As a Ute fan, I don't like how Whit just shrugs off the sloppy and inconsistent play the Ute offense has had so far this season. I support Whit, and I'm not calling for his head but it is something he needs to fix, before we play teams that are a little better than M.U, and UNLV.
If the Offense can come to play for 4 quarters, this team could be scary. The Defense on the other hand has looked extremely solid and i'm really confident they are only going to get better.

GO UTES!!!

Agreed, I also don't like how he always says things like,

"I don't know why it took us until the second half to wake up offensively but we finally did," Whittingham said.

He's the head coach and needs to know why and how to fix it. This is his year with an experienced team and a 5th year quarter back. Whit surprised me last year with the turn around after the injuries, lets see if he can start providing conference championships on a regular basis. And no more dropping games to the tds, I hate the prevent defense.

Go Utes!

Let me explain. Everyone always said Greg had a ton of talent, but you never knew what you'd get from one game to the next.

That's what I see out of Ludwig - one series or quarter, or in this case a half, the play-calling looks terrible, the next it looks awesome. Same as last week against Michigan - looked fantastic the first half, but terrible the second. If I were Whitt, that's where I'd start.

And maybe with the decision to not give Andy a raise, maybe he already has. What scares me is that their friendship goes back over 20 years, and it will be hard for Kyle to let Andy go, if it comes to that. However, we have seen from previous coaching staffs what can happen if the head coach is too loyal. McBride was not willing to let Tommy Chang go, and it ended up costing McBride his job.

Let's hope Andy can figure it out, because as has been stated above, this team has a TON of talent. GO UTES!

When is Utah's offense going to wake up and realize that they can't continue to play half a game and not expect it to come back to bite them sooner or later.

The Utes played a great first half vs Michigan, but nearly lost the game in the second half when their offense completely disappeared.

The Utes offense didn't bother showing up in the first half vs UNLV. If they'd played that way in the second half they could easily have lost this one.

The Utes have a bye this week (almost), so they can sleep walk through the entire game and still win, but, if Utah's offense doesn't play a complete game against Air Force, Wyoming, TCU, and BYU, they'll lose at least 2 of those games.

After last season's debacle at UNLV, you would have thought that the Utes would have come out fired up in the first half; where was the passion?

I blame Ludwig. he has one of if not the best one two punch running backs in the conference. Could you imagine the threat that Brian Johnson becomes when nobody can stop that run game?? Instead we run loopty loop plays for 0 yards when we could run strait up and average 5+ yrds a carry!!!

I think this program is in a position to excel, but only when Kyle figures out, and steps out of the on the job learning phase of head coaching and into a bonafide head coach and gets control of his program and becomes a strong general. I think he needs to ask himself, should he be loyal to Ludwig and except what he has, or can Kyle do better in getting someone else? I'm not saying what he should do but Kyle needs to step up. Also light a fire under BJ's fanny.

Haha hilarious. I was thinking the same thing. Those stupid trick plays kill us sometimes. Ludwig reminds me of Coach Klein from the movie Waterboy after he lost his mojo. Just play some straight up football to start the game and once you've established the run and the pass then throw a trick play in. For example, look what happened when Asiata threw to Brooks for the touchdown. They ESTABLISHED the run as a serious threat during the couple plays right before, made UNLV play honest, and then exploited them. Funny concept Ludwig, you idiot.

I think Ludwig is having a hard time developing an offensive identity. Are we a spread team? Are we a team where he quarterback lines up under center? Are we a team that uses tight ends? Etc, etc, etc. Ludwig is traditionally not a spread type guy. The Utes have the personnel to run the spread and it doesn't look like that is changing. But Ludwig tries to mix the two offenses and it just seems disjointed. Utah should run the spread exclusively. Get rid of the tight end formations and get back to the explosive offense that fueled the Urban days. We run better, pass better, and perform better out of the spread, so why try to mix in other type?

Also, Lugwig CANNOT get complacent with a 2 touchdown lead (a la Michigan, Louisville, etc). He has got to stick with what got him the lead and not turn to the run..run..run.. approach where he's trying to kill the clock.

This team has got to be consistent on offense...that's all there is to it!!

Go Utes, beat USU and then get focusing on Air Force....one of last year's embarassing losses!!

And get a new O.C.!!!

Now how many of you bozoes have ever coached div II football let alone coached at all? Even if you claimed to you have no room to speak. Most can't even analyze this program.
Ex: Why do you think they are not running Johnson? Could it be we do not have a backup? They have him tied down in that pocket for a reason.
I can tell that a lot of you have not been cheering Utah football for very long. This is a good coaching staff.

The Ute offense is inconsistant, that has been demonstrated. The Ute defense still scares me as they have looked dominated at times against UNLV and Michigan. I remember the good old days when the Ute defense made the UNLV offense look silly.

A big concern I have are the mental lapses that the Utah players show. I have never seen so many personal foul calls at pivitol moments. The players are more concerned about cheap shotting and pushing after the play is dead then they are about playing solid offense/defense. It seems that every interception or big run or kick return gets called back because of penalties that probably didn't have anything to do with the result of the play. The Utes haven't shown discipline for many years and I think it will continue to bite their butts.

All in all though, the Utes look pretty good this year and it is good to see Rice-Eccles excited again.

I find it sad that so many "fans" are down on a team that has not lost a game.
First read the different opinions in the posts and tell me how to keep everyone happy. You’ve got one person saying run up the middle one saying don't use trick plays and one saying use more trick plays and stop running the ball. WOW
As for not using the tight end look at the "Urban Meyer spread" and sure enough they use the tight end. The last few years that has been the most underutilized position on the team.
Second,
The spread offense has nothing to do with the position of the quarterback. Spread refers to the emphasis put on lateral movement of the field.
Third,
When your team lives and dies on keeping your quarterback healthy it might be a good idea to limit how much of the spread you run.
Finally,
If you are a Utah Football fan be happy things look very promising for the future. If you are an Urban Meyer fan well start cheering for Florida. In 5 years when Florida is back in the basement you will see that gimmicks do catch up with you.

I have no doubt that what Kyle says to the press and what he says behind closed doors to his team are very different, so I am not concerned with "DIZZY" saying that Kyle just shurggs off their inconsistent play. I expecet Kyle to fix the issues that are there and get this team playing to its full potential. Lets not forget, each year under Kyle the UTES have gotten better every week so he must be doing something right. Only this year, they are also winning early even with the mistakes. They can't keep making them and expect to win, but I really think Kyle will get it fixed. GO UTES!!

Why were we not able to shut out UNLV? They shut us out last year. I thought we were going to shut them out like some of our knowledgeable fans said 42-0. What happened? I know we have a great defense that doesn't let other teams score any points, except for this game and maybe only one other game this season. Now that win feels more like a loss. Is our defense not practicing?

Do you have a clue how hard it is to pitch a shut out? The best defenses in the country have a hard time shutting out opponents. UNLV came to play, PERIOD! Utah finally shook the rust off and ran away with it.

I wish everybody would get off Ludwig's back. Is he the best OC? No. Could we do better? Yes. But I would not oust him until we really have a losing season, or start losing bowl games, etc. Ludwig is also a good recruiter. Ratliffe is a good example and is still in the NFL last I heard. Where is Beck now?

When I see other teams in our league that used to be contenders struggle to get over over 50% in the winning column, I count my blessings!

The u will lose its first game at AFA in two weeks.

USU has been able to score points against teams with good offense. The score may be closer than people think.

I am not down on a team that has not lost, I am a realist, I as a huge Ute fan am tired of the dissapointment that the Utes (Ludwig especialy)bring by poor play calling and incosistency. I know this team is and can be great if they use their talent wisely and play to their ability. However, they will not beat a good Airforce, TCU, or BYU team by only playing one half. As you yourself stated gimmicks catch up to you, this team although effective with the spread needs to play up field not just "sideline to sideline" with the spread. This is why I specifically referr to Ludwig when I made and make my statements.

Utah Man

What's with the complaining about Michigan not being very good? How were the Utes supposed to have known that years ago when they scheduled them?

Don't despair....I know for a fact that some of the Ute fans (at least two I know of, on a regular basis) who post with backhanded compliments and criticisms are in fact BYU fans who think its funny to be negative about the Utes, while posing as a fan.

overall, the Utes are UP! They have some areas to improve but I'd be surprised if they didn't.

They have confidence and are gaining more every week.

Go Utes!

U of M just beat the team picked to win the MAC. It is so early who is to say how good anybody is or will be at this point.

My problem with ludwigs spread is that I have seen little if any outside option, only dive option. BJ can make the reads, I do not know why they are not running option for him with a pitch man?

My favorite spread option play is from the shotgun with 2 backs one on each side of the Qb. Qb runs downhill at the tackle and can "utah shovel pass" it to the back inside, pitch it outside or keep it if the d tackle commits. That has gone away but we use to run it all the time.

You guys sound like the old call in shows with Lavell Edwards, where Larry from Lehi calls in and wonders why we only beat Utep by 40.

We won by 21, going away against a conference opponent. We made some mistakes, which you do every game. In the end we won decisely and we can get better. I have coached football many years, and this staff is very good. Not perfect, but very good and this team is 2-0 ranked, and only going to get better.
quit bellyaching and be U fans, not Yner fans.

I've never coached college football but I did coach high school. And I'd have to agree with what most of the people have said here. I love Utah football, I've been a fan since I was a little kid... Ludwig needs to understand that when he has a good thing going for him that he needs to stick with that. Such as 100+ yard games for Mack last year, and now with Asiata, even better run it up the gut. As for not having a backup QB, maybe you having noticed #19 Louks. He's a smart player who can run the ball very well. He may not have the greatest arm but he can get the job done... I don't care if we are up and there is under two minutes left in the game. There is no need to run stupid plays that only loose yards just so we can give the ball back to the other team giving them an opportunity to score. Had Ludwig made that same mistake last week, Utah would be 1-1. He needs to call every play as if it were the first of the game. Go Utes!!!!!

Last I heard, Louks had an injured shoulder and was being listed as day-to-day. Since he did not play in the UNLV game, I would assume he's still not ready to take the field in relief of Johnson. Do you know something I don't?

I haven't found nor can I find anything that says Louks is injured... Brian Johnson had that problem last year. Maybe you are confusing the two years.

Louks was able to play saturday, but they wanted to keep him off the field if they could, because he did injure his shoulder on his touchdown run against Michigan (although you can't tell by how he jumped up and down)...

I saw Brian Johnson grab his shoulder after one run he had against UNLV...hopefully it was just a little stinger, and it wont be an ongoing problem thoughout the year again...we need a quarterback at full strength to get the ball in the hands of our playmakers...