At The End Of The Game, They Still Have To Go Back To Utah

On the other hand, they won, so I guess they made the best of a bad situation.

So did Rich Rodriguez, but it wasn't enough.  The numbers don't necessarily reflect this, but...Nick Sheridan was much, much worse than Steven Threet.  Threet wasn't that great.  The O-line wasn't good.  The WRs aren't meant for this system.  The linebackers figured it out in the second half, too late to stop Utah from gaining a decisive advantage.

The good:

• My dad came down for the game; it was fun to hang out with him again.
• My dad managed to scalp a ticket for sixty bucks in the seventh row at the 50-yard-line.  Holy frick.
• Utah fans are pretty nice folks.
• Special teams are looking good.
• The second-half defense was the real defese, in my opinion.
• The inexperienced LBs learned fast, and the D, impressively, held Utah under 30 second-half total yards.
• Later on, Li'l Brother pulled another semi-"Sparty, No!" in losing to Cal.  So at least there was some satisfaction today.

The bad:

• The QBs are not good.  Sheridan's "hometown hero" campaign didn't last long.
• My dad and I switched seats--mine was in the student section--after half, and the M alum sitting next to me was SO WHINY.  I kinda wish I'd told him off.  On the other hand, he DID pay a lot of money for that seat for the whole year...but no.  No excuse.
• Greg Matthews got injured.
• All the positions that were question-marks came down on the "alarming" side.
• We need to win games that are close.  Yes, yes, this game wasn't ACTUALLY, REALLY close.  Not REALLY.  Not 25-23 close.  But still, when all you need is to get into FG position and you basically go backwards...

Optimism:  Reps, reps, reps.  Especially on the O-line, this is important.  We will improve.
Pessimism:  So how many games we win this year?  2?  3?

Nah, I think we win more than 2-3 games.  I think we do get better.  And I'm impressed with the D, despite their first-half awfulness, for holding a very good Utah team the way it did in the second half.  Our offense will not be Notre Dame 2007.

I do, however, revise my predictions down:  a bowl game would be an accomplishment for this team.  But if we aren't significantly better--smoother, at least--next year, something went very wrong.

OH, I forgot one in the "good" category:  The Illinois--Mizzou announcer said "It doesn't make sense to hold anything back now!"  We know, we know!  Yay.