Poinsettia Bowl: Utah report card

Published: Friday, Dec. 21 2007 12:10 a.m. MST

Offense

After a lackluster first half, the Utes racked up 451 yards total offense, with offensive MVP Brian Johnson completing 20-of-25 passes for 226 yards and one TD and rushing 11 times for 69 yards and another score.

GRADE A-

Defense

The Utes allowed Navy — the nation's top ground attack — to run for 316 yards, its season average. Joe Dale had two key plays — a fourth-down stop and a game-ending pick. Utah had enough stops from midway in the third period until the final minutes.

GRADE B

Special teams

Louie Sakoda had five PATs but suffered through a challenging game punting, with two sub-30-yard kicks dropping his game average to 34.5 yards. Navy recovered the late onside kick and nearly broke some long kickoff returns.

GRADE C+

Overall

Utah regained the lead in the second half and then retained it. The Ute offense came alive in the second half to score 14 points in each of the final two quarters. There were enough key stops to stymie the Midshipmen.

GRADE B

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Harsh

I think any time you win a game like that, you deserve better than a B. Also, they ought to give a separate grade for coaches and players. Ludwig gets a D+, the offense gets an A+ for scoring 35 points in spite of him. They should have dropped 56 More..

12:57 a.m. Dec. 21, 2007
Top comment

Brain Dead Coach

Ludwig needs to go.
Statistis showed before the game that Navy has a big weakness defending the pass. Whittingham said after half time that they needed to open things up and two drives get killed trying to run out of tight formations. (Ludwig More..

Poinsettia Bowl: Utah report card

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