Let’s get this thing rollin’… Who is Utah’s starting five:
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Joseph talks about Utah’s sudden defensive improvement this week:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/statistically-speaking-utah-at-oregon-2

In both polls and Oregon State checks in at 25 in the AP, 27 in the coaches.

Is it possible that the PAC 12 is the second strongest conference this season? AND it Is it also possible that we miss out on the playoffs again I spite of that? SC is the last hope for a playoff berth and it might make me sick to see them in it.

A win against Oregon on Saturday might guarantee a NY6 game, either the Rose Bowl if we win the CCG or lose to SC and they go to the playoff or the Cotton Bowl if we lose to SC and they don't go to the Playoff.

Here’s Sean Oregon preview:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/opponent-preview-oregon-11

Can someone enlighten me on how to regurgitate the game ticket from last weekend to use for the free haircut? I thought I'd be able to pull it up or something but can't seem to figure that one out.

Do you buy this or or think it’s a bluff? Regardless, I want Utah to beat them at their best.

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Utah is beating Oregon this Saturday. CCG here we come!!!!!

Notice how I didn’t call him “2025 Utah commit.” Smith announced a commitment to Utah over the summer — he’s a tremendous talent — but it caught Utah off-guard with him committing. It was a young kid getting excited about an early offer. Additionally, Utah is very careful with how they offer kids early. Because of this, I was initially told, they’d love to have him but that was tough to consider it a commitment.

This tweet is no surprise. Also, I do believe Smith she he says Utah remains a top choice…

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We should address the speculation on Tweets such as these. Is there a chance that this could be his last year, yes. Does that mean it’s a certainty, no.

Both current players and recruits have all known of this as a possibility, and been reassured that there is a firm transitional plan in the event he does retire, but he will still be very actively involved in the program, albeit not formally with the head coach title. That said, he deserves to go out when he decides he wants to. And that very well may leverage on going out on a high note or not. So regardless of peoples opinions, nobody knows for sure and won’t until after the season.

Halie answers last week’s questions and looks ahead to Oregon:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/burning-questions-utes-head-into-week-11

Between Brian Johnson, Britain Covey Javelin Guidry, and Blair, that’s a good team to root for…

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Here’s Dustin’s in-depth look at the Utes’ numbers against Stanford…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-utah-s-pff-grades-vs-stanford

For anyone who knows, I'd love to 1) get a list of the players who walked that still have remaining eligibility, and 2) your thoughts on whether or not they are coming back. Thanks.

Finally, it's basketball season. Looking forward to year 2 under Craig Smith and a revamped roster.

My projected starters
C Branden Carlson
PF Ben Carlson
SF Marco Anthony
SG Lazar Stefanovich
PG Rollie Wooster

Gabe Madsen first wing off the bench
Bostyn Holt first front court sub
Mike Saunders will get plenty of time at PG
Keita, Exacte and Gavin Baxter will also play.

Looking forward to seeing what we have in Ben Carlson, Bostyn Holt and Mike Saunders. Interested to see how Gabe Madsen and Stefanovich perform in year two and how Keita and Exacte grow as the season goes along.

Doesn't look like a great shooting team outside of Gabe. But we have better size, athleticism, experience and depth than last year.

Here are the takeaways from the Idaho State game:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-carlson-leads-utah-past-idaho-state

Let’s get this thing rollin’… Same starting five tonight.

-Whittingham opened with talking about the awful Virginia tragedy and the sad passing of the Utah fan on the stands from Saturday.

-Not counting the last drive, they scored on 6 of their last 7 drives

-Called Autzen Stadium a crucible. A tough and loud place to play.

-Oregon is doing a really good job in a ton of categories on offense.

-“If you’re not playing in pressure games, you’re irrelevant.”

-Not counting the shortened COVID year, Utah has been in the thick of the conference race and playing great football deep into November for four straight years. It speaks to the talent that they’ve developed as well as the jobs the assistants are doing.

-Called Harding one of the top OL coaches in the country at any level. The fact he had their third-string Faaiu ready without missing a beat, speaks volumes to how he prepares his guys. They hope to have at least one of Maile or Maea back for Oregon.

-He’s pleased with Tavion and hopes they get that same effort from him this week.

-He’s really happy with how the team has evolved and developed throughout the year. Says that by now you know who teams are.

-They don’t go completely off of analytics, it’s more of a feel thing, especially on 4th down.

-They were careful with the reps they gave Dalton because he’s not 100% yet, but he’s getting a lot better.

-The Pac-12 has a tradition of cannibalizing itself and this year is no different.

-The need to put the best QB room together that they can, if Cam indeed leaves. They’ll do what’s best for the room if it leads to the portal. He’s really pleased with Barnes, intrigued by Johnson, and Brandon Rose is developing really well and growing every week with the scout team.

-It’s been a big benefit to see that the stage isn’t too big for Nate Johnson. He’s also lightning quick.

-During the season, the focus is the team. After the season the focus is the player. They’ll help the guys weigh if they can improve their stock by coming back or if it is time to go and capitalize on their success. If scout or GM evaluations say for them to come back, they warn the players what to be prepared for and and hope they come back. It has to be their decision, because you’d hate to see them come back and get injured. There’s also the aspect with NIL of, “Can I make more staying than if I could as a free agent.” He mentioned the odds of sticking as a free agent are a longshot.

-The biggest reason for the defensive improvement is how the guys have come of age throughout the course of the season.

Ughhhhhh… never good. My heart breaks for the university…

https://richmond.com/news/state-and...cle_207a7095-51d9-5aad-afd9-003409653d3f.html

For those that want to read my recap from the Stanford side. I really had a lot of fun at my first ever Utah game!

Brian Johnson was on Adam Schefter's podcast earlier this week and Schefter thinks he's an NFL head coach in-waiting. They also chat about Alex Smith. Conversation starts around 5:35

Well, it took a while, but the route was on.

First off, the defense is becoming special.

Tavion played out of his mind, like he had a point to prove and didn’t want to let anyone down.

Cam had some big moments and a special connection with Vele tonight, something that has been seen countless times in practice and scrimmages. I know he would have liked to be in a groove a little faster than he was, but 3 passing TDs and 219 yards was a good line. The INT was a great play by the Stanford CB, and Rising tried letting Kincaid go up and make the play.

Nate Johnson continued to show he had a bright future. A week after scoring TDs on his first two rushes, he throws a TD pass on his first passing play.

The Utah offense finished with 514 yards of total offense after a slow start to the game.

Simote Pepa lead the defense with 6 tackles, 2 sacks, and 3 tackles for loss. He has a bright future. He’s emerging at just the right time.

Elliss had 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss, showcasing his ridiculous speed constantly.

Stanford had 22 rushing yards on 26 attempts. They had 177 yards of total offense, three less than Tavion Thomas, alone.

Let’s hear from everyone else.

Utah had one basketball signee come through yesterday afternoon, former Cougar and current SLCC guard, Hunter Erickson. He served a mission out of HS. Then didn’t see much time at BYU the next two years. He transferred to SLCC for this season.

To me, this screams like a “Burgess, what can find us late” pickup, so it’s not the most encouraging thing from a recruiting standpoint. They’re basically hoping he recaptures his HS scoring magic where he averaged over 20 points per game for two years, but that hasn’t been since the 2017-18 season.

Hopefully Erickson has a great year at SLCC and this suddenly looks like a steal of a pickup. In two seasons at BYU he averaged 0.9 points, 0.4 rebounds, 0.4 assists. He never averaged more than 6 minutes a game. Those stats aren’t mentioned in the official Utah signing article, they mentioned his one game played so far at SLCC: 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting with four rebounds, four assists and three steals.

https://utahutes.com/news/2022/11/9...add-hunter-erickson-for-2023-24-campaign.aspx