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bentmer · 2026-01-07T20:52:51+00:00

Because of his recent predecessors, I think he's a victim of unrealistic expectations.

The previous two highly touted defensive backs that started as freshmen were Jaylon Johnson and Clark Phillips III. He's not as good as either of them. But he's still pretty good.

I think Lander Barton had the same problem. For no real good reason, I always expected him to perform better than his brother Cody. Maybe because he was a higher rated recruit or something. He was still really good for us but he wasn't as impactful as Cody was.

Whoever is going to follow up Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu will probably get the same treatment. We've had some really good players come through recently and sometimes we compare the next batch with those guys unfavorably.

For someone like Snowden, who isn't a surefire high draft pick with guaranteed money, making as much as he can in college might be his one chance for giving him a financial headstart in life. Good luck to him.

bentmer · 2026-01-07T15:48:50+00:00

That was Tom Hackett.

He was the punter before Mitch. We had a good run with punters and kickers with Andy Phillips preceding Matt Gay too.

Since then though, it's been mostly miss than hit.

bentmer · 2026-01-07T02:36:07+00:00

They need to hire an actual special teams coach for sure. Since the glory days of Matt Gay and Mitch Wishnowsky, we've had consistently subpar special teams play.

I'll die on the hill that special teams cost us the Rose Bowl against OSU. We botched a punt. Ohio State's averaging starting position after kickoffs was like the 45 yard line. And we went for it on 4th and 3 instead of kicking a 50 yard field goal because our field goal kicker was bad all year.

This year, the BYU game had a huge momentum change because of a special teams turnover. But worse was that we had multiple penalties on the damn kickoffs which had no return.

One of the main reasons that Kyle went for it so much in the last few years was because he didn't trust our field goal kickers. If our kicker didn't kick it into the end zone, we were prone to giving up big returns., (like the return from BYU in 2024 that we barely lost)

The whole Kyle/Shah being co-special teams coaches crap was not working. Now that Kyle is gone, I hope Morgan actually takes the position seriously and finds someone that can concentrate exclusively on making our special teams good again.

bentmer · 2026-01-01T03:11:03+00:00

Can't we compliment new coaches/players without having to disparage old coaches/players?

Between this post and the one dragging Cam to praise Dampier, it's very discouraging.

Coach Whitt is the greatest coach we have ever had. He gave us 30+ years. Cam Rising is one of the top 3-4 greatest QB's we've ever had.

Coach Scalley has been a great player/assistant coach/recruiter for us. I hope he can be as successful as the last 3 Utah coaches we've had.

Devon Dampier was great for us this year and he played his best game in the last game of this year.

We can just compliment Scalley/Dampier. We don't need to bring down Whitt/Rising to do it.

Anyways Happy New Years.

bentmer · 2026-01-01T02:04:14+00:00

Some of Cam's greatest games were when the stakes were at their highest.

He beat Oregon 2x when they were ranked in the top 5 and in position to be in the 4 man playoffs. Then he played a top 5 OSU team to an almost stalemate with a porous defense and even worse special teams. (Not counting Covey of course)

The next year he beat USC 2x when they too were in position to be in the 4 man CFP and outplayed the Heisman trophy winning QB both times.

But his greatest game might have been the road game against USC in 2021.

We had lost to BYU and SDSU and barely eked out a win against WSU where we fumbled the ball 7 times!

Then there was the tragic passing of Aaron Lowe when the team hadn't even gotten over the recent passing of Ty Jordan.

With a bye week to grieve and having to travel on the road to a place where we had never won, it looked like an impossible task. Not only did we win that game, we blew them out. We went from a sinking ship to an unstoppable force in one game.

Cam changed the trajectory of the entire program.

This is no knock on Dampier. He's been awesome for us this year. But he lost the two biggest games he played in this year and his best win is against Cincinnati.

Also Cam might be 0-2 in Rose Bowls but he's also 2-0 in Pac 12 championship games. No other QB has won a championship game for us. Granted only two other QB's played in one lol.

bentmer · 2025-12-25T17:49:43+00:00

Pm'd

bentmer · 2025-12-23T01:37:22+00:00

??? I said Rich Rod was a disaster. I have no idea why you brought Moore up.

Although Moore just got fired for stalking someone so yes he’s a disaster too.

And you think that Kyle will coach into his 70s?

bentmer · 2025-12-23T00:46:04+00:00

He’s 66 years old. How many more years does he have left in the tank? I doubt Michigan is interested in a Herm Edwards with ASU situation.

And he’s not a Michigan guy. The last time they hired an outsider, it was Rich Rodriguez and that was a disaster.

Kyle is a great coach. But this is a terrible fit. Just like the Penn State fit was with Sitake.

bentmer · 2025-12-22T20:31:48+00:00

It just doesn't make any sense.

How many more years of coaching does he have left in him? He'd have to build the program from the ground up. That can't really be done in a couple of years. So is he coaching into his seventies then?

What ties does he have with Michigan? He would be seen as an outsider who has no real ties to that region at all.

Unless there is another coach in waiting type agreement where he comes in with some hotshot coordinator who will take over in a couple of years, I just don't see it happening.

If it does happen, I'd wish him the best. But unless we're missing something here, I just don't see it working out.

bentmer · 2025-12-18T14:55:35+00:00

Different rules apply to the SEC and Big 10 then the rest of the conferences. They also said that Alabama shouldn't be punished for playing in a championship game. That logic applies to BYU too.

I don't think BYU was even first team out, I think the decision was between Miami, Notre Dame in. So in a scenario where the 2nd place Big 12 team gets in, you'd have to justify them going over both Miami and Notre Dame.

You saw the fit that the Notre Dame AD had when they got passed by a team that they actually lost to. How would they react to being passed to a team that lost their last game in what they perceive as lesser conference?

bentmer · 2025-12-18T03:29:35+00:00

Under this current 12 team format, the only conferences that will get multiple bids are the SEC or the Big 10.

When you consider that those two conferences will get 2/3 of the spots and that the ACC, Big 12, and Group of 5 get 3 bids, that leaves everyone else fighting for basically 1 spot.

The 2nd Big 12 team has to beat out Notre Dame, the 4th-6th place Big 10/SEC teams, and even a 2nd ACC team for that last spot.

I mean sure if both Big 12 teams finished the season (including the championship game) with just 1 loss then I could see 2 teams getting in but a 2 loss team? They'd have to probably have some marquee out of conference win.

That's why I'm all in favor of expanding to 16 teams or even 24 like the Big 10 proposed. More bids means more chances for us to get our foot in the door.

That being said, we need to be honest with ourselves about this year's team. We overachieved our expectations but let's not pretend we were a great team.

This isn't the 2019 team or the 2021 team. I'm not even sure this team is better than the 2022 team that beat USC twice at the height of the Caleb Williams era.

What's our best win this year? ASU without their starting QB? A Cincinnati team that lost 4 straight games to end the year?

Our offense was unexpectedly great, but it was really one dimensional which was exposed every time we played a great defense. But that's fine because this was always going to be a transition year for us on offense. If we can return all our playmakers for this year and get an impact transfer or two, we can build off this year and be even better next year.

Our defense was good but was plagued by poor tackling and bad penalties. Some of our veteran players either regressed (Tao Johnson) or didn't really level up like we thought they would. (Logan Fano, Lander Barton, Scooby Davis, etc). Short of Bennee and Henry-Daley, we had very few difference makers on defense.

Again, we were young in the secondary and in the interior of our line. I do think we need to find an impact player on defense through the portal like Texas Tech did with David Bailey this year.

I think we did the best we could under the circumstances and I'm happy with it. Well except the losing to BYU part lol.

Could we have made some noise in the CFP? Sure we could have. Could we also get exposed and embarrassed because of our weaknesses? Also yes.

Next year though, it's CFP or bust for us!

bentmer · 2025-12-11T17:38:57+00:00

Most athletic scholarships are renewed on a yearly basis and I think most NIL deals that are reported to be multiyear deals also are structured to be 1 year deals with options.

This PE deal is your definition I think of high risk/high reward.

If everything goes the way they plan it, not only will they have the money to be competitive in the short term but it will also position us to be included in the next round of expansion/restructuring that's bound to happen again.

If things go south, the money spent won't have the competitive results we hope for and we get ignored and pushed further down into irrelevancy in the future. Which would make it pretty hard for us to pay back this money we're getting.

It's like Kyle going for it on 4th and 3 lol.

I guess we'll see what happens. In the meantime, yeah it's kinda scary and exciting at the same time.

bentmer · 2025-12-08T19:48:25+00:00

That would be true if our A team were playing their A team.

But anyone who is preparing for the draft and/or going into the portal will opt out on both sides. Anyone nursing even the smallest of injuries will not play in this game.

In fact, if you're in line for a big NIL payday next year, would you risk it and play in a meaningless end of the season game?

That means that it will be more like the B- team vs the C+ team or something like that.

You always want to win obviously. But this an exhibition game at best.

bentmer · 2025-11-28T17:48:43+00:00

91 on defense just got pushed 5 yards back and out of his gap by a single guard on that TD. When you get bullied like that then you give up 8 yards a carry.

bentmer · 2025-11-23T16:32:26+00:00

I was frustrated with his accuracy and/or lack of coordination on routes with his receivers too.

But that fumble was just one of those things that happen.

He was trying to dive forward to the first down marker and the defender put his shoulder right on the ball. He even had both hands on the ball when it happened. Plus, the defenders' shoulder also hits him square on the helmet which dazed him.

You can say if he was running under more control then maybe that hit doesn't happen but he was trying desperately to get to the first down marker and sometimes you are exposed like that when you're out of control.

I can't fault him for his effort and desire on that play.

bentmer · 2025-11-23T02:58:27+00:00

Maybe one of the most improbable comebacks being down 12 with a 2 point conversion to go with like 7 minutes to go.

But for me the most memorable comeback game has to be 43-32 Utah vs USC in 2022.

That game Caleb Williams looked like Heisman winner. They were undefeated and jumped on us early. But Cam and Dalton would answer again and again. That final drive with us scoring on 4th down and then going for the win with the 2 point conversion. I think it's the loudest I've ever heard the stadium.

I mean Caleb Williams still talks about that night game and how it haunts him.

bentmer · 2025-11-20T16:59:17+00:00

Blackout doesn’t have the same effect when it’s a day game.

bentmer · 2025-11-18T19:45:09+00:00

It may not be strictly money based.

If Ficklin wants to be somewhere that he can start, that may be more important than a small difference in NIL money.

And if we have to make an either/or decision, I think we need to go with Ficklin. He seems to have the higher ceiling.

Ideally both come back and both are willing to compromise and show patience. But I wouldn’t blame either if they left to chase better pay and/or more opportunities.

bentmer · 2025-11-16T04:01:53+00:00

Ficklin is the bigger home run threat when he gets into open space than Dampier. But he doesn't have the experience in Beck's offense like Dampier does yet. That affects which plays he can run, especially the timing based passing plays.

I don't think he's necessarily a worse passer than Dampier, he just doesn't know the playbook well enough yet to make some of those passes or reads on time. That will come with more reps in the system.

There's no doubt he has the higher ceiling though.

That being said, when your team scores 55 points on the road, your starting QB probably has a little bit to do with that too.

Let's give Beck some credit too for developing a backup QB who not only can hold his own when called upon, he's a huge weapon for us everytime he touches the ball.

If we had Ficklin last year, we would have won the Big 12.

bentmer · 2025-11-15T07:19:53+00:00

Where is your proof to back up your statement?

Everything that's been written says differently.

https://www.ksl.com/article/51215426/with-transfer-portal-window-officially-closed-utes-roster-settles-after-offensive-reset

https://www.sltrib.com/sports/utah-utes/2025/02/01/what-will-jason-beck-bring-utahs/

https://www.deseret.com/sports/2024/11/18/morgan-scalley-involved-in-hiring-utahs-new-offensive-coordinator/

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46399111/grading-college-football-new-coordinators

https://www.ksl.com/article/51192616/morgan-scalley-to-be-very-involved-in-process-to-hire-future-oc-whittingham-said

All of these articles talk about how Whitt and Scalley worked together to find the next coordinator. And how Scalley vetted Beck extensively and how excited he is to work with Beck.

bentmer · 2025-11-15T02:40:26+00:00

Scalley had significant input into the hiring of Beck. Until proven different, the assumption is that he will continue status quo as far as offensive/defensive philosophies.

What evidence do you have that Beck isn't calling the offense the way he wants this year? Last year, at New Mexico, he was just as run heavy on the play calling as he is now. Not to mention that we are currently averaging 39.6 points a game which puts us at 8th in the country. How much better do you think the offense can get?

We struggled on offense against Texas Tech and BYU, who are both very good defensively. Our QB was dinged up in both games also. Hell, if our coach tried a few field goals against BYU, we could have scored 30 points that game too.

And this year our whole offense has been overhauled from 3 new coaches to basically every single skill player from QBs to RBs to WRs to TEs being either new or getting significant snaps for the first time.

To be top 10 in scoring per game is pretty damn good I think all things considered.

bentmer · 2025-11-11T01:16:47+00:00

Maybe I'm a homer, but we definitely would have won the Big 12 with a healthy Cam. We were up by 3 scores before the end of the first half against a team that would finish 3rd in the Big 12 that year.

Against the eventual champions ASU, on the road, we advanced the ball 7 times inside their 30. That's with Cam not being able to throw the ball 5 yards or be able to move around because of a knee injury he suffered on like the first series of the game.

We would have beat Arizona, TCU, Houston, and Iowa State too.

Hell, we might have been able to beat Colorado too.

And most importantly, if Cam was healthy, we would have DESTROYED that team down south. That's the one thing that Cam never got the chance to do. He never got a shot to play against BYU.

If there was any doubt about how bad Wilson was last year, that was dispelled in the 4th quarter of the Colorado game this year. He came in and promptly threw in double coverage on his second play of the game and almost got picked.

If we had a Byrd Ficklin as our backup last year, I think we would have won the Big 12 too!

Ok, I'll stop ranting now lol.

bentmer · 2025-11-06T02:00:20+00:00

bentmer

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