Happy Tuesday Cougs, and welcome to another spring fish wrap. After last week, we’ve now got ten of these things in the can, and just two more left as we look at all 2011 WSU opponents coming out of spring ball. And today we check out one of our newest Pac-12 brothers, the Utah Utes. How are things coming along as they get set to join the Pac-12? Who are these guys anyway? Let’s check ’em out…..
More than likely, you are familiar with Utah’s story – a pretty tough team over the years, but one that definitely hit their stride once Urban Meyer showed up. And although Utah had it’s moments before Meyer, it was an entire culture shift back in 2003 that gave birth to a new age of Utah football, and got them going into what you see today. Meyer was only in Salt Lake for two years, but it was enough to lay the foundation of a strong, competitive, BCS buster for many years to come.
And speaking of “BCS buster”, Utah was really THE original program to fall into that category, as they were the ones who broke through in 2004 with an unbeaten season and the Fiesta Bowl invite. Before the TCU’s, Boise State’s, etc, it was Utah that broke through first in crashing the BCS party. But prior to Meyer’s arrival, Utah had just one 10-win season in it’s history. He was the one who turned the tide for the Utes.
However, that was a long time ago, and the man in charge now deserves just as much credit in keeping the trend on an upward path, and that’s Kyle Whittingham.
Whittingham was a long-time assistant at Utah before taking the head job, including 10 years as the defensive coordinator. After a bit of a transition the first couple of years as head coach, Whittingham has established himself among the nation’s elite, and Utah has now won at least 10 games in each of the last three years, including a 13-0 season in ’08 when they throttled Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
All that recent history out of the way, it remains to be seen how exactly Utah is going to take to the grind of a BCS schedule. Yes, Utah has done quite well against BCS level competition in the modern era, including a 7-3 record against the Pac-12 since 2003. And they have scored some big non-conference wins over the years, of course beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl but also wins over Pittsburgh, Michigan and Texas A & M. But instead of playing a Pac-12 team once or maybe even twice a year, now it’s going to be NINE conference games. As many fans out west will tell you, in a typical season the Pac-12 is a deep, tough conference and you just don’t get many weeks off once that conference schedule gets underway. Even our own Cougs have improved enough to the point that if you don’t show up, you can get beat (just ask Oregon State last year).
I don’t think anyone is doubting that Utah is going to be a fine addition to the conference, and I am definitely in the camp that believes that not only were they a great choice, but that they were more than ready on so many levels to make the leap. And there is no doubting their ability to play with pretty much anyone in the conference. But that weekly grind is something that they are going to have to adjust to, and it’s probably something that they can’t fully prepare for until they experience it.
But here’s the real question I think everyone is asking……wait for it…..what, exactly, is a UTE??
Yeah, I’m sure Utah fans have NEVER heard that one before…..the line made famous by Fred Gwynne/Herman Munster in My Cousin Vinny, where Joe Pesci said “the two ‘utes” when trying to say “youths”. Not to be disrespectful in any way, of course, but from the University of Utah’s official site:
University of Utah athletics teams are known as the “Utes” in honor of the American Indian tribe for which the state of Utah is named. The Utes have inhabited this area of the country for at least 1,000 years. There were originally 12 “Nuche”, or “The People”, bands throughout Utah and Colorado. The Utes were among the first American Indians to acquire the horse as a means of transportation, and in rock writing the Utes are depicted as horses.
After several armed conflicts with Mormon settlers in 1861, the Utes were relocated to the Uintah Basin in northeastern Utah. Today, tribal headquarters are in Fort Duchesne, Utah, and the Ute Tribe, with a membership of 3,300 and its own tribal government, remains a vibrant part of the state. The University of Utah, in cooperation with the Ute Tribal Business Committee, is proud to share in the tradition of the Ute tribe through the “Utes” nickname.
[The University’s mascot, “Swoop,” represents the red-tailed hawk, a bird indigenous to the state of Utah.]
Got it? Good.
2010: 10-3, 7-1 in the Mountain West. Utah had a fantastic start to the year, sprinting out to an 8-0 start and in the BCS bowl conversation yet again, climbing as high as #6 in the polls. But then they faced off vs. TCU, and well, it was UGLY. The Horned Frogs rolled the Utes in Salt Lake, 47-7, in a game that was an epic disaster. Utah would end up losing two more games, including a tough letdown loss at Notre Dame the week after TCU, and an uninspired game vs. Boise State in the Vegas Bowl, ending the season with a thud.
LAST TIME vs. WSU: Jason Gesser brought the Cougs into Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2000, and WSU left with a 38-21 win. Gesser threw four TD passes, including three in the first quarter, as the Cougs won their first game of the 2000 season.
2010 OFFENSIVE RATINGS
RUSHING OFFENSE: 152.9 ypg, 5th in the MWC/62nd in the country
PASSING OFFENSE: 236.1 ypg, 2nd in the MWC/47th in the country
TOTAL OFFENSE: 389 ypg, 4th in the MWC/52nd in the country
SCORING OFFENSE: 33.1 ppg, 3rd in the MWC/23rd in the country
OFFENSIVE SCHEME: It’s a whole new deal at Utah, as Norm Chow brings his west coast offense to the Utes after so many years in some form of the spread offense that Urban Meyer made so famous. Chow’s west coast scheme utilizes a pro set, with a fullback and tight end usually a regular part of the offense.
2011 RETURNING STARTERS – OFFENSE: Utah returns seven starters on offense, including the QB, two wide receivers, tight end, and three offensive linemen.
TOP RETURNING OFFENSIVE PLAYER: Some pretty good players have left, including top rushers Eddie Wide and Matt Asiata, as well as leading receiver Jerome Brooks. They do get DeVonte Christopher back, who led the team in receiving yards (660), yards per catch (16.9) and TD catches (6) last year. But there is very little doubt that the top returning offensive player is QB Jordan Wynn.
Wynn put up some pretty strong numbers as a sophomore last year, throwing for 2,334 yards and 17 TD’s, but it was kind of an up-and-down year for the QB. Wynn hurt his thumb vs. Pittsburgh in the opener and missed a couple of starts, but hit his stride midway through the season. However, he struggled in the TCU and Notre Dame losses, and then injured his shoulder vs. BYU in the season finale, knocking him out of the bowl game vs. Boise State. Wynn has been successful when healthy, now 11-4 as a starter, but he missed spring ball due to the shoulder injury and durability is starting to be a bit of a concern for the 6-1, 195 pounder. He is fully projected to be healthy by the start of camp in August, but he will have to learn Chow’s new offense in a hurry to get ready for the start of 2011. Still, when it’s all said and done Wynn has shown tremendous flashes of excellence, and is clearly the top offensive returning starter.
2010 DEFENSIVE RATINGS
RUSHING DEFENSE: 111.7 ypg, #2 in the MWC/11th in the country
PASSING DEFENSE: 225.2 ypg, 7th in the MWC/73rd in the country
TOTAL DEFENSE: 336.9 ypg, #3 in the MWC/27th in the country
SCORING DEFENSE: 20.3 ppg, #2 in the MWC/24th in the country
2011 RETURNING STARTERS – DEFENSE: Five starters are back on D, including two defensive linemen and three linebackers.
TOP RETURNING DEFENSIVE PLAYER: Three of the top four tacklers are back, including sophomore-to-be linebacker Brian Blechen, who led the team wtih four INT’s as a safety last year but now moves to strongside linebacker. But middle linebacker Chaz Walker, the senior, looks like the top returning defender for 2011.
While not exactly your NFL prototype in terms of size at 6-0, 216 lbs, Walker gets the job done as the heart of the middle of the defense. Walker led the team with an impressive 113 tackles, just two shy of leading the MWC in that cateogry, and had a team-high 5 tackles for loss. He earned second team MWC honors, and is already on several all-Pac-12 first and second teams in the preseason. He should have a huge senior year as the leader of the Utah D.
TOP POST SPRING QUESTIONS: 1) With so many starters gone on D, are they up to the task of what lies ahead? While they do boast five returners out of the front seven, well, Blechen does move from safety to linebacker. So Utah is running out four new starters in the secondary this year. The Utes did have 29 sacks last year, but lose Lamar Chapman, who led the team with 6.5 sacks last season. Walker is the leading sack guy from last year coming back, but he had just two sacks in all of 2010. Conroy Black is a senior, and projected to start at one corner, but had just 1 start last season. And that’s pretty much it for the starters in terms of starting experience! They do like Ryan Lacy at the other corner spot, and he can flat-out fly with a reported 4.3 40-time. But Lacy missed the 2010 season due to injury, and had just 7 tackles in 2009. Let’s just say the Utes are going to have to get a strong performance early out of the defensive front in order to help the new starters break in for 2011.
2) With Wynn coming back off injury, what happens if he can’t go? Last year they were OK when Wynn went down, at least to a certain extent. Senior backup Terrance Cain led the team to a couple of wins early in the year, and overall threw for 703 yards and 6 TD’s in place of Wynn. But Cain is now gone, and the big concern is what happens if Wynn can’t go over the rigors of a tough season? Right now it looks like frosh Tyler Shreve and sophomore Griff Robles will enter August in a battle for the backup job, and between them they have yet to complete a pass at the division I level. Combine that inexperience with oh yeah, a brand new offensive scheme in Norm Chow’s west coast attack, and, well, let’s just say Ute fans are hoping Wynn is ready to roll by the opener!
3) And the schedule? It’s definitely one of the tougher schedules in Utah history based on the fact that they play nine Pac-12 games. They also have road games at BYU and at Pittsburgh, and both of those should be tough. But after opening against Montana State, this whole Pac-12 thing gets real in a hurry – they go to SC and open Pac-12 play in the Coliseum! They do get a break though, in that of the two teams they miss on the Pac-12 north? How about Oregon AND Stanford, probably the two best teams in the Pac-12 in 2011! They get five conference games at home, including three of their last five.
POST SPRING RAMBLINGS, DOT-DOT-DOT STYLE…..One huge key for Utah over the years and their recent run of success has been turnover ratio. Utah has been in the plus side of turnover ratio in five of the last seven years, including +5 in 2009, + 13 in 2008, + 11 in 2007 and the high-water mark of +15 in 2004. Their two best marks – +13 in ’08 and +15 in ’04 – saw them go a combined 25-0 in those seasons, including two BCS bowl wins!…..Kyle Whittingham has had a great run so far, now up to 57-20 overall in his career. Utah has gone an impressive 35-13 in the MWC in that time frame, and have now gone 11-5 vs. BCS teams. And Whittingham has led them to a 5-1 bowl record as well, the lone bowl loss coming vs. Boise State last year. Utah might miss the MWC though, as they finished 26-3 over their last 29 conference games.….Utah’s D has been pretty stingy in the Whittingham era. Last year they allowed 20.3 ppg, but that’s the most they have allowed since 24.1 ppg back in 2005. In four of the last seven years, Utah has allowed less than 20 points per game…..Of all their success, Utah has been especially great at home. They are now 49-9 in the last 10 years at home, and 30-6 under Whittingham in his career…..Whittingham signed the #50 recruiting class last year according to Scout.com, which is pretty much par for the course lately for Utah. They signed the #50 class in 2010, and were #55 in 2009…..Some of the top stops on the web for Utah football are insidetheutes.com, part of Scout.com; Utezone.com, part of Rivals; DeseretNews.com U Sports section; and Utefans.net, a Ute message board community.
All for now. Enjoy your Tuesday, and as always, GO COUGS!
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