Utah Football 2011

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In case you missed it.

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Double Moo sent this to me. He got it from a family member who lives in the L.A. area.

******, ******* and I had dinner last night with Kyle Wittingham, Norm Chow, and Chris Hill – Orange County Chapter of the U of U Alumni Association! Fun event.

We sat with Norm Chow but also had some conversations with the others. Chow said he accidently got into football… worked as a graduate assistant for Edwards and things just kind of happened from there – he wanted to be a high school principal.

Kyle and Norm went over basically every position in some detail…
A lot of fun to listen to.
Some highlights…

- They said our Defense is solid… perhaps best in the conference.
o Very strong at Linebacker… our freshman All-American Safety is now Strong-LB position.

- Offense will be more of a West Coast… QB under center a lot more.
o Said Jordan played under center in high school and very comfortable.
o His shoulder is doing well and expected release to full use within a couple of weeks.
§ They said the injury to Jordan last year was in game 8 and he toughed it out but should not even have been able to throw the whole back end of the season.
§ Secured a JC QB as a backup… Norm had good things to say about this acquisition
o Receiving core strong.

- Running back is all first year – but strong.
o Three running backs.
o Kid from Bingham was heavily recruited by every Pac-12 Team
o New guy… 270 lb. pro rugby player left $400,000 rugby contract on the table to play football.
They said he is big, fast, and has moves… if he transitions to football like expected they say look out.

- New defensive corners… four available, two run a 4.3 flat in the 40…

- New defensive line coach retrieved from Gary Anderson’s staff (thanks Keith).

- Lines looks to be strong – particularly defense, but some bulk (one 325 lb lineman) on O-Line too.

- Both Kruger’s looking very strong… said the younger (name?) is most improved player since last year.

- Kicking and return still some questions… but they said the rugby player may be a big return factor.

- Kyle said TCU Team last year was the best football team he has played against… playing or coaching.

- Said within 24 hours of Pac-12 announcement, 7 recruits called Kyle and committed to Utah.

- Only weakness in facilities is our football training facility – break ground in December on the new facility.
o Chris Hill said he can get you tickets to any game for donations!
o M$16 facility… Kyle said best of any in the Pac.

[Iceaxe]

Utah's QB situation is still extremely shaky at best. Jordan can't stay healthy and without a good solid QB Utah is going no where...

....That....

and I've yet to hear a coach at this point in the season say "yeah, we got a real shitty team for the coming season".... at this time of year every football coach in the country is farting rainbows.

[accadacca]

and I've yet to hear a coach at this point in the season say "yeah, we got a real shitty team for the coming season".... at this time of year every football coach in the country is farting rainbows.

Of course...especially at an alumni dinner.

Some interesting tidbits anyway...

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@JJSportsBeat Jeremiah Jensen

Pac-12 has agreed to a media rights deal with ESPN and Fox worth 2.7 B over 12 years and more than $225M per year http://bit.ly/k5zUYn

@JJSportsBeat Jeremiah Jensen

This Pac-12 media rights deal with ESPN and Fox is the richest in college history and tops the SEC deal. Larry Scott is a genius.

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I cant wait for Football to be back.

Remember this!?

[Iceaxe]

Are you asking if I remember the game or the crappy MTN broadcasts?

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Stoked!!

[Kent K25]

I cant wait for Football to be back.

Remember this!?

I remember something the replay officials don't want to remember... :)

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Just got my USC tix. Do the Utes have a chance?

[Kent K25]

I hope so...I HATE USC!!!

[accadacca]

Looking forward to watching this kid play

See how to embed KSL Videos in your posts

[AChrysler]

Curious, (Colorado State graduate here) is there pressure for the University of Utah to form a rivalry with University of Colorado? Both new teams to the conference, geographical proximity, etc. Or will Utah keep scheduling games against BYU as its traditional rival (This is kind of what CU and CSU do since they aren't in the same conference)?

[Iceaxe]

is there pressure for the University of Utah to form a rivalry with University of Colorado?

My 2 cents... The PAC 12 is hoping Utah and Colorado form a rivalry. Back when folks still rode dinosaurs to the game they were rivals in the old Skyline conference. If you look at how many times Utah has played a particular opponent you will see Colorado near the top of the list (top 3 if I remember correctly).

Now my gut feeling is Utah and Colorado will NOT become major rivals, at least not in the near future. I expect USC to be Utah's biggest game of the PAC 12 schedule, at least for now.

And I expect BYU will fade as a major opponent and rival for Utah for a number of reasons. For one the game will no longer carry the importance to Utah, it is now basically a preseason game. I don't see the match-up being yearly in the not to distant future because of Utah's conference schedule they will need to drop BYU some years to schedule other major programs. And honestly, the way the BCS is setup its not in Utah's best interest to play BYU every year, you need some cupcakes on the schedule. I wouldn't be surprised to see Utah alternate years between playing BYU and Utah State. At least until the current BCS system meets the end it deserves.

YMMV

[CarpeyBiggs]

i don't think utah and byu stop playing. my guess is that they will be the first game of the season every year now... both universities have expressed interest in continuing the rivalry.

rest of your post sounds about right. except that USC won't give a sh!t about the utes. that's a one way rivalry my friend...

[Iceaxe]

FWIW: if you follow Utah football you may have noticed the athletic department has already sent up the trail balloon about not playing BYU every year. That is why I think you will see it become every other year somewhere down the road.

[AChrysler]

Interesting... in theory CSU is supposed to be an 'easy' first game for CU every year, but because the rivalry is so heated when CU loses it looks pretty bad for them.

The BCS is a pretty crazy scheme; I always felt bad for Utah not getting respect in the MWC and I had hoped eventually the MWC would either join or be fundamental in destroying the BCS.

Either way I won't mind watching Utah beat CU once a year and I hope to see Utah succeed in its new environment!

[Iceaxe]

To become a rivalry the game has to mean something special. For CU and Utah to become rival's they will need to meet several years in a row where the game decides the Southern Division. Or have one of the teams keep knocking the other out of contention in the Southern Division, otherwise it's just anther game IMHO.

[accadacca]

IMO, as mentioned. Utah is going to have less and less to play for against BYU. I hate to say it and see it potentialy end, but who has more to gain (BYU) and who has more to lose (Utah)?

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Gotta say I like looking at this page this year: http://espn.go.com/college-football/...-12-conference

Who will be at the Utah game this Thursday?