Whew, now that was the way to respond to last week's disappointing loss to the Ducks.

Here's the takeaways:

This week's keys and position battles. Utah should have the edge, but ASU has played in a lot of close games over the past month:

Ohio State Now Involved In Michigan Sign Stealing Drama

From what I’ve been told, Utah stands a good chance at landing him. I’d stop short of calling it a flip, because it seems there’s a mutual thing with him and USC coming…

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Sorry, busy week this week. Here are the Vegas lines right now:

ASU +11 @ #18 Utah. Total is pretty low (40.5), and I would still bet the under. ASU's offense is probably worse than Utah's, and both defenses are playing pretty well. Expected final is 26-15.

Rest of the Pac-12:

#5 UW -3 @ #20 USC. Total is 76.5, which is far and away the highest total of the week, and I still might take the over. Expected final is 40-37.
Cal +24.5 @ #6 Oregon. Total is 59, so expected final is 42-18. I'd take Oregon to cover, not sure about the total.
#16 OR ST -13.5 @ Colorado. Total is 62, so expected final is 38-24. I don't know what I'd do with this one. Colorado can score, but OSU likes to run, so I don't know if the cover or about the total. I wouldn't bet this one.
#19 UCLA -2.5 @ Arizona. Arizona is looking like they should go bowling, and a win at home against UCLA would cement that. Total is 50, so expected final is 26-24. I'd probably take the under again.
Stanford +13 @ WSU. Total is 59, so expected final is 36-23. I have no idea what either of these teams are, so I wouldn't bet this one.

Rest of the top 15:

#1 OSU -18.5 @ Rutgers. Total is 42.5, so expected final is 30-12. I'm surprised OSU is favored by only 18, even though Rutgers is playing pretty well. I expect OSU to cover, and 42.5 seems low for OSU's offense.
#12 Mizzou +15 @ #2 UGA. Total is 55, so expected final is 35-20.
Purdue +32.5 @ #3 Michigan. Total is 53, so expected final is 43-10.
#4 FSU -21.5 @ Pitt. Total is 50, so expected final is 36-14.
#23 KSU +3.5 @ #7 Texas. Total is 49.5, so expected final is 27-24. I expect Texas to destroy KSU, but they're always good for one screw-up game.
#14 LSU +3 @ #8 Bama. Total is 61.5, so expected final is 32-29. I have no idea how good either of these teams are, but close feels correct.
#9 OU -6 @ #22 OKST. Total is 62, so expected final is 34-28. I expect Oklahoma to be mad and to take it out on the Cowboys.
ATM +3 @ #10 Ole Miss. Total is 52, so expected final is 28-25. Ole Miss only being favored by 3 feels low.
#11 PSU -9 @ Maryland. Total is 50, so expected final is 30-21. Gut feel is that PSU should be favored by more than 9.
VA Tech +9.5 @ #13 Louisville. Total is 48.5, so expected final is 29-20. I think Louisville probably takes care of business at home.
#15 Notre Dame -3 @ Clemson. Total is 44.5, so expected final is 24-21. No idea. Clemson has problems, but is still talented, and Notre Dame has struggled with good teams.

The rest of our future conference mates:

#21 Kansas +2.5 @ IA ST. Yes, ISU is favored by 2.5 over Kansas. Kansas is okay, but not great, despite the OU win last week. Total is 53, so expected final is 28-25.
BYU +12.5 @ WVU. Total is 48.5, so expected final is 30-18.
Houston +3 @ Baylor. This is a pick, but Baylor's getting 3 for being at home. Total is 58, so expected final is 31-28.
UCF -3.5 @ Cincy. Total is 60, so expected final is 31-28.
TCU +2.5 @ TTech. This was solid line, with Tech winning by 7 last night, and the total fairly close, set at 59 and ended up at 63 (35-28)

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Sorry guys, I couldn't resist.

Joe’s numbers say Utah bounces back pretty easily this week. Give it a read:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/statistically-speaking-utah-vs-arizona-state-1

The guys 2024 guy the Utes are hoping for good news on is Brooks Bahr. Even though his uncle played football at Utah, both of his parents are Cougars. He’ll announce on November 6th.

After that, they’re expected to wait and reevaluate in April at the end of the season.

Halie breakdown last week's questions and looks ahead to Arizona State:

This is the expected starting lineup early in the season:

Erickson, Worster, Madsen, Carlson, Lovering

The next four if either Erickson Or Worster stays on the floor, plus no Deivon Smith…

Exacte, Bajema, Ben Carlson, Keita
Luka.

Wahlin will take some time to knock off the mission rust.

As of right now, they’re still waiting for an answer on Deivon’s eligibility. They do still feel good about and the NCAA is taking a while on the approval of the current two-time transfers.

Additionally, I was talking to a couple people close to the basketball program who both said that the Burgess hire is really starting to pay off.

Johnson is set to be announcing today. It’s between Utah, BYU, USC, and Stanford… I expect him to announce the Utes. It’s the Chris Burgess effect that should be an impactful one starting this year.

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So when you look at the stats of ASU. The majority of teams they have played were more throwing teams sans SUU and Cal. Both Cal and USC torched em with 100 yard rushers. The yards per Carry is a bit higher so will be an interesting match up. Can you play a Cal type of game? If so, Utes win. IF not, look for a very close game with the loser of the turnover battle looking up, as it is in most games played. Just run the rock well and we will be fine. But we need a few pass plays. Vele was good last week, feed him some more!!!

50 Weird and Stupid US Laws

Basketball season is HERE!! The Runnin' Utes are taking on Westminster tonight in an exhibition matchup.

Real excited to see what this Utes team looks like in Year 3 of the Craig Smith era.

Keep an eye on this thread for updates throughout the game.

Kalolo Ta’aga, OL
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Also, I’ll be reaching out to the Oregon game OVs tonight.

-Whittingham strongly believes Oregon is a top 5 team.

-He’s a big fan of Bo Nix.

-He said his coaches need to do a better job and that it’s not just on the players.

-He acknowledged that the Pac-12 championship game is likely out of the picture, but that they’ll need some major help to even get there like last year.

-Sione Vaki was not 100% going into the game on Saturday. After this loss, Sione will be playing 70/30 defense/offense.

-Reading between the lines, Brandon Rose probably isn’t likely to play this year. He’s doing a great job with the scout team though, and they’re really pleased with that. He reiterated that Barnes is the guy.

-IN GAME, if your signs are so simplistic and easy to steal, that’s on you, that’s not on who is potentially stealing them.

Utah will remain a major contender but Oregon and others are also very high early on:

How’s everyone doing?

A game like this was honestly bound to happen. It just sucked to see it with all of the national eyeballs to it.

Outside of the game, what a great event put on by the university!

Getting back to the game… How ironic is it that the game the team honors the MUSS was probably the most quiet that that group had ever been? And no one can blame them for being so quiet.

Matt breaks down the Sun Devils. Utah should win this game, but can't sleepwalk through it:

In the thread about Whittingham‘s comments during the Monday presser, there’s were some comments about players potentially leaving because of NIL deals being offered by other universities.

Do we need to start a thread with potential losses this coming offseason due to NIL offers from other schools?

The caveat is this is all pure speculation based by me, but there’s a bunch of players that could be NIL targets if the scene goes to pure money offers.

Whittingham has been saying for several months now that recruiting is going to be all about who has the most NIL money….and I guess we’re going to see that this off-season.

It's playoff time in Utah, and Isaac Wilson and Davis Andrews showed once again why the Utes are so excited about them joining the team next year!

There were lots of impressive performances last weekend, check out the details here:

Holy cow. I look at Oregon who has 4 new offensive linemen starting and I think only two are transfers from P5 schools the others are from G5 schools and they dominated our d-line. Our guys have been in our system for a while but couldn't do much of anything against their d-line.

They were blitzing constantly because they knew that our receivers can't get open and even if they could, Bryson holds the ball too long. Very disappointing and embarrassing performance. WSU and TT both played them a lot tougher than we did. UGH.

Other than Junior Tafuna’s impressive play ripping the ball from the Oregon back, I’ve got nothing, just like the performance today. Everyone vent away or step away for a day. I’ll have more thoughts after I digest this.

Wow…

Here are Joe’s takeaways from the game.

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-utah-thoroughly-beaten-by-oregon-35-6