#6 Weber State @ #24 Utah

[GoCatsGo!!!]

Offensive line still looks crummy and Matt Hammer seems to be the same crummy OC from years prior.

Also, disheartening to see UC Davis competing so well against a decent Tulsa team while Weber isn’t looking too competitive at all. I know it’s the 1st game but jeez our team looks bad!!

 

[GoCatsGo!!!]

2 of our 4 goalline plays are QB powers with a skinny freshman qb???? Cmon.

Horrible play calling at the goal line and that’s why Hammer was fired years ago as the OC. He belongs in high school coaching but not at Weber State!!

 

[Kantoa]

Our transfer kicker is solid. Utah can't return anything.

 

[the dan]

Hanging in there….

Not punching it in from the 1 yard line before the half is hurting. (Utah dropped a couple of TDs themselves, to be fair.)

 

[Chex]

I know it’s tough to measure progress in one game, but I am thinking the offense hasn’t made improvements. It’s a tough schedule this year. This could be more of a 6-5 year if luck evens out.

 

[the dan]

I know it’s tough to measure progress in one game, but I am thinking the offense hasn’t made improvements. It’s a tough schedule this year. This could be more of a 6-5 year if luck evens out.

I’m seeing something different. I’ve been very impressed with Barron’s arm and poise under pressure. I think he looks noticeably improved from the spring. Grimes’ drop caused an interception, but he also flashed a bit. Between Grimes/McPherson/Shaheed/Malone we have an explosive receiving core. Barrera isn’t quite ready at RT and the Whitworth injury is a concern but the line competed better than I expected.

The game went about as expected but I still see a lot of positive. That is *by far* the best team we’ll see this year.

 

[Chex]

I know it’s tough to measure progress in one game, but I am thinking the offense hasn’t made improvements. It’s a tough schedule this year. This could be more of a 6-5 year if luck evens out.

I’m seeing something different. I’ve been very impressed with Barron’s arm and poise under pressure. I think he looks noticeably improved from the spring. Grimes’ drop caused an interception, but he also flashed a bit. Between Grimes/McPherson/Shaheed/Malone we have an explosive receiving core. Barrera isn’t quite ready at RT and the Whitworth injury is a concern but the line competed better than I expected.

The game went about as expected but I still see a lot of positive. That is *by far* the best team we’ll see this year.

I hope you’re right. I’m just seeing only offensive touchdown was in garbage time and play calling a little suspect on the goal line again. The U is a top 25 team…so honestly they competed really well…especially the defense.

I just see the conference improving, too, and not sure Weber State kept up to the level. Looks like two FBS wins with UC Davis over Tulsa and EWU over UNLV. Again, apples oranges as I think Weber State could beat those teams, but Weber State had a lot of luck to go 5-0 in Spring. I don’t see this offense putting away games when needed and the luck evening out. I guess we will find out more with Dixie State and especially JMU.

 

[SWeberCat02]

2 of our 4 goalline plays are QB powers with a skinny freshman qb???? Cmon.

Good call on the pass though. It was there, just got to catch the ball.

 

[SWeberCat02]

I know it’s tough to measure progress in one game, but I am thinking the offense hasn’t made improvements. It’s a tough schedule this year. This could be more of a 6-5 year if luck evens out.

I’m seeing something different. I’ve been very impressed with Barron’s arm and poise under pressure. I think he looks noticeably improved from the spring. Grimes’ drop caused an interception

This team , but he also flashed a bit. Between Grimes/McPherson/Shaheed/Malone we have an explosive receiving core. Barrera isn’t quite ready at RT and the Whitworth injury is a concern but the line competed better than I expected.

The game went about as expected but I still see a lot of positive. That is *by far* the best team we’ll see this year.

^This

This team will be good. Just clean up the penalties and turnovers.

 

[SWeberCat02]

I know it’s tough to measure progress in one game, but I am thinking the offense hasn’t made improvements. It’s a tough schedule this year. This could be more of a 6-5 year if luck evens out.

Come on man!

The offense I watched last night was much improved. And they were playing a top P5 defense. Overall Barron played well and he's only getting better. The running game will move much better going forward against much weaker front 7s. And the play calling really wasn't bad.

Weber actually has a favorable conference schedule. And they'll beat Dixie. JMU is a tossup.

Left this game feeling 10Xs better than last Utah game I left. And that Weber team turned out to be pretty good.

 

[baller]

Sure there were numerous miscues, too many penalties and some questionable play calls in key situations. But the positives really stand out. (1) Barron was good against a tough defense. (Did you notice how many times he scrambled out of pressure and completed a pass) (2). Shaheed was awesome. (3) the receivers are good and will dominate when playing FCS schools. The real difference in this game was in the trenches. Both lines of Utah dominated in the trenches. We have excellent FBS level backs that failed to run around or thru the wall put up against them. Our defensive line actually had some really good stands against the Utes, but couldn't overcome the talent edge consistently. I think this team looks vastly improved over the Spring version. Just hope Whitworth is not badly hurt. The weakest parts of this team are the cornerbacks and offensive line.. I hope some of the younger/newer DB's get a chance to prove themselves against Dixie. This team will win a lot of games. They have too many weapons not to. FCS schools are going to have a big challenge to beat them. The toughest team left on the schedule (much less so than Utah) is James Madison. I think that game will be a barn burning slugfest and may the best man win. Congrats to UC Davis & EWU for showing well against subpar FBS teams. It is always good when an FCS team beats a FBS team, even if that team is on the low rung of the FBS ladder.

 

[talhadfoursteals]

The game went about how I imagined it would. Personally worried about the OL. It has gotten deeper since the spring and this game gave some of our 2's a chance to get better, which, as the game progressed, they did. Hoping the injury to Whitworth isn't bad and that the coaches kept him out as a precaution. Hoping Ethan gets back soon too. We are a lot better with those two playing. But, we also won't be playing against a top 15 defense.

Barron was really good last night and seeing Cooper told me he is the actual backup. Baptism by fire experience for the young man. I'm encouraged by the offense. I think they will be better and move the ball more consistently. Last night we tried to run the ball a bit too much and should have gone to quick short passes instead. Pass to open up the run. But, I liked what I saw.

Only issue for me, too many penalties; especially in the secondary. Gotta clean that up (granted there were two flags that should have been picked up) and the tackling has to improve. Week 1 is in the bag. On to Dixie.

 

[the dan]

My biggest takeaway regarding Barron: when I watched him in the spring I thought that he completely lost his field awareness when he was under pressure, which was often. He would start running around aimlessly to avoid the rush and I never felt like he knew where his receivers were. Last night he stood in the pocket and made strong throws with the pocket collapsing around him. And when the pressure was too heavy, he stayed calm, rolled out, and threw strikes to his receivers. I don’t want to see so many designed runs for him but it is a good wrinkle to have in the playbook that I didn’t see much of in the spring.

Barron did short arm the throw to Shaheed down the sideline that should’ve been a TD. Gotta put extra air on it and let Shaheed keep running. The throw to Moss on the goalline was also subpar but Moss still needs to make the play.

This was also really important for me to see: I felt like the moment wasn’t too big for Bronson. He looked completely locked in. A lot of FCS quarterbacks would be overwhelmed in that atmosphere. I think we have a gamer at QB.

Other thoughts:

-If we’re going to have a goalline package with a ‘wildcat QB’, how the hell is Randall Johnson not that QB!?

-I thought the d-line, Scheiss in particular, held up well against the run until we predictably gassed in the 4th quarter. The run defense slipped in the spring so this was encouraging to me.

-Pass rush left a lot to be desired. We got home with some blitzes but we need some more pressure from the ends.

-Malone looks like he put on some serious muscle. He has come a long way. I think he is going to be a problem for FCS defenses.

-Brewer is a really nice QB for Utah. He made some very nice throws, but it seemed like we were losing guys in coverage quite a bit. I’m confident that Coach Dyson will get the corners playing at a high level sooner rather than later.

-I believe the only injury was Whitworth? We need him back soon, I hope he’s okay.

-Overall, it was a positive night. That Utah team will be competing for a Pac-12 championship. I believe we can compete for another Big Sky championship — something I was pessimistic about after the spring season. On to Dixie…

 

[AlumniWSU]

My biggest takeaway regarding Barron: when I watched him in the spring I thought that he completely lost his field awareness when he was under pressure, which was often. He would start running around aimlessly to avoid the rush and I never felt like he knew where his receivers were. Last night he stood in the pocket and made strong throws with the pocket collapsing around him. And when the pressure was too heavy, he stayed calm, rolled out, and threw strikes to his receivers. I don’t want to see so many designed runs for him but it is a good wrinkle to have in the playbook that I didn’t see much of in the spring.

Barron did short arm the throw to Shaheed down the sideline that should’ve been a TD. Gotta put extra air on it and let Shaheed keep running. The throw to Moss on the goalline was also subpar but Moss still needs to make the play.

This was also really important for me to see: I felt like the moment wasn’t too big for Bronson. He looked completely locked in. A lot of FCS quarterbacks would be overwhelmed in that atmosphere. I think we have a gamer at QB.

Other thoughts:

-If we’re going to have a goalline package with a ‘wildcat QB’, how the hell is Randall Johnson not that QB!?

-I thought the d-line, Scheiss in particular, held up well against the run until we predictably gassed in the 4th quarter. The run defense slipped in the spring so this was encouraging to me.

-Pass rush left a lot to be desired. We got home with some blitzes but we need some more pressure from the ends.

-Malone looks like he put on some serious muscle. He has come a long way. I think he is going to be a problem for FCS defenses.

-Brewer is a really nice QB for Utah. He made some very nice throws, but it seemed like we were losing guys in coverage quite a bit. I’m confident that Coach Dyson will get the corners playing at a high level sooner rather than later.

-I believe the only injury was Whitworth? We need him back soon, I hope he’s okay.

-Overall, it was a positive night. That Utah team will be competing for a Pac-12 championship. I believe we can compete for another Big Sky championship — something I was pessimistic about after the spring season. On to Dixie…

Barron impressed us for the most part what with the pressure atmosphere...Wildcats certainly had some highlights (proud for Shaheed tying the FCS record on career TD returns from kickoffs(?)). There were typical first game slip-ups (Whittingham said he got tired of writing down all the corrections needed from the game play) but still a positive, hopeful look ahead as the competition now levels to FCS play. :thumb: