Red, Blue And Pigskin

Had Them Right Where They Wanted Them

Down 1, 3 plus minutes to go, 1 timeout, the ball in Tanner Mangum's hand. The whole football world had to be thinking the same thing. Ucla was screwed.

Then came 4th and 7, and the world knew the Bruins were done.

Alas, the Mangum Magic ran out this week, but unlike the last couple weeks, their's a lot for Byu to be happy about. At least offensively.

The battle between the two freshman QB's went exactly like I said it would. One of the QB's seemed poised and confident, and played more like an established player in his 2nd or 3rd year. While the other spent most of the game seeming flustered, and confused. 1 QB consistently kept command of the field, limited damage he did to his team, and kept putting his team in positions to be successful. The other played like a freshman and made some crucial mistakes that made the day harder on his team than needed to be.

Of course, I figured the roles would be reversed, as for the first time in 3 games Josh Rosen looked like a true freshman, and for the first time in his 2 1/2 games, Mangum looked calm and in control.

That said though, credit the Bruin defense for realizing that Mangum's security blanket is rolling right (Both Hail Mary's and Jeurgens 87 yard td all came with Mangum rolling right), and refused to let him get there all night. Ucla also came to realize that when Mangum rolls right, he's not going to take off running, and stayed solid on defense. As such on 4th and 7, Mangum rolled right. Threw a less than advised pass, and Myles Jack stepped in front of it to end the game. A play which will end up being Jack's last of the season.

This isn't to take anything away from Mangum. He played a good game and wasn't bothered by starting his first road game. Especially when his defense did him no favors all night as they allowed Ucla run all over them. Paul Perkins rushed for 219 yards, while Nate Starks added another 89. In a game where the QB was mostly ineffective for the Bruins, Byu's inability to stop the run kept Ucla in the game, allowing them to ultimately win.

Taking September's Stock

This week's matchup is about two teams whose first month was about testing themselves to see where they were at. For Michigan, it was the beginning of a new era, and ridding themselves of the last one. For Byu it was a gauntlet of a schedule made worse by injuries. Both enter the game sitting at 2-1. 3-1 would obviously be a success for either side. For one side 2-2 would be considered a small success, while the other would probably consider it mostly a failure.

After an opening night loss to the Utes, Michigan has gone back to the confines of the Big House and won each of their last two games quite comfortably, although both against lesser opponents. After allowing an early touchdown against Oregon State, Michigan than proceeded to go on a streak of 6 scoreless quarters defensively, and 63 unanswered points offensively against the Beavers, and Unlv.

Of course, Byu isn't Oregon State, or Unlv.

The key for this game will be whether Byu can get their porous run defense figured out. This has been a problem for Byu going back to last year. Of course with last week being the worst example, it might be just what Byu needed to focus on it. In a day of spread it out football, Harbaugh is a throw back to the old Power Running days of the past. Michigan is going to want to line up with it's big uglies and pound the ball all day. Byu must stop the run, therefore putting the onus on QB Jake Rudock, who hasn't been as steady at Michigan as he was the previous two seasons at Iowa.

Outside of the running game, the man that Byu must stop defensively is Jabrill Peppers. Peppers was the #1 rated recruit two years ago, and after missing last season with an injury, has shown exactly why through the first three weeks this year. In week 1 against the Utes, Peppers made plays that kept Utah from busting the game open earlier in the game. Against lesser opponents, Peppers has wreaked havoc. Going up against an offensive line that is undisciplined, look for Harbaugh to move Peppers around, and try to introduce him to Mangum early and often.

A Clear Cut Difference

This week, Utah finished an undefeated non conference slate by rolling an unprepared Fresno State. Everything of value about this game was made clear by the end of the 2nd Utah drive. That value was simply this: Utah will not win a single conference game this season if Kendall Thompson is their QB. It just won't happen. Last week I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until we saw what happened when the offense was planned around Thompson. We saw it, he was actually worse. Thompson struggles to be able to read the defense, causing him to be unsure of where to make the throw. When he finally does figure out the throw, his elongated release takes so long, that by the time he actually releases the ball, the read is no longer valid. Thompson is the football gods giving me Karmic payback for 5 years of Running back playing Quarterback jokes about Taysom Hill and Riley Nelson. Only I'd rather have Riley Nelson, because at least his wasn't slow on making his one read before hucking up the pass, and this year Thompson seems to have lost a step when running.

Utah has about as much chance of success with Thompson at QB this year, as Chip Kelly does relying on Sammy Checkdown to run his offense in Philadelphia.

It makes me wonder, how much did Dave Christensen screw with Travis Wilson's head last year, that Thompson was a viable alternative. Fortunately, Wilson should be back this week.

Duck Hunting Or Duck Food

The irony about the clear distinction between Wilson and Thompson being so evident this week is that it was the Oregon game last year where we briefly saw the dynamics that Thompson could bring to the offense. Last year going into the Oregon name, Wilson has lost the starting job, and it seemed as though it was going to stick this time. Thompson came in led the Utes to a quick 7 point lead on the first drive. Oregon could do nothing to stop Thompson as he was leading Utah on his second drive before he planted wrong and blew out his knee on a non contact injury.

We can't forget what happened next. Wilson connected with Clay on a beautiful 78 yard pass, that needed to be 79 before Clay spiked the ball. Oregon recovered ran it back for a TD, and instead of being up 14-0 with all the momentum, the Utes were shell shocked at 7-7. They'd eventually make it a 3 point game with 12 minutes to play, but the Ducks would pull away.

This year the Ducks will be have a new QB in Eastern Washington transfer Vernon Adams. Adams is playing with a broken index finger that severely effected his ability to pass downfield against Michigan State. The index finger is the last finger to come off of the ball, and greatly assists in getting a pass the proper rotation and velocity it needs. Against the Spartans, any pass greater than 20 yards really seemed to be hampered like a lame duck (no pun intended.)

Utah remembers first hand how a jacked up hand can affect a QB after Wilson hurt his hand late in the Stanford upset two years ago. If Adams is compromised, Utah's defense is the type of defense that can keep things close. In a game when there doesn't seem to be much optimism around the fan base, most of the hope seems to rely on Adams being hampered.

If Adams isn't hampered by his finger, this could be the first of several big tests for a Utah defensive backfield that has shown a tendency to let the defender get behind them. While the Db's have made less, and less mistakes each week, they're still managing to let wide receivers get behind them for huge chunk plays. Against Michigan there were three passes that would have been touchdowns if Rudock could have connected. Utah State stayed in the game because of missed DB assignments, and Fresno State actually managed to make a dominant blowout look like a normal blowout because of garbage time 2nd string missed DB assignments. Against Oregon, those missed assignments will be all the more costly.

If Adams isn't effective in the air, the Utes stout defensive front 7 will be tested by RB Royce Freeman. Through three games Freeman is averaging 125 yards per game, and has 5 TD's. He's also averaging almost 7 yards per carry. Of course two of those games were against 1-AA Eastern Washington, and Georgia Southern. Against Michigan State, Freeman found it a little bit tougher sledding with only 3.8 yards per carry and 92 yards rushing. The Utes must keep Freeman closer to those totals than to the totals of the other two games.

Familiar Territory

The Utes are now 14-1 (Utah State 2012 being the only loss) in non conference play since joining the Pac-12. This means it's the the 3rd time they've entered the season halfway to a bowl game. Only in one of those season did they manage to earn a winning conference record, and only twice did they secure a bowl game after entering conference play 3-0.

Utah has also never won it's Pac-12 opener. Utah has also not beaten Oregon since 2003, or Arizona State in 30 years. I think they haven't ever beaten the Huskies.

Basically this means just because Utah's sitting pretty now, the precarious nature and difficulty of Conference play can mean it's all for naught come postseason time.

In case you were wondering here is how Utah has fared against each team since joining the Pac-12.

Arizona State: 0-4, 0 and the lad 30 years.
Arizona: 1-3, with Arizona winning the last three.... handily.
Cal: 1-1
Colorado: 3-1, that 1 is the Colorado high point since joining the Pac-12, snapping a two year road losing streak.... sigh!
Oregon: 0-2
Oregon State: 2-2
Ucla: 2-2
Usc: 1-3
Stanford: 2-0
Washington: 0-2, actually 0 and Forever.
Washington State: 2-2, Some Cougars can beat the Utes, having won the last 2.

Who Needs Cable

For the first time since, well since I'm not sure when, both Utah, and Byu will be available on over the air channels.

Byu will kickoff at the Big House at 10:00 Mountain time, and will be televised on ABC Channel 4.

Utah meanwhile with kickoff at 6:30 Mountain time and will be on Fox 13. Judging by having lost all the coin tosses this year, they'll probably be the ones kicking off as well.