Fresh off a tough overtime loss to one Utah based school, BYU, we face the Utah Utes at home in the Coliseum. We are blessed with a Friday Night Lights version of Pac-12 After dark. Can hardly wait till we see the line of traffic going on this Friday? Did anyone think about that? Saturday morning seemed like a good option versus this nightmare of a logistics challenge. For those that are season ticket holders you are already faced with the challenge of getting to a game and finding parking but to add the I-10, 405 and 110 jams to the equation is not something you are smiling about.
I could rant a bit about last Saturday night in Provo, UT but I choose to look at Friday. For those of you who follow me on Twitter (SteveUSC) you have already had the pleasure of my thoughts during and post game. This #10 ranked Utah team is coming in smelling a victory. They all saw what a BYU defense did to the Air Raid offense of USC. They did the “Pull the Chair” routine on Graham Harrell and by God we set the chair up time and again and kept smacking our necks on the front of the chair that was moved.
Our defense is the key but our offense has to run clock. We cannot go 3 and out over and over. The Utes QB is going to give us fits on the containment. For some reason, under Clancy Pendergast, we struggle with mobile run option quarterbacks. Over and over we tend to be very soft. Our open field tackling went out th window last week. We hit with our shoulders but forgot to wrap them up. We watched players trying to make the tackle rather than gang tackle. If we are going to compete this Friday night we need a chip on our shoulders to prove to ourselves that we are the team we heard about this past summer. Is it possible? You bet it is. This team has the talent. This team showed a very efficient offense against Stanford so we know when its in rhythm their cadence is lights out for their opponents. This cadence and ultimately rhythm is what we need Friday night.
Our fans are at a crossroad and our new President has begun the rebuild mission in only a short 3 months. Gone is our AD Lynn Swann. Now the search for the right AD who will most likely look at the entirety of the staff and make appropriate adjustments. This program has the inventory of skills to play at a much higher level. The ground hog movie needs to end. We need to beat Utah on Friday or this season can spiral and the analyst who saw a 7-5 year will be right (assuming we can win 5 more!
Fight On. Beat the Utes
Comments