Dick Harmon: Frustrated BYU, Utah? They are not alone

After Week 8 in 2011, Utah had a 3-4 record, ranked 104th in rushing, 93rd in passing, 108 in total offense and 72nd in scoring offense. This year after seven games the Utes rank 92nd in passing, 113th in rushing, 114th in total offense and 105th in scoring offense. That’s also a dip in the bell curve.

Can Utah ratchet up some better numbers against Cal, Washington State, Washington, Arizona and Colorado?

Yes.

But the bottom line is this: Both Utah and BYU are not as good as a year ago, for almost the exact same reasons.

They are not alone.

Good programs trip.

Both have a lot of work to do.

Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports columnist, can be found on Twitter as Harmonwrites and can be contacted at dharmon@desnews.com.