BYU at Utah - Pre-game thoughts

First thought: Utah is beatable. Many of the news media and sports analysts think this game is no question. They say BYU doesn't have a chance. I disagree.

With that being said, I will not go as far as to say that BYU will dominate Utah. To say that would mean that I haven't been watching football at all this year. I do believe that Utah is a good team. They have beaten some quality teams this year.

However, in my opinion, Utah's offense is its greatest flaw this year. This is evidenced by the fact that their kicker is idolized by everyone at the University. A truly good offense does not rely on a kicker, but rather sees their kicker as last resort in case they are not able to get into to the end zone.

In five of Utah's games this year (Michigan, Air Force, Oregon St, New Mexico, and TCU), their win has come in the last few minutes of the game. Some credit Brian Johnson for leading such brilliant come backs. However, I believe that, in some instances, it was the poor play of Johnson earlier in the game that required him to put together a come back. I'm not saying that Johnson is not a good quarterback, but he is definitely not a good quarterback all the time. That inconsistency makes the Utes beatable. When the oposing defense has shut down Johnson, the Ute defense has had to win the game for them.

The Utah defense is getting a lot of well deserved praise for its quickness. However, they have yet to face a passing attack like what BYU has in place. The only way to get to BYU's passing offense is to get to Max Hall. I don't see this happening. Utah has one of the smallest defensive lines in the conference. BYU has the biggest offensive line. I believe that Utah's quickness won't make up for the lack of size against the BYU front five. Utah's quickness might help them to get one sack, but otherwise Max will have the time he needs to find Pitta, Collie, Reed, George, or Unga.

BYU's defense continues to get criticism. Nobody seems to remember that this is the defense that allowed only 10.17 ppg in its first 6 contests, including two shutouts. I will be the first to admit that BYU's defense hasn't been playing as well lately, but I saw a change during the second half of the Air Force game. BYU looked more like the defense they played at the first of the year. Although BYU's UCLA shutout has proven to not be as presigous as it seemed, BYU will come into this weekend's game with the same type of intensity.

Keys to the Game
BYU's defense needs to stop the direct snap plays. TCU showed the conference that directly snapping the ball to the tailback, works against BYU. Since that game, everyone has done it. Utah will be not different. They will snap it to Asiata or Mack 10 or so times.

Score in the red zone. Utah's defense has been stingy this year. BYU needs to capitalize on every opportunity they get to score. Utah's offense has proven that it can't score on a consistent basis. So if BYU can constantly score, BYU should win the game.

Predicted Score
BYU 27, Utah 23