If They Could Say It: Utah

Submitted by Ron Utah on

If They Could Say It is my attempt to give the real answers people would give if it wouldn't cause a media sh;tstorm.  Typically, I'll have the Head Coach and Coordinators answer questions, and may also include other coaches, players, or personnel.

Coach Harbaugh

How did you feel about the team's performance tonight?

I hate losing.  We should have won this game.  We're far from perfect, but we had our opportunities, and we blew it.

What opportunities did you miss?

Did you watch?  It's real obvious.  We missed wide open TD passes.  We can't do that.  We dropped a couple easy catches.  We threw a pick-6 in a key moment.  We missed a couple of holes in the running game.  We didn't even keep our onside kick in play.  

Talk about the interception for a TD.

Just a bad, bad read.  The play is a fade-out combo where the outside receivers run fades and the slots run quick outs.  Butt runs a hitch.  Grant Perry was the least open of the five options.  Now, the thing that will take some time, is that we should have recognized pre-snap that Ty Isaac had a 15-yard cushion and just thrown  a screen to him.  But that takes time and practice...we're not there yet.

What were the good things?

There were actually a lot of good things.  In the second half, even with some obvious short yardage runs that we blew, we improved our yard per carry by 1.5.  The receivers were getting some separation and we were hitting some passes.  Jake Butt was always open and had an amazing game.  Peppers annihilated a few plays.  And, while his screw-ups probably cost us the game, Rudock made several plays that also kept us in it.

Tim Drevno

How did you feel about the run-blocking?

How do you feel when some one punches you in the groin?  It sucked.  The first half was terrible.  We played soft and tentative.  Came out in the second half and played better, but we have a long way to go.

What about the fourth-and-short play?

Lots of people are piling on Kalis for missing a block on his pull, but Braden's execution was just as bad or worse.  He allowed himself to give up almost two yards and gave an easy angle for the pursuit.  Actually, he was our worst lineman today, and probably our worst offensive player.

Are there any plays you'd call differently?

First, Jim calls the plays.  Here's the thing: we had more than our fair share of chances to make big plays, and we blew it.  Two wide open TDs, a few running lanes that could have been huge gains, and a few dropped passes that could have changed things.  We could easily have had over 400 yards and 30 points in this game.  Have to make those plays to be a great team.

What were the positives you saw?

Jake Butt is probably the best TE in the nation.  That TD catch is one of the best plays I've ever seen.  I mean, the defender has his had on the ball, Jake is at the peak of his jump, and he still manages to pull it in, no question.  That's even a catch by the weird NFL standards.  And the pass pro.  If we can protect that well all season, we'll be in good shape and we'll hit some of those bombs.

What does the OL have to do to improve?

Simple: not play softer than a pair of Twin City socks.  We had the right mentality in the second half.  We'll get better, or you'll see new guys on the field.

DJ Durkin

What happened on the Utah TD drives?

What happened?  We had a couple bad series.  Missed some reads, played out of our gaps, and let their QB walk into the endzone.  But you know what?  College kids are often going to have a couple bad series in a game.  We'll get better.  This was our first action with live bullets in our defense.

Who looked good?

The DL was pretty strong.  There was no space for one of the best RBs in the country to run between the tackles.  Wormley and Henry really did their jobs.

Who didn't look as good?

Brian obviously jinxed the LBs.  Morgan didn't have his best day, and Bolden couldn't make tackles even though he was in the right spots.  Ross might see more PT, especially against spread teams.  Stribling was meh.  Peppers woke up in the second half.

Comments

ST3

September 4th, 2015 at 7:16 PM ^

and not just because I agree with you on the Kalis thing.

I keep picturing Denard running that play. I know he's a QB, not a RB so it's a little different, but how many times did he put his hand on his lineman's back, wait for the hole, wait for the hole, and then BAM! he was gone. Patience is a virtue. It's tough to be patient on 4th and 1, but that's what was called for on that play.

EGD

September 4th, 2015 at 7:50 PM ^

I voted you a +1, but I felt dirty doing it because your name is Ron Utah.  At least I'm not going to let myself watch Point Break this weekend.

Roc Blue in the Lou

September 5th, 2015 at 12:16 AM ^

Don't forget John Baxter....

Q:  Coach, how do you rate the special teams play in this first game?

Baxter:  How'n the hell do you kick an onside OUT OF BOUNDS???

Q:  Does the kicking game have you concerned?

Baxter:  TWICE!  TWICE he kicked the ##!%@#! ball OUT OF BOUNDS!!!!

Q:  Um, ok then.

alum96

September 5th, 2015 at 10:12 AM ^

UM must have the slowest rbs and LBs in the P5 outside of say Kansas.  It is boggling.

One thing also lost was this staff can make halftime adjustmments.  That was nice to see.  Then in 3rd Q you saw Utah make some adjustments - something competent staffs do - and thats when they scored on a nice drive.  But it's nice to have a staff that doesnt just go with what they came in with as a game plan and stick stubbornly to it!

991GT3

September 6th, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^

Utah team is. At the PAC 12 coaches media day both USC and UCLA said that Utah is the team they least liked to play because they are dangerously good.

OTOH, Michigan is being viewed by many of us as though they are BO's team. The aren't and it will take a couple of years to get them back to where they can be considered a top ten team.

Bottom line is they didn't embarrass themselves and did make the game competitive.