Sunday, September 20, 2009

Utah's football schedule looked good for the Utes when it was released, now I say it looks better than ever.

The Utes get to jump right back on the horse, so to speak, following their first loss since the 2007 by hosting Louisville on Saturday. Then they get a bye week before starting conference play. You can't ask for better scheduling than that offers.

The Utes talked big about getting their confidence back up to play Louisville shortly after Saturday's game. They don't know much about the Cardinals game plan yet, but they respect them well enough to know the game won't be an easy one.

Louisville lost at Kentucky 31-27 Saturday in which a late interception by quarterback Justin Burke ended hopes of a game-winning drive.

However, the biggest concern for the Utes isn't their opponents right now, but themselves. It was obvious Saturday a lot of areas need improvement, not just one.

That is where the schedule works in their favor. They can start correcting things this week, see how things go against Louisville, then coaches can make more adjustments and so forth during the bye week before they have to start focusing on the game at CSU on Oct. 10.

Perfect timing for the Utes, who need all the time they can get right now.

After the game Saturday offensive lineman Zane Beadles said he'd take it on himself to make sure the Utes improve after a frustrating day for the offense.

"I'll push these guys and get these guys as leaders to push them and get it done," he promised. "Guys fought hard and never quit but like I said you can't have an offensive first half like we did and win games. We talked at halftime about making plays. We have a lot of playmakers on this team and we need to make plays."

The Utes were just 5-of-18 on third down conversions and 0-of-2 on fourth down conversions. Quarterback Terrance Cain didn't seem to have an answer as to why the Utes struggled so much Saturday.

"Feel like we can get things going every drive, we have that type of fire and mentality, but we just didn't get it going soon enough," he said. "We practiced everything they showed. They are a great team, just didn't get the win."

Whittingham said he'd wait and pass judgement on Cain's game after he saw the film. I wonder if the Utes will give Jordan Wynn another look or stick with Cain.

In replacing kicker Ben Vroman with walk-on Joe Phillips, Whittingham said, "You have to produce when opportunities arise."

Cain didn't exactly do that Saturday, although the loss certainly wasn't entirely his fault. Still, the Utes went with him over Wynn because he was a safer choice, but two interceptions and a fumble don't make him look so safe anymore.

I'm not saying Wynn would have done any better Saturday and it might have been unfair to put him in a game as a replacement in that kind of hostile atmosphere, but I wonder if he'll get some more chances with the first team offense this week.

Defensively the Utes still aren't getting to the quarterback often enough. They have just three sacks for the season.

The Utes also gave up 217 net yards of rushing to Oregon, a statistic that will make their season average even worse than it was entering the game (62nd nationally, 121.5 yards average).

However, Oregon does deserve its share of credit too. The Ducks made some mistakes, but one thing that struck me about Oregon's play Saturday was the Ducks' ability to match the Utes in team speed, I haven't seen that happen very often in recent seasons.

"It was neutralized," coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Cain was chased down several times and Oregon's skill players got more separation than quarterback Jeremiah Masoli was able to take advantage of for the Ducks.

Seeing the Utes matched in speed doesn't happen often and it may not happen again the rest of the season. That is a bit of a comforting thought for the Utes.

But more than anything the Utes have to clean up turnovers, fix the defensive woes that allow big plays and find something to get the offense going. It's a lot of work the Utes have to do, good thing they have a couple weeks to work on it.