I hate to bring it up every year (maybe someone does every game) but our crowd is pathetic to not be there at first kick. The line to get into the swamp was PACKED 90 minutes before kickoff. Utah “fills in” 20 minutes after kickoff. Utah should dangle the carrot of some kind of concessions discount if you scan your ticket 30 minutes before kick. Or a 5% season ticket discount if you scan every season ticket 30 minutes prior to kickoff all season long. It’s just sad a top 15 team runs out on its first home game to a stadium that MIGHT be 1/2 full. It’s actually comical because the Jumbotron video before they run out has all these quotes about how hard it is to play in RES then they run out to a high school size crowd. It’s laughable….and embarrassing. Ok…that’s the end of my rant and won’t bring it up till next year. Ute fans should be better, but some things never change.

Great bounce back win today. Obviously it was expected, but there really seemed to be no surprises. It was initially a slow start,m, at 7-7 in the first quarter, but the Utes got comfortable and had their way.

-Rising and Barnes combined for 23-29 for 352 yards passing and 4 touchdowns. Most importantly, they both got a lot of guys involved. Each had some really nice passes too.

-Congrats to RJ Hubert on that pick-6. He’s showing why the team has always been so high on him, but he’s been so unfortunate with his injuries. This makes it 19 years straight for Utah with a pick-6.

-Utah had 4 RBs with at least 40 yards. 2 TDs for Thomas and Glover, and 1 for Curry. Bernard didn’t score, but he look dangerous out there. They’re stacked, and Tavion needs to not fumble and stay more locked in.

-The defense stepped up today, although they obviously should have agains the level of competition. SUU had 42 passing yards and 43 rushing yards. The Thunderbirds were 1-12 on 3rd down. Just a suffocating performance.

-The offensive line continued to dominate.

-73 points, with 67 coming in three quarters, that’s impressive.

Watch it in YouTube and comment what you think the score will be for a shot at a whopping $5 gift certificate to McDonalds or something along those lines.

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Halie and I answered the burning questions for the SUU game also look ahead to SDSU…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/burning-questions-utes-head-into-week-3

- As a group he likes how they play off of each other’s energies.

- playing for Ganther he loves that he’s played for the U and walked the path. They try to model their game after him, be a sponge to him because he’s been here.

- focusing on this week they’re trying to clean up the little things.

- He likes how Ganther is always working with them to constantly take a step forward and motivate them, biggest push is to finish everything.

-looking forward to this game he says they’re focusing on putting the work and making it bigger than what it is.

-Faster starting in years past with the offensive line. Still believes there is a lot to work on.

-believed they’ve been able to have a faster start to identifying their starters sooner

-There are fundamentals this past week he believes they can hone in on especially where this week presents new challenges for them.

-Confident in the group he believes can start — 9 or 10 guys — he said they were all able to get about 30 reps that he believes are invaluable. Giving them an opportunity to evaluate them in game situations.

-Loved the depth they have but doesn’t want to have to test it either.

-He was proud of the way the second group worked, wasn’t a huge drop off in terms penalties. They’ve been able to build a good connection playing with each other and consistency in game reps are huge.

-The team did a much better job with the fundamentals as well as the areas that they were lacking against Florida—gap and edge protection, red zone offense, tackling. It’s not a thing to judge, because of the opposition talent gaps, but that’s why it’s key to look at the fundamentals and the little things for execution.

-Whittingham was impressed with Money Parks, including his route running. He wants to see Vele step up more. The WRs will get the ball more when they consistently get open. They’re still having issues with that.

-Regardless of the WR progress, the TEs will get the bulk of the passes because Kuithe and Kincaid are two of the best in the country.

-Curry had a great game, his best as a Ute. He’s playing because he’s doing everything well, from running it to pass protection. Whittingham also gave praise to Jaylon Glover.

-Bernard was limited, so that’s why he didn’t carry the ball as much.

-At the moment, Tavion is not in jeopardy of losing carries. He’s a proven commodity and went a long time without the fumbling issues.

-Rising responded outstandingly. He was a lot sharper.

-The second-team guys got at least 30 reps and Whittingham was impressed with their performance. The offensive starters sat out the second half and the defensive starters only played one series.

-They wanted to give Barnes an opportunity for good game experience. Even though he was able to throw, he had a limited playbook.

-Mohamoud Diabate was injured early, it’s not season ending. (He had ice on his knee on the sideline.

-Whittingham enjoyed the earlier than normal start time. He prefers it that way.

-Revisiting last year's SDSU overtime, Whittingham prefers the NFL overtime model.

In a recruiting update with Rivals, Joseph shared he is setting up a visit with the Utes. No quotes on Utah in the interview.

They are a solid team folks.

Another busy weekend of news and rumors:

Hey guys - here my latest episode with highlights and my thoughts. I'll get out my SDSU preview today or tomorrow. It's best to watch it on YouTube - that way you can share your thoughts in the comments for everyone to see. Thanks for watching.

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Good job, Florida. Ouch. At minimum, I expected them to stay at 13.

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

Well now we can play the underdog roll again and have a chip on our shoulder. Spoiler alert - we are 5 spots below BYU...

He's looked awful tonight. That being said, Kentucky's defense has been much better than Utah's was last week.

Here’s are Halie’s takeaways from the game. As always, add yours as well…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-utes-dig-into-depth-and-dominate-suu

This should be a good home opener for the Utes to bounce back from last week's loss. They should control the game from start to finish and we should see some backups towards the end of the game. Barring any injuries, it should be relatively uneventful.

Hi all! I have four tix to the game today. The teenage neighbor was coming and texted in the middle of the night to advise. Anyone know anyone interested. I can transfer them to their mobile. I just want them to get used so price is negotiable!! It s game 1 at home!!! First come first serve!

Did anybody else see our coaches being escorted in on golf carts 30 min before kickoff??

The result for this game should be a no-brainer, so Joseph ran some other interesting numbers. Check it out…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/statistically-speaking-utah-vs-suu

It would have been nice for the Utes to have SUU for a time-up last week and Florida this week, but unfortunately it’s the other way around. Here’s Dustin’s deep-dive in SUU:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-southern-utah

Here’s Sean’s opponent preview for SUU:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/opponent-preview-southern-utah

Utah vs Florida Prediction​

Another one of the weekend’s best games features what could be a very interesting matchup between the Utah Utes and the Florida Gators. Following up a strong 10-4 season, and a Pac-12 championship, Utah opens the season ranked #7. The Utes are led by Quarterback Cameron Rising, who took over the starting job and led them all the way to last season’s Rose Bowl. Utah’s most notable loss is LB Devin Lloyd, who was selected #27 overall in the NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Florida finished last season at a mediocre 6-7 record, after losing the Gasparilla Bowl to UCF. The Gators are expected to be much more competitive this season under first-year head coach Bill Napier. They also introduced new offensive and defensive coordinators for the upcoming season, completely cleaning house over the offseason. This game’s line is generous to Florida, perhaps because of their home-field advantage. I’d be surprised if they can keep up with the experienced Utes, even with a brand-new coaching staff.

College Football Predictions:​

Utah 44, Florida 17 -
Don't see the margin of victory for Utah being that strong.

Utes coming cross country to play gators. A Septemebr game in The Swamp before a sell out crowd (90,000) will even the odds - some.
https://gatorswire.usatoday.com/2022/08/20/florida-football-utah-utes-season-opener-sellout/

Utes win a close one in regulation.
Utah -2.5

If Gators can take it to OT - who knows ? Heat & humidity could affect the outcome.

https://www.vegasodds.com/news/coll...ns-ncaaf-vegas-odds-picks-and-preview-week-1/

Well, Utah can no longer finish the season undefeated, but we knew that. The South (insofar as there is a South, any more) looks to be the class of the conference, with the Utes, UCLA, and USC all playing like contenders thus far. Arizona, Washington, and Oregon State are also making big moves with impressive performances last weekend.

Time to put Florida in the rear view mirror. Here is what I would like to see this week.

I would love to see Cam get the chance to throw the ball around, especially to the receivers. I know Whitt will want run the ball but I feel like you do the WR core and the running backs a disservice by leaning too much on them in a bodybag game like this one.

First the RB's take a lot of hits and hits against an FCS team count just as much as hits against a PAC 12 team over the course of a season. So reducing the number of carries is a good thing for the RB's in a game like this.

Second Cam and the WR group need to get some in game flow going they really didn't seem to connect at all agains Florida and having a game like this where they can adjust to game speed over practice speed would do wonders for the connection between QB and WR's.

Just my ante for the week. Feel free to chip in and drop your wishlist for this week.

I hope to get back to including highlights in next week's video. I've been swamped at work and next week I'm out of town on business in Austin from Wednesday through about the 1st quarter of the SDSU game on Saturday (Ubering from the airport to RES). Any suggestions for things to do in Austin in the evening would be great - I'm planning on food and live music on 6th street - that seems to be popular. Here's the video:

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