Another weekend of college football in the state of Utah is complete, and that means it is time for the weekend review. Eric Jensen gives his thoughts on the top storylines and takeaways coming out of the weekend. Now, sit back and enjoy, here is the weekend review.
USU
The Utah State Aggies were stunned at home on Saturday evening by the Weber State Wildcats. A scoreline that saw the Aggies lose 35-7. To say this loss is a disappointment for a program coming off a Mountain West title run would be an understatement.
This was a performance by the Aggies that from the jump was shaky. Now the offense of the team has been shut out for eight consecutive quarters. If you go back to the game against UConn, you could also extend those woes to the third quarter of that matchup. There is a troubling pattern developing for the Aggies and much of it has to do with QB Logan Bonner who went 12 of 31 passing on the day.
While Blake Anderson was not enthused by the crowd booing the veteran starter and called for more fan support, the Aggie faithful have a right to be angry.
“It's real easy to sit in the stands and boo, and I want nothing better than Cooper Legas to have a great career when his time has come, but he had the opportunity to win that job in the offseason and he did not.” – Blake Anderson https://t.co/lG3mq1N0A9
— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) September 11, 2022
One of two things are happening with Logan Bonner, both equally disturbing. Option A, the injury that Bonner has referenced repeatedly over the past few weeks is worse than we think and affecting his play. In which case that puts blame on the coaching staff for not making personnel moves to allow Bonner to get right before Mountain West play begins.
Option B, Bonner just isn’t seeing the field well right now, he repeatedly threw into double coverage on Saturday night and appeared to struggle with finding open receivers. That wasn’t helped by drops from his pass catching core.
It’s good to see Anderson stand by his QB, but the manner in which he did it put him at odds with the fan base. The situation could have been handled better with a simple no comment. Things could also be resolved with a win, ultimately that’s the disappointment here, the fact that for the first time in over twenty years you lost, at home, to Weber State.
Paying fans have every right to boo if the team isn’t performing, it isn’t cheap to take a family of 4-6 to a game and some drive from Salt Lake to do so. It shouldn’t be held against Anderson that he was upset with the fans, but there has to be an understanding that this is what happens when you set a standard of winning early in your tenure with a program. Just an unfortunate situation all around.
The Aggies hit the BYE at the perfect time, this next stretch of games is a major prove it stretch for Anderson and the entire Aggie program. The pressure is on right now, Anderson deserves a shot though he’s taken this team through adversity before.
A brief shoutout to Jay Hill, who consistently has Weber as a top ten FCS program, he should be getting looks from G5 schools this off season.
BYU
I really did want to start with BYU, but the Aggie’s situation is so dire that I went there first in the weekend review. Cougar fans please understand on this one.
What a win by BYU. No other way around it, I set out the challenge in the weekend preview, if BYU wanted to be considered immediate contenders entering the Big-12 they needed to win this game, and they did. The way the Cougars did this thing though was oh so impressive.
A defensive line that was stifled a year ago, attacked Baylor and dominated up front. The BYU pass rush got four sacks on the day. That is a huge win for a pass rush that has historically struggled against physical fronts.
Another huge positive for the Cougars, the emergence of Chase Roberts who put up a massive day with 122 yards through the air with BYU’s top two receiving weapons Puka Nacua and Gunner Romney out for the game. If BYU has found yet another weapon the Cougars could be in for a special season.
It’s time to raise expectations in Provo. If this team can hang with a dominant Baylor team they can most certainly get a split between a Notre Dame team that has looked shaky to start the season and an Arkansas team that looks like a sleeper cell out of the SEC.
The talent is there for BYU, they have the dawgs, can they continue to prepare well and stay focused is the biggest question remaining. I wholeheartedly believe if the team gets a win against Oregon this week in Eugene, they should be considered a college football playoff dark horse as we roll towards October. Kalani Sitake has remade this program in his image, and that image is a Picasso level masterpiece at the moment.
Utah weekend review
The weekend review in September always contains a few games where analysis slips the mind. This is one of them. Great win by Utah blowing out an FCS team by almost 70 points. Here is what I take away from that win.
One: The depth of Utah right now is unreal, this is the peak of the programs history. Sure it doesn’t have the talent of the Alabamas of the world but the depth of this power five team is matched only by the tier one and two of college football teams. I would rank Utah as one of the 15 deepest programs in the nation, for the circumstance they survive in that is incredibly impressive.
Two: Don’t expect the wide receivers on this team to be much of a factor this year. In his press conference, Monday Kyle Whittingham made no bones about it, the tight ends will be getting most of the pass-catching work. Honestly, that’s fine, Utah fans shouldn’t be worried. Brant Kuithe and Dalton Kincaid are A+ receiving tight ends, perhaps the best two in the country, they will be the major catalysts for the passing game this year, I would not be shocked if we see them split out wide for most of the year. Whittingham said the wide receivers need to get open, but tape heads like Bryan Brown say that Solomon Enis and Devaugh Vele are some of the best route runners he’s seen at Utah. That tells me that this coaching staff just wants to feed the tight ends, and hey I don’t blame them one bit, both Kuithe and Kincaid should get serious looks as day one NFL tight end picks next year. They are that good. Don’t panic because the passing game looks different, it will still be explosive.
Looking for receivers to get open more, demand the ball. #GoUtes
— Michelle Bodkin (@BodkinKSLsports) September 12, 2022
Three: Utah is deep at running back, and despite his fumbling issues Tavion Thomas will probably not see his workload cut into much this year. He’s just far too talented to not have on the field, and yes, that might hurt the Utes at some point but that’s what you have a top-ten defense for. Brief point defensively, much better but it’s an FCS school, I will be really watching that closely against San Diego State.