Comments about ‘Utah Utes football: Defense passes first test with flying colors’

While a lot of people want to deem the Utah defense unstoppable, I'm still not fully sold on Utah being completely invincible on defense. Yes Dion Lewis is a great running back, and yes Baldwin was a great receiver, but Pitt had 3 new interior lineman and a freshman QB making his first start in a hostile environment. It seems from that itself that the Pitt offense was fairly one demensional with just Dion Lewis running behind a few lineman that were up against a better defensive line. There's not a running back in the league that can perform well without a good offensive line. Case in point: Oklahoma vs BYU last year.

Brandon Burton did a great job as a shut down corner, I'll give you that. The defensive line did do a good job penetrating a lesser offensive line. But outside of Baldwin and Lewis, what other weapons did Pitt really have offensively? I'm not saying the Utah defense isn't decent, but it will be interesting to see how they respond against better offensive lines and more multi-dimensional offenses. That being said I am sold on Utah's Offense for once.

Though it's not yet spectacular, Utah's defense is solid and sure to get better as the season progresses.

The next couple of games will tell us a lot about the team.

"While a lot of people want to deem the Utah defense unstoppable"


"A lot of people", who? PITT shreded UTAH's defense in the 4th... obviously, it did go into overtime didn't it? So I my guess is, where do the people your talking about come from.... your invisible friends? That game was played like a first of the season game by both teams.



"Brandon Burton did a great job as a shut down corner, I'll give you that."


Thanks, I'm sure all of the UTE fans appreciate your expert wisdom. All I have to say is... why don't you worry about your own team, they don't look like much, and I really hope that the two QB plan works for BYU. We should talk again in about 24 hours.... then we'll know how BYU did.


"I'm not saying the Utah defense isn't decent, but it will be interesting to see how they respond against better offensive lines and more multi-dimensional offenses."


I guess we will find out tomorrow how BYU responds to a team that went 5-7 last season, the spread is no longer 3, but 1.5.

To: Cougar Claws | 11:30 p.m. Sept. 3, 2010
Keep your claws out of our articles. Your opinions do not matter and your football knowledge is lacking; just ask Donco Mendenhall.

Utah's defense had some freshman and first game mistakes (blown coverage’s/assignments) and that is it. These are problems that are easily remedied and I am sure will be addressed in the upcoming weeks before we get to the meat of our schedule. We won this game despite the penalties, turnovers, and defensive mistakes. We made the game closer than it needed to be. Look for a much improved defensive showing in upcoming games as well as the offense improving. Utah will not see a pair of receivers like Pitts the rest of the season. We did a good job on them athletically when we were not confused about who had what assignment. Utah tends to improve as the season progresses. This is a good team and the potential is there for another fantastic year i.e. 2004/2008. Go Utes, to the PAC12!

If you don't think the U defense was amazing then rewatch the game. When you realize how many times the defense STARTED around their own 20-40 yard line you'll better understand just how dominant they were. Pitt's offense had to settle for at least 3 FG attempts AFTER starting near or in the red zone because Utah's D just crushed them.
These guys are legit. The D line controlled the line of scrimmage entirely.

Wow, Eyepatch--got a little anger working there big guy? I'm a big time Ute fan and don't like much of anything connected with the TDS, but I thought Cougar Claws made good points all the way around. He was talking football and it seemed to set you off like someone who had dissed "Glee." Easy, big fellow.

Cougar Claws,
PITT's QB is not a freshman. He is a redshirt Sophomore with only 17 career passes before the Ute game. So, even though he is very green as the starting QB, he as been with the PITT system for two years.
There was a huge question mark on the Ute defense, but what I saw thursday gave me confidence that as they continue to work together through the season, they will turn into a typical Ute defense. Right now the biggest weakness I saw was in the secondary. But, that could have been due to focusing on the run for the PITT game. Luckily the Utes have some fairly easy games coming up to work out the kinks

The defense was extremely solid for the situations they were put in. The question mark for me in this game is can the offense remdedy the mental mistakes? Let's face it though, perennial top ten teams like florida, oklahoma alabama and the rest schedule their first games against teams that would have a hard time competing in the NJCAA. Why? Because they don't want to work out the kinks and bugs against a team that has a chance at beating them. By most standards this was and extremely tough opener for both of these teams and the Utes came out on top. Now the team knows where they need the work. I look forward to a much improved squad heading into Las Vegas next week. Go Utes

The Utes are an amazing defensive squad. After loosing their entire linebacking core and three out of four seconday players, to come out and perform like that was remarkable. It reminded me of the 08 TCU game where the defense was so solid it knocked TCU out of field goal range multiple times and saved their struggling offense. I live how the Ute defense just reloads. Good signs from up on the hill. Tuesday will be interesting to talk to the players in class and get their perspective of the game. It's a good time to be a ute!

I really liked what I saw out of the defense. With exception of the one touchdown to Baldwin (which was a defensive miscommunication), Brandon Burton played shutdown football. It was nice to see we could stop an offense like that but we still have some work to do.

Go Utes!

Cougar Claws | 11:30 p.m. Sept. 3, 2010
While a lot of people want to deem the Utah defense unstoppable, I'm still not fully sold on Utah being completely invincible on defense.

------

I'm a Cougar fan, too, but have to ask: Just how is a defense unstoppable?

A defense would be impenetrable, an offense unstoppable.

--------

Moving on to other topics:

Holding a Heisman candidate to 75 yards on 25 carries -- if that would've been the end of last season or the fourth game of this season it would be a big story nationally. Let's hope Pitt does well the rest of the year.

The Utes offensive line was impressive against a supposed veteran group -- no sacks.

The Utes secondary was interesting. Late game breakdown on Pitt's last TD reminded me of Harline, Collie, George. I guess if you look at any team's losses, there are going to be passes like that, locally we just tend to remember those three.

Last interception was an ill-advised and poorly thrown pass into solid coverage. The kid tried to do too much. The one thing you want to do in OT is retain possession.

Re: Rational

Good point. That was a slight misuse of adjectives there. . .

I'm definitely excited about today's game. I hope our defense can respond to Washington the way the Utes did in their.

Go Cougars!

Adverbs, I meant to say adverbs, and end my last sentence with "opener."

You can still communicate without being 100% grammatically correct, okay!

I've seen this before, and I'm not singling anyone out, but if you're going to make fun of someone for poor spelling or grammar make sure to proofread and spellcheck your post before posting. Those are the funniest to read! (Most funny? Funniest)?

Anyway, Go BYU! The edumacated school!

Well, well, well...look at who is first to comment on a Utah article...little brother Cougar Claws giving us the benefit of his extensive analysis and insight!

The defense holds a Heismann candidate to 75 yards and picks off a pass in overtime yet he is sold on the offense which misfired too many times, especially in the red zone with penalties and lack of execution!

I think Utah-D more than passed its first test of the season. It saved the game. Both defense and offense need to cut down on the penalties though.

Hopefully, the next few games which are winable/should-win will give Utah a chance to fine tune the offense before games with the "big boys"

I like what I see with them. GO UTES!!!