Utes to 20, Cougs 11 in Coaches Poll

[bYuPride]

Utah beats Air Force by a couple touchdowns on Saturday... it'll start slow and hard fought, but Utah will pull away easily. i'm not concerned about that game at all..

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by bYuPride

Utah beats Air Force by a couple touchdowns on Saturday... it'll start slow and hard fought, but Utah will pull away easily. i'm not concerned about that game at all..

The utes are playing better, but the game which may cause Utah heartache is the game against TCU.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by bYuPride

Utah beats Air Force by a couple touchdowns on Saturday... it'll start slow and hard fought, but Utah will pull away easily. i'm not concerned about that game at all..

I'm not so sure about that. I think the Utes will win, but I think it will be by 7 points or less. AFA's discipline will keep the game close.

Kruger and Misi have enough speed to contain AFA if they go outside on the option, but I'm still not sold on the A and B gaps being covered well enough to stop big runs up the middle.

On offense, Johnson needs to do a better job checking off the receivers. He locks on to the primary guy and makes it too easy for the defense to know where the pass is going. Perhaps he'll figure that out this week.

The only concern I don't have is if the combo of Asiata and Mack will be able to run the ball. No worries there. I'm looking forward to Asisata knocking a few of the cadets silly as he bowls them over.

[Hot Lunch]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

I'm not so sure about that. I think the Utes will win, but I think it will be by 7 points or less. AFA's discipline will keep the game close.

Kruger and Misi have enough speed to contain AFA if they go outside on the option, but I'm still not sold on the A and B gaps being covered well enough to stop big runs up the middle.

On offense, Johnson needs to do a better job checking off the receivers. He locks on to the primary guy and makes it too easy for the defense to know where the pass is going. Perhaps he'll figure that out this week.

The only concern I don't have is if the combo of Asiata and Mack will be able to run the ball. No worries there. I'm looking forward to Asisata knocking a few of the cadets silly as he bowls them over.

I agree with this. Utah will win but it is going to be a very close game. Air Force will be able to test Utah's middle run defense and they slow the game up enough to keep them in it.

I also think this will be Johnson's biggest test so far. The one thing is that the big backs from Utah will be able to punish a smaller Air Force D.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

I'm not so sure about that. I think the Utes will win, but I think it will be by 7 points or less. AFA's discipline will keep the game close.

Kruger and Misi have enough speed to contain AFA if they go outside on the option, but I'm still not sold on the A and B gaps being covered well enough to stop big runs up the middle.

On offense, Johnson needs to do a better job checking off the receivers. He locks on to the primary guy and makes it too easy for the defense to know where the pass is going. Perhaps he'll figure that out this week.

The only concern I don't have is if the combo of Asiata and Mack will be able to run the ball. No worries there. I'm looking forward to Asisata knocking a few of the cadets silly as he bowls them over.

Well, I guess I was wrong about the Utes being able to close the inside gaps. AFA had 53 yards rushing for the game. That was really nice to see. I think part of it was moving Misi inside to the DT spot and his quickness really helped.

Kruger is an even bigger stud this week than he was last week and Newman has done a great job.

Johnson admitted that he played a really bad 1st half - threw a pick (which was a great play by both AFA DBs) and fumbled twice because he held the ball too long.

Ludwig called a great game. He made a good adjustment in the 2nd half to make Johnson get the ball out of his hands quicker with short routes by receivers and more importantly, called the plays to allow Asiata and Mack to run and punish the AFA defensive players. I believe both Mack and Asiata had 100 yard games.

AFA is always tough for the Utes. 11 of the last 12 have been decided by 10 or fewer points. The only one of the last dozen was in '04 and that was only by 14 points with Utah's BCS busting team.

I'll take it. 4-0 is 4-0.

[DrumNFeather]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

Well, I guess I was wrong about the Utes being able to close the inside gaps. AFA had 53 yards rushing for the game. That was really nice to see. I think part of it was moving Misi inside to the DT spot and his quickness really helped.

Kruger is an even bigger stud this week than he was last week and Newman has done a great job.

Johnson admitted that he played a really bad 1st half - threw a pick (which was a great play by both AFA DBs) and fumbled twice because he held the ball too long.

Ludwig called a great game. He made a good adjustment in the 2nd half to make Johnson get the ball out of his hands quicker with short routes by receivers and more importantly, called the plays to allow Asiata and Mack to run and punish the AFA defensive players. I believe both Mack and Asiata had 100 yard games.

AFA is always tough for the Utes. 11 of the last 12 have been decided by 10 or fewer points. The only one of the last dozen was in '04 and that was only by 14 points with Utah's BCS busting team.

I'll take it. 4-0 is 4-0.

Yeah, it's kind of funny to see that the game was so close because that is probably the best Utah has played Air Force (defensively) in years. Good to see both backs with 100 yard performances as well. Johnson has to get rid of the ball, I would say most if not all of Air Force's sacks came because Johnson held the ball to long. He's got to correct that because he'll see much better defenses down the road.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by DrumNFeather

Johnson has to get rid of the ball, I would say most if not all of Air Force's sacks came because Johnson held the ball to long. He's got to correct that because he'll see much better defenses down the road.

Agreed. I'm not sure what's going on in Johnson's head. He did a little bit better checking off receivers, but took too long to do it. He needs to recognize before the snap which defensive player will be covering which receiver. (Easy for me to say).

I think he needs to tuck and run more often. He's a good runner and if he does that more often, he'll end up having more time to find receivers. Defenses know that he doesn't look to run at all right now, despite his 50+ yard TD against UNLV.