SB Nation User Blog: UtesFan89

Bucks will make Joe Alexander highest draft pick ever to have rookie option declined and will allow...

UtesFan89 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:29:36 -0000

Bucks will make Joe Alexander highest draft pick ever to have rookie option declined and will allow him to be UFA in summer, sources tell Y!

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MWC Week 2 Power Rankings

UtesFan89 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:18:42 -0000

After the amazing week 1, which featured the MWC Upset of the Year, week 2 was a bit of a letdown. Or maybe even more so. There was no real "upset"... TCU over Virginia was expected by most, and the closest upset almost went against the MWC (Colorado State v. Weber State). Wyoming hung close for a half but eventually fell apart, and UNLV kept things close but lost in the final seconds. And Air Force fell just a bit short in what we voted as the MWC Game of the Week.

And with Week 2 over, it's time for a Power Ranking...

Note #1: I'm a big fan of "resume ranking"... aka, you get ranked based on what you've done, not what you might do in the future.)

Note #2: This is not a "who's the best team" ranking. It's a "who'd you beat and how'd you beat them" ranking.

BYU- The Oklahoma win still looks good (the Sooners dismantled D-II Idaho State just like you'd expect), and the Cougars totally dominated Tulane. The first half was slow/sluggish, with the Cougars only up 6-3 with 3:28 left in the half. But then they started scoring, and reeled off 48 unanswered points to destroy the Green Wave, 54-3. The defense held Tulane to 37 rushing yards, and gave up just 4.5 ypc through the air. And there were the 2 interceptions & 2 fumble recoveries. Meanwhile, once it got going, the offense was unstoppable. They had 35 first down, 300+ yards through the air, 200+ yards on the ground, and 0 punts. And that was WITH Unga only getting 3 carries & 1 reception before re-aggravating his injury. Up next: Florida State (1-1)

TCU- Yeah, Virginia has shown nothing so far this season (the loss to William & Mary, and then this game). And yeah, TCU took week 1 off. Still. They absolutely dominated the Cavaliers in Virginia... well, at least until the final 5 minutes, when Al Groh and company finally woke up and started playing. The Horned Frogs allowed just 177 yards (as many yards as the Horned Frogs had through the air), and Virginia did not snap the ball from inside the red zone once. The Horned Frogs D also racked up 8 sacks, dominating the Cavaliers offensive line. Offensively, there was a bit of a scare when Andy Dalton came up limping after a sack... but he was out there again a bit later, and also was into for the final series of hand-offs and all. Up next: Texas State (1-0)

Utah- The Utes struggled in the first half against Utah State. They struggled a lot longer this weekend, as San Jose State matched Utah's turnover prone offense (okay, just 2 fumbles, but it seemed a lot worse at the time) for 3+ quarters in a game the Utes struggled to win. Of course, the 3 missed FGs by Ben Vroman didn't help things. The Utes drove down the field early for a score, but struggled offensively after that. It took a late TD bomb and a couple of nice runs by the back-ups after Asiata went down with a shoulder injury for the Utes to finally pull ahead, and a late FG by Joe Phillips to put the lead at 10. The defense was solid against the run (1.0 ypc), but the Spartans abused them through the air, with 146 of the 269 yards going to one guy. But the lack of offensive help really hurt, and showed the coaches (hopefully) many things that need to be fixed in the next week. And let's be honest... if either AFU or UNLV wins their game this past weekend, they're up at #3. Utah's performance thus far this season has been highly disappointing. Up next: @ Oregon (1-1)

Air Force- Yeah, they're 1-1 and their 1 win came against a D-II team. Air Force played Minnesota really tough on the road, but ended up falling a bit short, suffering big time when a fumble was returned 50 yards by the Golden Gophers. The Falcons picked up 261 yards on the ground, and even managed 125 yards and 1 TD through the air. But the inability to stop Minnesota (219 yards passing on 7.6 ypc, 108 yards rushing on 4.5 ypc) and the fumble ended up doing them in. They hung tough though, and were in a winnable game. Up next: @ New Mexico (0-2)

UNLV- Yep another 1-1 team. The reason they're this high comes due to how tough they plaed Pac-10 school Oregon State. Sure, they were at home. But still, to see them come back from down 20-7 and actually take the lead before a very late OSU FG in a heartbreaking loss. The Rebels did give up 184 yards on the ground, and didn't mount a comeback until an unfortunate injury to QB Omar Clayton led to the insertion of back-up Mike Clausen. The defense also allowed a 80.6% completion rate for Beavers QB Sean Canfield, which is never good. Up next: Hawaii (2-0)

Colorado State- They're 2-0, but their ranking took a double-whammy this weekend. First, Colorado... the team CSU beat on the road last weekend... was destroyed by Toledo. And then CSU got involved in a tight game with D-II Weber State, only hanging on when Weber State was unfortunate enough to fumble away the ball on a snap. The Wildcats were, at that time, at the CSU 11, down by 1 with 42 seconds left. I know they play the games for a reason, but CSU had no business letting WSU... even if they end up being one of the best D-II teams as expected... hang around for that long. Up next: Nevada (0-1)

San Diego State- The Aztecs quickly rebounded from the disappointing final 3 quarters against UCLA, beating Southern Utah 35-19 after jumping ahead 35-9 after 3 quarters. Ryan Lindley had 287 passing yards, and the Aztecs added 149 yards on the ground. There's not much to pick up from a dominating win over a D-II team, but the Aztecs have their first win under HC Brady Hoke and can now move on, hopefully more confident than they might've been after the UCLA game. Up next: @ Idaho (1-1)

Wyoming- After struggling against Weber State (maybe it's a MWC thing?), the Cowboys were absolutely slaughtered at home by Texas, 41-10. It wasn't all bad though... the Cowboys were up 10-6 late in the 1st half (before allowing a late TD drive) and went into the locker-room down 13-10. It was all downhill from there though, as the Longhorns woke up and destroyed the Cowboys as many (most?) expected them to do. The Cowboys QB rotation looked unimpressive (23-50, 188 yards) and they only picked up 85 yards on the ground. While the first half caused some excitement, the team still has a way to go. Up next: @ Colorado (0-2)

New Mexico- After not scoring a single TD against Texas A&M, the Lobos improved on that against Tulsa. Unfortunately, the one small step forward didn't make up for the 2nd straight bad outing. GJ Kinne threw for 310 yards and ran for 53 more (over one-third of Tulsa's 151 rushing yards) to lead Tulsa in a 44-10 thrashing. The 3 lost fumbles and 1 interception really didn't help the Lobos, and the offense is still looking for anything positive. The only TD came in the 4th, on a 93 yard fumble return. The Lobos have now been outscored 85-16 on the season, and start conference play on a low note. Up next: Air Force (1-1)

The MWC was 1-3 against the "Big 6" this past weekend, putting them at 3-5 on the season. There's 3 more games on tap, with BYU (Florida State), Utah (Oregon) and Wyoming (Colorado) all getting shots... 2nd shots for BYU & Wyoming. The Utes are now 2-0 against the WAC, and 3 more games against the WAC are up for the MWC (San Diego State, Colorado State & UNLV). There's 1 game against a D-II team (TCU), and the start of conference play with Air Force traveling to New Mexico.

The MWC went a combined 5-4 this weekend, taking a hit from the 6-2 we saw in week 1. Week 3 sees 1 loss already guaranteed (the conference match-up), and a couple other tough games as well. The 'Big 6' games are all worth keeping an eye on... Florida State (first Miami, and then Jacksonville State !?!) and Colorado (CSU and then Toledo) have struggled early this season, and Oregon is coming off of a win against Purdue after losing their star RB for the season after the Boise State game.

Poll

Which game is the MWC Game of the Week? (Taking into consideration both quality of the opponent and the probability of a MWC win.)

BYU v. Florida State

10 votes

Utah @ Oregon

6 votes

Air Force @ New Mexico

1 votes

Colorado State v. Nevada

0 votes

Wyoming @ Colorado

0 votes

17 votes | Poll has closed

MWC Week 1 Power Rankings

UtesFan89 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:41:47 -0000

Well, that was a blast! BYU followed up Utah's thumping of 'Bama in the Sugar Bowl to end last season by beating Oklahoma (even though, as people will point out, OU only had their Heisman-caliber QB for 1 half and was without their star TE... and blah blah blah) and Colorado State handled Colorado on the road to really help the MWC out. Of course, SDSU & UNM falling ugly to UCLA & Texas A&M (respectively) didn't help matters, and nor did Wyoming just surviving Weber State, but you've gotta take what you can get.

And with Week 1 over, it's time for a Power Ranking...

Note #1: I'm a big fan of "resume ranking"... aka, you get ranked based on what you've done, not what you might do in the future.)

Note #2: This is not a "who's the best team" ranking. It's a "who'd you beat and how'd you beat them" ranking.

BYU- Fine, they barely beat a injured OU team. Whatever. In the end, they just beat the #3 team in the nation (premature rankings suck, by the way)... and did it in impressive fashion. And by impressive, I mean that they struggled to run the ball... and got huge plays when they needed them. Max Hall was impressive down the stretch there to lead the Cougars. Up next: @ Tulane (0-1)

Colorado State- Sure, the Buffaloes made a late charge. But that's only after half-time saw the Rams up 20-6 on the road, with the fans booing their own Buffaloes off the field. They held the Buffs to 29 rushing yards on 21 carries, while getting a huge day on the ground from Leonard Mason, and got some solid QB play as well (despite the 2 interceptions). Up next: Weber State (0-1)

Utah- Would I rank Utah behind CSU in an actual ranking in terms of how good I think they are? No. Never. And that's not just me as a biased fan speaking. But quite simply, beating Colorado is much more impressive than beating Utah State. The Utes had some early struggles, including giving up the 96 yard TD run, but the defense stepped up big time in the 2nd half, holding the Aggies scoreless. Cain looked impressive, and Asiata just hammered the Aggies. Up next: @ San Jose State (0-1)

Air Force- If you're going to play a D-II team, that's how you do it. The Falcons rolled up 576 yards (474 on the ground), scored at least 13 points in every quarter, and rolled to a 72-0 win. They had 299 yards at the half, and the starters were on the bench after that (helped by the 45-0 halftime lead). Of course, it's hard to judge exactly where your team is when you're dismantling a D-II team, which makes this coming week really important for the Falcons. Up next: @ Minnesota (1-0)

TCU- While they didn't go the way of BYU (playing a top 5 team), they didn't stoop to the level of Florida (playing a D-II team that saw them favored by like 70) either. Instead, they took a bye... and saw their SOS take a hit anyways, when Virginia lost to D-II William & Mary. Up next: @ Virginia (0-1)

UNLV- They weren't exactly up to the level of the Falcons, settling on a 38-3 win over Sacramento State. The Rebels racked up over 200 yards on the ground, and did the same through the air, using a 21 point 4th quarter to run away with the game. They did allow 3.6 ypc though, which can't be a good sign. And the fact that Sacramento State was in the game through the 3rd quarter has to be a bit worrisome (in fact, it was 10-3 until late in the 3rd quarter). Up next: Oregon State (1-0)

Wyoming- Um... yeah. A win is a win, I guess. But when you only win by 7 against a D-II team (Weber State in this case)... and need 5 interceptions by the opposing QB to hang on, things aren't looking up. The Cowboys were implementing a new offensive look... a no-huddle spread offense... and did explode for 434 yards, but struggled to finish drives. Yeah, WSU is expected to be one of the better FCS teams, but even then... Wyoming needs to play better than that. Especially considering their next game. Wyoming was alternating QBs during the game... it'll be interesting to see what happens there as the season moves on. Up next: Texas (1-0)

San Diego State- It started so well... the Aztecs, under new coach Brady Hoke, bolted to a 14-3 lead late in the 1st quarter. Unfortunately for them, the Bruins woke up after that, and ran away with a 33-14 win. Having QB Ryan Lindley throw 3 picks (all to the same guy, no less) certainly didn't help things, and the ground game (18 carries, 39 yards) is certainly worrisome. Especially when your QB is just 18-45 (with two 1st-quarter TDs and the aforementioned 3 interceptions). They'll look to rebound this coming week. Up next: Southern Utah (1-0)

New Mexico- That was ugly. The Lobos didn't score a TD (4th consecutive opener in which that has been the case) and were generally unimpressive (to be nice) in Mike Locksley's head coaching debut as the Texas A&M Aggies steamrolled them in a 41-6 win. The Lobos were down 20-0 before finally getting on the board with 13 seconds left in the half on a FG, and added another FG in the 3rd quarter when down 27-3. Meanwhile, the Aggies passed for 361 yards and ran for 245 more in what was a sad display by the Lobos defense. And the Lobos ground game wasn't much better... 21 yards on 24 carries. And it doesn't get any easier this week. Up next: Tulsa (1-0)

The MWC went 2-2 against the "Big 6" last week, getting wins over Oklahoma & Colorado and suffering losses at the hands of UCLA and Texas A&M. They get a couple more chances this week, with TCU heading to Virginia, Air Force traveling to Minnesota, Oregon State coming to UNLV & Texas traveling up to Laramie to face the Cowboys (how'd they manage that?!). There's also another WAC game (Utah yet again, this time against San Jose State) and a couple other games against mid-majors (BYU at Tulane, Tulsa at New Mexico) and the seemingly mandatory games versus D-II teams (Weber State at Colorado State, Southern Utah at San Diego State).

While the MWC went a combined 6-2 last week (with 1 bye), it'll be hard pressed to have a similar record this week, with a couple of really tough BCS games and a tough game against a solid 'mid-major' as well.

Poll

Which game is the MWC Game of the Week? (Taking into consideration both quality of the opponent and the probability of a MWC win.)

Air Force @ Minnesota

6 votes

TCU @ Virginia

3 votes

UNLV v. Oregon State

3 votes

Wyoming v. Texas

0 votes

New Mexico v. Tulsa

0 votes

12 votes | Poll has closed

NY Jets deal for QB Kevin O'Connell from Detroit. go to NFL.com for more details

UtesFan89 — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:56:48 -0000

NY Jets deal for QB Kevin O'Connell from Detroit. go to NFL.com for more details

Jason La Canfora on twitter

He didn't tell me his final plans, but I get the feeling that Harpring won't play again.

UtesFan89 — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:20:33 -0000

He didn't tell me his final plans, but I get the feeling that Harpring won't play again.

The Future of Matt Harpring

Blazers To Make An Offer To 'Sap

UtesFan89 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:27:06 -0000

Blazers To Make An Offer To 'Sap

Darned if you do, darned if you don't.

If you do match, you have 'Sap at a contract he hasn't proven he deserves. If you don't, he's on a division rival and the fans want your head.

Jazz/Celtics Summer League Game Thread

UtesFan89 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:14:07 -0000

The website... http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia-live/nba/11191/300_nba-orlandmagic_060502.asx

Jazz v. Celtics.

Not sure what else to say. Maynor. Suton. No Koufos.

Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah.

Mo Almond On Knicks Summer League Squad

UtesFan89 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:29:39 -0000

Mo Almond On Knicks Summer League Squad

The title says it all.

Korver Opts In... Locke's Twitter

UtesFan89 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:33:56 -0000

Korver Opts In... Locke's Twitter

Lockedonsports 1 down three to go -- Korver opts in and makes 5+ million next year. Jazz now have serious luxury tax issues.

After weeks of reporting on the subject, I'm drawing the conclusion that Carlos Boozer and Mehmet...

UtesFan89 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 03:02:42 -0000

After weeks of reporting on the subject, I'm drawing the conclusion that Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur will opt out and Kyle Korver will not. Maybe something changes, but I'd be surprised if the scorecard didn't read as such Tuesday.

Siler