I can't believe the number of people

[DJRoss]

just how good Utah is. I honestly do not think they are much improved since their initial hiccups. Johnson still does not look comfortable out there in the pocket, and their safeties are still making the lions share of the tackles and plays for the team.

What kind of defensive pressure have they had since they went on this five game winning streak:

Total Scoring defense

Utah State 106th
Louisville 71st
SDSU 84th
TCU 31st
CSU 89th

This is not that impressive especially understanding that TCU's defense has struggled emotionally with injuries as well as losing their leader and future NFL star.

Also with exception to Louisville, these teams offenses are anemic at best.

Total Scoring offense

Utah State 110th
Louisville 11th (have been held under their current scoring average the last five games which means that their offense has struggled against average to strong defenses)
SDSU 93rd
TCU 89th
CSU 66th

This isn't that impressive, and IMO Utah folds if they play against a team with a solid all around game. Solid defense will cause Utah to struggle. Even TCU was able to keep Utah from running away with it, and had they possessed the offensive weapons, they would have rolled on the Utes.

Utahs 3 toughest games are ahead of them. Wyoming is a solid defensive team. 29th scoring, but their offense is weak and can keep Utah in the game a la Louisville. This will most likely go down to the wire.

New Mexico has Utah's number, and this year they sport the best scoring defense in the league at 21st in the nation. Their scoring offense is just behind BYU. This game will tell us how close the Utes are to BYU. If Utah loses the Wyoming game, I see them tailspinning the rest of the way. New Mexico is too tall an order for them to handle, and BYU if they continue to win as well will be ready.

Mack looks really good against teams that are poor at stopping the run. All but TCU amongst the teams that I have listed have rushing defenses in the lower third amongst Div IA teams. Utah has to meet the 21st, 24th and 11th ranked rushing defenses in Div IA over the next four weeks. Forcing Johnson to beat you with his arm is IMO the way to beat the Utes.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Well UCLA and Tulsa should be added to your list.

I was referring to our remaining 2007 schedule.

[DrumNFeather]

Originally Posted by DJRoss

just how good Utah is. I honestly do not think they are much improved since their initial hiccups. Johnson still does not look comfortable out there in the pocket, and their safeties are still making the lions share of the tackles and plays for the team.

What kind of defensive pressure have they had since they went on this five game winning streak:

Total Scoring defense

Utah State 106th
Louisville 71st
SDSU 84th
TCU 31st
CSU 89th

This is not that impressive especially understanding that TCU's defense has struggled emotionally with injuries as well as losing their leader and future NFL star.

Also with exception to Louisville, these teams offenses are anemic at best.

Total Scoring offense

Utah State 110th
Louisville 11th (have been held under their current scoring average the last five games which means that their offense has struggled against average to strong defenses)
SDSU 93rd
TCU 89th
CSU 66th

This isn't that impressive, and IMO Utah folds if they play against a team with a solid all around game. Solid defense will cause Utah to struggle. Even TCU was able to keep Utah from running away with it, and had they possessed the offensive weapons, they would have rolled on the Utes.

Utahs 3 toughest games are ahead of them. Wyoming is a solid defensive team. 29th scoring, but their offense is weak and can keep Utah in the game a la Louisville. This will most likely go down to the wire.

New Mexico has Utah's number, and this year they sport the best scoring defense in the league at 21st in the nation. Their scoring offense is just behind BYU. This game will tell us how close the Utes are to BYU. If Utah loses the Wyoming game, I see them tailspinning the rest of the way. New Mexico is too tall an order for them to handle, and BYU if they continue to win as well will be ready.

Mack looks really good against teams that are poor at stopping the run. All but TCU amongst the teams that I have listed have rushing defenses in the lower third amongst Div IA teams. Utah has to meet the 21st, 24th and 11th ranked rushing defenses in Div IA over the next four weeks. Forcing Johnson to beat you with his arm is IMO the way to beat the Utes.

I certainly understand the arguments against the Utes, but everyone that is saying how bad the Utes are at 6-3 were the same ones saying that th Utes might win 1 maybe 2 games the rest of the year at 1-3. So, while the schedule has seemed to set up nicely, the Utes have still gotten the job done, which nobody really thought they could do...and the Utes should be given credit for that.

As far as the rest of the schedule goes, it certainly is tough, and I understand why people believe that the utes will lose to UNM or BYU or even Wyoming (other than a burning desire to just not give the Utes credit or think they can win.) But I think that it sets up nicely for the Utes.

As we've seen with bowl games etc...If you give the Utes extra time to prepare for an opponent (in this case two weeks for Wyoming), the coaches usually do a good job of dialing up a gameplan to get the win, which is why the bye week comes at such a good time. The Utes can spend the week getting healthy, and really focussing on the last three games of the season. Plus, the buzz is back and the home games against Wyoming and UNM should be tough for thosee two teams to come in and play in.

I think that if the Utes beat Wyoming, they will have all sorts of momentum going into the UNM game, and will have a very good chance at taking out the Lobos (despite recent history).

Should be fun down the stretch.