Each week Eric Jensen takes a look at the upcoming weekend of football in the state of Utah and in the NFL. Week 6 weekend preview starts now.
A brief note about the week 6 weekend preview, a bit of a different format this week. Just a peak behind the curtain, some weeks it’s tough to write. I do this as a hobby and I love it but three to four pieces every week can get difficult when dealing with other real world stuff and my paying job as well. That said, no woe is me BS and more just an explanation. This week I wanted to construct something easy to read that would get my thoughts across. So I’ve decided to go with bullet points.
Hope this format works for you, back to the more long-form stuff next week.
Intro
This is the biggest two week stretch of football in the state of Utah. Both Utah and BYU play their two biggest games of the year on the same week. Utah State starts the heart of conference play and is desperate to stay alive. This is what we live for as football fans.
If you’ve been following casually, which I doubt most of you have if you’re reading this amateur football blog, these are the two weeks to lock in and watch every single game played across the state.
This is the two-week stretch where the state of Utah can make an announcement about itself, that it is a national player in the college football conversation. I for one, am very hyped about the next two weeks.
Utah
- When Utah rushes for over 200 yards against UCLA, they win. In fact, they are 6-0 when that happens. This team needs to get back to basics and run the football. Tavion Thomas needs to return to form.
- Cam Rising has gotten slightly better each week since the Florida game, this matchup would serve as a nice tuneup to get him playing his best football of the season going into USC.
- UCLA’s pass coverage unit scores a 90 on PFF, which is absurdly good. This will be one of the best tests Rising has faced all year.
- Utah’s defensive line vs UCLA’s offensive line is going to be a war. This is a very good unit. I am really excited to see what happens in the trenches in this one. That outcome will go a long way in determining who wins the game.
BYU
- I’ve been critical of the defense. Why? They don’t have great pressure numbers, they don’t get sacks and teams run on them. All that said, I sat down with Bryan Brown to do some tape study this week and at least in the USU game the Cougars just played a bad matchup. They couldn’t match the speed the Aggies played with in the first half. Tyler Batty had a bad week and was the point of attack for the Aggies, the effort from BYU wasn’t great either, but that can improve.
- For what it’s worth people much smarter than me think this BYU d line matches up well with Notre Dame, listen I disagree. I am willing to step back and eat a slice of humble pie though if the Cougars perform up front in this game. If BYU tallies nine or more pressures and or three or more sacks I will admit the defense is improving.
- Jaren Hall is the better QB here. I believe in QBs as game deciders, BYU absolutely has a puncher shot in this game because of how dynamic the offense is and how good the QB is.
- BYU is about to win one of these two games, I don’t feel like it’s this one though. I feel very confident that Notre Dame is going to come in, with a home-field advantage, and make a statement on national television coming off a BYE that this season is not totally lost for them. Just a really tough spot for the Cougars, if they win even with one loss they should be in consideration for a top 12 spot in the AP poll.
USU
- I’ve had several people, much more connected to the team than I am tell me this is where Utah State makes there stand. Ok, let’s see it then.
- This team has not played a complete game all year long.
- The offense is more dynamic with Cooper Legas, his running ability makes defenses adjust and respect that. However on the flip side, only one game, but it seems like Legas struggles with accuracy.
- Air Force is hell to play defensively. The triple option is a torture chamber.
- This is the game in which USU announced their arrival last year, the Mountain West conference is weird and wide open, but if you want to compete for another title and especially if you want to make a bowl game, you need to win this game. This is the most pressure Blake Anderson’s team has ever had on them, how do they respond?
Thanks for checking out the week 6 weekend preview.