A Closer Look at the Utes

Submitted by alum96 on

A msg poster from Utah was kind enough to post some thoughts from his side of the table in another thread so I will cut and paste his commentary into the first post of this thread.  Here are some tidbits I have found from across the interwebs - these should be generally true.

First, there is no transitive theory in football but USC, Nebraska, and Utah have all feasted on Fresno State this year.  No idea why Nebraska is forced to go play games at the Fresno State's of the world but Nebraska's game was on the road while Utah's was at home.  Since we are far more familiar with Nebraska football then USC football, I'll keep it short and say the box scores look very similar in the Neb-FState and Utah-FState.  Of course please account that these box scores don't break out 1st half versus 2nd half and surely both Nebraska and Utah were playing backups by middle to late 3rd quarter.  So if transitive has any theory expect a team that is maybe 85-95% of Nebraska to show up in AA this Saturday.

 

Utah's Offense

QB Travis Wilson is a very big (6'7 240 lb) man.  His 2013 season was highlighted by a lot of injuries and a lot of INTs, to the tune of 1:1 TD:INT.  This year he has improved to 6 TD: 0 INT.  Completion % thus far is up from 56% to 63%. Fluke due to baby seals? Maybe - but perhaps it's coaching.  After screwing up Arizona State and getting fired Dennis Erickson went to Utah to be OC.  He screwed that up so was demoted after last year to RB coach, and in came Dave Christensen.  D.C. coached the Missouri offense for a decade (think Brad Smith/Chase Daniel), then went to Wyoming to be a HC - that didn't work out and he is back to his OC role.  Early returns with the QB at least seem promising - reduce those turnovers.  Wilson runs a "little bit" - surprising for his size but obviously not a home run threat.  They do have a backup QB who has been playing who is more of a dual threat guy.

RBs - 2 headed Devontae Booker and Bubba Poole.  Booker was a prolific JC transfer who sat out last year and in early returns versus baby seals seems more dangerous.  Poole in 2013 averaged 4.1 per carry.

WRs - Some real danger here if Wilson is not pressured.  Lost 3 of their top 4 WRs but their top guy is Dres Anderson who has a modest 27.9 average reception thru 2 games. That's not a fluke, he average 18.9 per catch in 2013 ... and he had 1000 yards last year even with a meh QB.  He is 6'2 190 so think a tall Gallon.  In a very offense friendly conference he is an All Conference candidate.   Kenneth Scott is also an issue at 6'3 210 - suffered injury in first game of 2013 and missed the season but a 4 star recruit who is currently the reception leader thru 2 games.

TE - 5th year SR here in cool dude named Westlee Tonga (6'4, 250 lbs) who is 3rd on team in receptions with 6.

OL - short and sweet, left side brings 2 experienced starters who played every game last year including another cool name "Junior Salt".  Center has some experience.  Guys on the right side, not so much.

Thoughts - Taylor and Wilson back would be a big help as Utah has the tools to attack via the air.  This is the first real WR Peppers will have seen outside of a practice.  Anderson is better than anything ND threw out there.  Peppers/Lewis and if Taylor gets back should go against him - looks like a guy who would sacrific Countess on a bloody altar. But you can't just worry about him - Kenneth Scott seems like a good player too.  They also have a TE who is useful.

Based on game film I expect any team with the tools to use the pass to open up the run.  This team has the tools.  Our peeps facing right side of their OL need to create pressure as they are inexperienced there.   Doubt their QB has faced an iota of pressure all year so let's do that ok DL?  Utah brings a decent run game but if our run defense is as advertised we should be able to hurt it.  This feels on paper like ND offense with a lesser QB but better WRs. (Edit - Utah plays at a quick pace)

 

Utah's Defense

I did less work on the defense than the offense so will have a shorter review.

DL - SR DE Nate Orchard (6'4, 255) looks to be a beast mode type of player, the kind who can be very scary for either Mason Cole or Ben Braden. Might need the TEs to stay in and help chip in on this guy a lot.  Stanford has a very good OL - Orchard went off for 2 sacks and 2 forced fumbles in that game.  Other DE is less scary.  Utah lost quality DTs to graduation and current set of DTs are not over 300 lbs so won't be like the Notre Dame DTs.

LB - Utah lost its top LB to graduation.  Coach's nephew Jason Whittngham (6'2, 240) was manning the middle - a quality player who apparently dislocated his wrist and is out..  Jared Norris is a decent OLB on 1 side and less experience at the other OLB.

Secondary - Safeties are good and experienced.  FS Eric Rowe was a first team freshmen All American in 2011, and started every game last year.   SS Brian Blechen was a freshmen All American in 2010 who RS last year due to injury.  Corners are first year starters.

Thoughts - Braden and/or Cole better eat their Wheaties.  Expect guard and/or TE help on Orchard all game.  That of course means everyone else has to win 1 v 1 but their DTs dont seem like world beaters... but obviously wont be Miami OH or App State types.  The back 7 took a hit with the loss of their MLB.  Safeties seem the strength of the back 7, so attack the edges - obviously Funchess would be nice to do to that.  But low INT Devin showing up would be nice.  If I was OC for a day maybe I create a rolling pocket for 6-8 plays this game - always rolling away from Orchard.

Not sure how the run game will stack up vs Utah.  They had a good run defense last year (20th in country) but lost a good amount of experience in the front 7.  They have given up a lot of first downs and decent yardage (300+) to baby seals but hard to tell what is happening in those games just from box scores due to backups being in and giving up yardage in the 3rd and 4th quarter.

This feels on paper like a defense we can score quite a bit on if we can slow down Orchard and grrrr... execute.

 

alum96

September 16th, 2014 at 1:19 AM ^

Post below is from user 61_Shasta who posted this in another thread - thanks for the contribution.

Hope you don't mind a little perspective from a Utah point of view before Saturday's game.  Sadly, we won't be coming to Ann Arbor this year.  We'll definitely miss being able to interact and tailgate with some of the best fans in college football.

This year's team has a lot of questions that certainly haven't been answered in games against Idaho State and Fresno State.  One major difference this year is the presence of a quality backup QB behind Travis Wilson in Kendall Thompson.  Wilson has been impressive so far against poor opposition.  Michigan will be the first game that Travis has played beyond the first series of the second half so Thompson has gotten plenty of reps. 

Wilson was injured for much of last year managing to injure this throwing hand not once, not twice but three times against  Stanford.  Additionally Wilson is helped by the return of Kenneth Scott at WR who's presence doesn't allow opponents to double Dres Anderson as they did last year.  Scott suffered a broken ankle on the first series of the first game last year.  RB is handled by by Bubba Poole and Devonte Booker.  Poole is solid but not the fastest and Booker is very fast but has put the ball on the ground in practices and scrimmages.  All in all, Booker is the better back but the coaches trust Poole more so look for him to get the majority of the carries.  The O-line seems unremarkable but fairly solid on the left but inexperienced on the right side.  Look for TE Westlee Tonga to have a fair amount of blocking responsibility virtually always being asked to chip an end before going out on his route.

Nate Orchard is the guy to watch on defense.  So far this year he has lined up at DE, OLB and ILB when Utah has run a 4-3-4.  Typically they will run a 4-2-5 in part because the PAC-12 runs a lot of spread but also because they are paper thin at LB.  Gionni Paul will see his first action of the year following a stress fracture in his foot but Utah loses Jason Whittingham at LB to a dislocated left wrist.  The secondary is inexperienced and could be a liability.  Utah's defense relies heavily on the secondary locking down the WRs while pressure comes from every which direction. 

Special teams are interesting this year.  Tom Hackett handles the punting.  He will occasionally drop a conventional punt but specializes in the rugby punt.  Interestingly enough,  Hackett can punt with either foot giving him the ability to roll either way o kick.  He leads the nation at 51 yards per punt with one punt return for one yard.  Kicker Andy Phillips is a bit of interesting story as he took up kicking in spring of 2013 as a way to keep in shape after retiring from the US Ski Team.  His knock last year was short kickoffs but so far this year I can only think of one or two kicks that have been returned.  His range for FGs is about 50-55 yards but inside that range he is extremely accurate.  Watch for Kaelin Clay on returns.  He has run back a kick and a punt for a TD (again, however, against a dis-spirited ISU team) and is no doubt the fastest player on the team.

Hopefully this gives a bit of insight to what you can expect on Saturday.  Again, sorry we will miss the great experience that is the Big House.  We are definitely looking forward to Michigan making the trip to Salt Lake City next year.  Best of luck to both teams for a good, competitve, clean game with no injuries.

WolvinLA2

September 16th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ^

Honestly - that might be a little too big.  Their OL I mean.  For guys who aren't super tall, that's a lot of weight to try and move around.  There's a reason even NFL OL aren't that big.  

The fact that their RT is only 6'3" is nice - he'll have a hard time handling whoever we put over there to rush the passer, likely Beyer and Taco.  

BlueKoj

September 16th, 2014 at 9:01 AM ^

Byes are funny. We fans look at schedules and byes are always thought of as advantages to the bye team. That's not always the case. If the Utes have injuries, that helps them. They might install a couple gadgets or special team plays, but is UM an opponent where extra preparation is significantly important? They're not Navy and they're not tempo (do the Utes need extra time to slow down their scout team?) Will the Utes come out sluggishly?

I do think this may be a tough game, but the bye factor may be a bit random. I thought this article was interesting. It's old, but I think it probably still applies.

http://www.teamspeedkills.com/2010/4/15/1424019/how-much-do-bye-weeks-matter

Bodogblog

September 16th, 2014 at 3:05 AM ^

Is it a get-the-ball-out-quick offense? I'm sure Ace will cover that in his review. But I've noticed the same thing about Clark that everyone else has - he seems to be right there every time, but never in time. Seemed this way for a lot of last year too, though. He may just be a step away from very good, and that's all he can manage.

alum96

September 16th, 2014 at 8:10 AM ^

In terms of ball control they play a fast tempo.  Again Fresno State is not a great team but every drive was 2 minutes or less other than two the entire game - and that includes the backups.  They pulled a lot of their starting offense out after a 38-7 lead.  For example two 2nd quarter drives of 6 plays - one for 58 yards and one for 80 yards...both in under 2 minues.

I think your question may be how quickly does the QB get the ball out of his hands.  I think if you play Michigan as an OC and see the lack of success of doing much against quick drops you do a lot of that until UM CBs show they can disrupt that. 

I thought ND would be a game both teams go up and down the field and score... I was half right.  I think the same in this game.  UM's offense is going to need to run to keep Utah off the field and not do dumb things to give Utah short fields.  Utah's defense is vulnerable but except for MSU I think the greatest enemy of UM's offense this year will be UM's offense.  See Notre Dame.  We don't exactly have a murderer's row of defenses we face on our schedule.

MGOBOOB

September 16th, 2014 at 6:01 AM ^

i have with the pass rush is that i rarely see the dline throw a hand up to try to impede the QB's vision or deflect a pass. i am always yelling 'get a hand up' when the rush comes up just short of the QB.

 

61_Shasta

September 16th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^

or good Travis

Since his freshman year there has been a constant fight to teach Travis to throw with more of an overhead motion or at least a 3/4 release.  However, I think that by this point in his career, it's basically impossible to change a kid's throwing motion completely.  From what I recall of Travis in the past, if he has time and protection he's gotten pretty good at the high release but when Travis is under pressure, running or not, he tends to revert back to his best Dan Quisenberry imitation.



(If you're too young to remember...)

MGoClimb

September 16th, 2014 at 7:47 AM ^

15:00 1 00:46 FRES 25 3 8 Punt
12:33 1 01:30 FRES 25 3 -8 Punt
08:02 1 00:59 FRES 25 3 -5 Punt
05:56 1 01:06 FRES 25 3 4 Punt
03:11 1 01:28 FRES 9 3 3 Punt
00:04 1 04:04 FRES 20 12 55 Downs
09:48 2 00:30 FRES 30 3 0 Punt
07:31 2 01:12 FRES 35 4 65 Touchdown
04:22 2 03:07 FRES 26 7 26 Punt
00:20 2 00:20 FRES 20 1 0 End of Half
13:35 3 03:29 FRES 4 9 -3 Fumble
09:34 3 02:59 FRES 25 7 27 Downs
04:32 3 02:11 FRES 19 7 81 Touchdown
01:02 3 01:12 FRES 20 3 -4 Punt
13:55 4 01:32 FRES 25 5 75 Touchdown
02:31 4 02:31 FRES 18 7 82 Touchdown

 

MGoClimb

September 16th, 2014 at 7:48 AM ^

15:00 1 01:42 IDST 25 3 -2 Punt
11:57 1 01:45 IDST 20 3 -5 Punt
09:40 1 04:25 IDST 25 10 75 Touchdown
02:59 1 05:08 IDST 25 14 62 Missed FG
12:09 2 03:12 IDST 25 6 7 Punt
06:42 2 01:42 IDST 1 3 1 Punt
05:00 2 00:53 IDST 25 3 0 Punt
01:25 2 00:50 IDST 9 4 20 Punt
00:19 2 00:19 IDST 25 1 -3 End of Half
10:40 3 02:54 IDST 25 9 75 Touchdown
07:30 3 00:59 IDST 25 3 4 Punt
05:03 3 04:12 IDST 3 9 51 Punt
13:32 4 03:27 IDST 6 11 51 Punt
08:59 4 01:31 IDST 42 3 -4 Punt
01:57 4 01:43 IDST 25 3 6 Punt

 

MGoClimb

September 16th, 2014 at 7:52 AM ^

From the charts above (thank you ESPN), you can see that Fresno State got a large portion of their yards in the late third quarter and fourth quarter, well after the game was out of hand. Idaho State spread their yards out a bit more, but it's clear that neither team could do much against Utah's defense.

Edit: great post alum96!

Logan88

September 16th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^

Idaho State is definitely worse than Miami U. ISU plays in the FCS and still puts up terrible records every season. They were 3-9 last year and that is one of their better seasons in recent years. They haven't had a winning season since 2003.

Idaho State is turrible. (Apologies to Sir Charles)

Fresno on the other hand went 11-2 last season and 9-4 in 2012, so I don't know if they have just fallen off a cliff this year or if the teams they have played (USC, Utah and Nebraska) are just awesome.

WolvinLA2

September 16th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^

Fresno State is bad.  They weren't nearly as good last year as their record suggested (they lost to SJSU and Rutgers took them to OT), were pummeled in their bowl by a mediocre USC team and the only reason they were decent was because they had Derek Carr who is now an NFL starter.  

And Idaho St is very bad, and even they were able to move the ball OK on Utah.

switch26

September 16th, 2014 at 3:35 PM ^

One thing i did take away from looking at the Idaho State vs Utah box score was that Idaho's RB ran for 6 yards a carry on 22 carries..

 

Similar to what Green did this past week..

 

If we can't run the ball on them at HOME we have serious issues going forward

switch26

September 16th, 2014 at 3:35 PM ^

One thing i did take away from looking at the Idaho State vs Utah box score was that Idaho's RB ran for 6 yards a carry on 22 carries..

 

Similar to what Green did this past week..

 

If we can't run the ball on them at HOME we have serious issues going forward

El Jeffe

September 16th, 2014 at 8:25 AM ^

I watched a little of the Nebraska/Fresno State game on Saturday. Hoo boy. Fresno State is not good at football. I know that the transitive property does not apply, and I'll take Salvatore Quattro's word for it about Idaho State, but I seriously doubt we know anything about Utah from these two games.

Of course, it could be argued that we don't know anything about U-M either after games against App St. and Miami and getting scoreboard-stomped by ND. So, I'm guessing that fans from both teams will be awaiting this game anxiously.

MichAero

September 16th, 2014 at 8:29 AM ^

I'll expand upon what alum96 and MGoClimb have already done a bit with some statistics real quick.

Breakdown by quarter:

Rushing YPC:

2.52/3.35/2.04/3.83

Passing YPA:

3.24/4.76/6.81/7.29

Breakdown by half:

Rushing YPC:

2.93/2.61

Passing YPA:

4.14/7.03

I'm not sure how much you can take out of this, really, but it is something else to look at.

Additionally, they have converted 16/31 3rd downs (51.61%) and allowed 14/37 (37.84%).

jackw8542

September 16th, 2014 at 8:59 AM ^

Miami may not be nearly as bad as people seem to think.  They have a new coach this year, and he was (if I remember someone's post from last week correctly) about 73-7 at his previous stop.  It will be interesting to see how Miami does this week against Cincinnati and next week against Buffalo.

maize-blue

September 16th, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^

I stated in another thread on how I thought Miami was a better team than App. State. I was immediately challanged that Miami ranked lower than App State. But going by the eye test I thought Miami wasn't necessarily a poor or poorly coached team, they just didn't have the personnel to keep up.

UMgradMSUdad

September 16th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^

I agree.  And while Miami is on a muti-season losing streak, I will be surprised if they don't manage at least 2 or 3 wins this year.  Now, that's still not saying a lot, and definitely doesn't put them as a team that should have been able to hang with Michigan for a half, but they do seem to be heading in the right direction.

GoWings2008

September 16th, 2014 at 9:05 AM ^

And seems like this game may not be quite as difficult as I once thought.  I'm still not 100% at ease about it, but good to see this stuff.  BTW, did anyone else read the title of the OP and recall the "My Cousin Vinny" line?  ...'Da two Utes....

61_Shasta

September 16th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^

@ GoWings & Chatster, I think that the University of Utah - barring the Ute Indian Tribe deciding to revoke the Univeristy's license to use their name - will for years be more responsible for keeping that clip alive than any other entity out there.  It's a staple of message boards anywhere the Utes are playing.  I think the only one that didn't put it up that I can think of was UCLA's bruingold.com and I'm betting that the reason is that their board doesn't support embedding.