Utah Football: What I Take Away From UCLA

I’m bummed out and that sucks.  But I don’t get much of the bashing that is going on right about now.

1. Travis Wilson.  He was a Freshman in his first game and he looked very freshmaney at times.  But he grew and when he finally stopped aiming the ball and started throwing and playing, the kid looked like he had talent.  Anyone saying this was a mistake is kinda foolish.  Jon Hays wasn’t going to do more and playing him doesn’t prepare anyone.  Wilson needs game reps.

2.  Brian Johnson.  People complain about the play calling, but when you have an unreliable O-Line and a freshman QB who wasn’t seeing the field well for about a half, you might get a little skittish as well.  Brian called a great game last week, he wasn’t horrid this week and he keeps growing.

3.  The one concern has to be the defense.  And maybe Whit is right, its just a lack of athleticism which will come.  But the pursuit angles have looked bad, a bit too much arm tackling and why the rest of the D-Line can’t exploit what Star is giving them is troubling.

I guess maybe after Utah St., I saw what we were.  We’re the team last year with a much worse O-line and a defense that as it turns out isn’t much much better.  On top of it, Arizona St., UCLA and OSU are much much better turning this four week stretch into a very tough one.

So things aren’t going to be perfect this year.  But I like Travis Wilson, I think he’ll grow a great deal from this game, and just maybe this decision gets us getting enough offense in a few weeks that we’ll get to a bowl game.  It’s a hope we didn’t have with Jon Hays.

Next year the O-Line will be better and we’re bringing in and have young talent all over the field.

I just think if people would take a breath, realize that this leap was in fact harder and bigger than we thought, and it’s going to take some time, we’d be much better off as a fanbase.

I think the future is bright and in a couple of years we’re going to have a whole mess of fun.  And I can accept a little short term pain to get there.

I would hope everyone else could too.