble, but other than that he made good reads, kept his cool and led the team well. I agree with Diehard Ute that we should give him at least one more game to execute those throws and maybe if he still stinks we should make a change then. It's not like he's going to cost us a winnable game this week.

The other prevailing point of pessimism is that Utah State sucks and we should have beaten them by more. The game wasn't nearly as close as the score indicates, but yes, we should have won by about three or four touchdowns if Rice would have made a few throws (see above), BUT when have we blown Utah State out? Almost every time we play (even in '94) the Aggies hang tough for at least three quartes. That's exactly what happened last night only we let up at the end and they burned us. A lesson will be learned from that (and better now than later).

So I'm not ready to chalk the season up like last year just because Rice stunk and we couldn't beat Utah State by more. I saw many points of optimism. Let's start with only having four penalties. When was the last time that happened? Only one turnover? Another great sign. Contrary to what some have said, the offense is much different than last year's. I liked the way we mixed it up. The playcalling was good and Ver Steeg has said he has saved a lot of stuff for next week. The players also seemed to have their heads in the game and played with more enthusiasm overall than what we ever saw last week. Don't get me wrong we have a LONG way to go, but I think we are on the right track.

That brings me to the last point. I would like to see Mac keep his job next year even if we finish with a losing record this year. We have a chance to be very good next year and we'll have a much more favorable conference schedule than this year. I say this year is a time to build and next year should be Mac's final test. If we suck next year then his time has come, but I think he deserved the chance. We only lose about six senior starters from this team. Russell will be a big loss, but we have a nice crop of receivers aside from him, plus we get Lynzell Jackson next year. We lose Kaufusi, Ta'amu and Wilson on the O-line and replacing them will be the key to a next year. Defensively we lose Ma'ake, Dwinnell and Yohance Scott, but we have guys like Kasey Jackson, Zach Tune and Antonio Young waiting in the wings. I'm sure Kyle will have the D ready once again, plus we have two safeties that are going to play on Sundays that are only sophomores.

Like I said, I'm optimistic. There are some young stars in this program. If we can continue to keep expectations low this year and just work on getting better the next couple of years have the potential to be very good.

GO UTES!!!!!