2022 Bowls

[MrBug708]

On 12/5/2022 at 1:39 PM, Mano said:

For DTR, just don't know how excited he will be to play in Sun Bowl. I would guess he would be more likely to play if it were a higher profile bowl.

He hasn't decided anything yet. I was hoping for Vegas, one so I could go and two, he would most likely play in front of family and friends in his hometown. 

[Orange]

On 12/5/2022 at 12:45 PM, utenation said:

WSU vs Fresno: Slight edge to Fresno.  Tedford is a good coach and FSU is more gritty IMO. They are playing well right now with their QB back and healthy. L. A great game by Ward can change all of this. 

OSU vs Florida: Florida looked unstoppable against us. We fucked that game up. Florida is still very inconsistent.  OSU is a bulldog and very consistent lately. W. Florida is loaded with 4 and 5 star talent. 

Oregon vs UNC: Oregon is a better team. Both teams have great QB's. Oregon by 7-10. W

Washington vs Texas:  Torn on this one. Texas is all over the place this year. UW finished strong. Line favors UT a bit. But I'll homer is up for UW. Penix is a badass and good news, he's returning to Washington next year. W

UCLA vs Pitt: DTR faces former USC man Slovis. UCLA is a better team and DTR is much more efficient. Pitt finished strong but against mostly terrible teams.  I think UCLA will be fired up to prove their year wasn't a fluke. W

USC vs Tulane: Riley said a month away might allow Williams to be ready. I have no idea how good SC's back up is but a month should be plenty of time to get him ready. If Williams is good to go at close to full health, should be a 10-14 point win.  If no Williams, I still think USC but close. W

Utah vs Penn State: I love this match up. Power. Good defenses.  Utah slightly favored. I'll homer it up with Utah. We are due to win the Rose Bowl. W

Full disclosure, these picks are pretty homerish but I think we have a good conference this year.  6-1.

I feel like UNC may be a tough out for Oregon.  Ducks are down, they're in a coaching transition among assistants, and Mack Brown has a stellar bowl record in his career.   I'd be happy to be wrong.

I'd really love to see Utah get a Rose Bowl win.  Almost as much as I'd love to see Oregon State even GET to a Rose Bowl.

[utenation]

On 12/6/2022 at 8:52 AM, Orange said:

I feel like UNC may be a tough out for Oregon.  Ducks are down, they're in a coaching transition among assistants, and Mack Brown has a stellar bowl record in his career.   I'd be happy to be wrong.

I'd really love to see Utah get a Rose Bowl win.  Almost as much as I'd love to see Oregon State even GET to a Rose Bowl.

UNC lost 3 games in a row to end the season. One of those losses was to a terrible Georgia Tech team at UNC. Tech lost 7 games this year. 
 

UNC is also losing about 10 players to the portal. Maybe 3-4 of them are impact players. They have the option to play in the bowl so who knows. 
 

So unless Oregon is now a complete mess, I still like their chances unless Lanning keeps going for it on 4th and 3 on their own 15 yard line. 😉

[glduck]

Bowls are a total crapshoot these days, man. Because of the portal and opt outs, teams are down to walkons at certain spots. I couldn’t begin to guess what’s going on over at, say, Pitt so I’ll just tune in and hope for the best.

From what I’ve read about Carolina, they have a pretty awesome quarterback but their defense couldn’t stop 11 of us if we banded together to form a team (lol, as if there were 11 of us still posting here). Since Nix is playing, that bodes well and all, but we have no pass rush and our best corner has opted out, and we have lost a few notable shootouts over the last 30 days so who knows. Its always fun to beat Mack Brown //

[Scscsc89]

We're missing the headline here:  we have a bowl with a (occasional) SEC tie-in.

Getting them to play West of Texas is HUGE.

[Orange]

How's Bo's ankle?

[Orange]

On 12/6/2022 at 11:47 AM, Scscsc89 said:

We're missing the headline here:  we have a bowl with a (occasional) SEC tie-in.

Getting them to play West of Texas is HUGE.

Put a little more pressure on us why don't ya.

[Scscsc89]

We got blown out by Alabama -- no pressure -- only upside

[HLB]

On 12/4/2022 at 11:35 AM, Scscsc89 said:

USC gets Cotton vs Tulane.

The least compelling matchup of all the PAC12 bowls.

I'm predicting USC (with Williams at QB) to win by double digits.

But I'm rooting for Tulane.

[Mano]

 

 

[Quack 12]

On 12/7/2022 at 3:03 PM, Orange said:

How's Bo's ankle?

Good question. I haven't seen anything about the injury since the season ended, but the fact that he's playing in the bowl game is a good sign. He tweeted something about "Running into bowl week. Who's ready?" last week. Presumably he's going to be close to 100%.

[utenation]

I think this is the highest honor you can give a blue collar team like Utah. 
 

“Biker Gang” lmao. 

I’m using this going forward. 
 

 

[Quack 12]

I mean no offense, but I'm sick and tired of this "little guy" Utah persona. It's bullshit. You're not WSU or OSU. You have a very strong Pacific Islander connection - mostly thanks to Mormon missionaries - which makes your OLs and DLs incredible. You're in the Pac-12 for a reason, because you're well-funded and well-positioned to compete. Utah should be competing at the highest level of this conference, and they are. Knock off the "We're doing more with less" crap. That's not who the Utes are.

[utenation]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:05 PM, Quack 12 said:

I mean no offense, but I'm sick and tired of this "little guy" Utah persona. It's bullshit. You're not WSU or OSU. You have a very strong Pacific Islander connection - mostly thanks to Mormon missionaries - which makes your OLs and DLs incredible. You're in the Pac-12 for a reason, because you're well-funded and well-positioned to compete. Utah should be competing at the highest level of this conference, and they are. Knock off the "We're doing more with less" crap. That's not who the Utes are.

Who said any of this? 

[Mano]

On 12/14/2022 at 9:05 PM, Quack 12 said:

I mean no offense, but I'm sick and tired of this "little guy" Utah persona. It's bullshit. You're not WSU or OSU. You have a very strong Pacific Islander connection - mostly thanks to Mormon missionaries - which makes your OLs and DLs incredible. You're in the Pac-12 for a reason, because you're well-funded and well-positioned to compete. Utah should be competing at the highest level of this conference, and they are. Knock off the "We're doing more with less" crap. That's not who the Utes are.

 

You can try to spin it how you like, but look at the recruiting rankings since Utah has been in the Pac vs. how Utah has performed, they have absolutely done more with less. The coaching, development and player evaluation have overcome weaker rated recruiting classes than the all the other schools in the upper half of the Pac 12.

And the "incredible OL and DL" thing, there is 1 starter on Utah's team this year that had a 4* rating on either side of the line ( Van Fillinger ) the rest are 3* or lower that have been developed. They have signed 6 total 4* linemen on either side of the ball in their 12 years in the Pac. Oregon has had that many the past two years.

Utah's recruiting ranking within the Pac 12 according to Rivals:

2011 - 6th

2012 - 8th

2013 - 9th

2014 - 11th

2015 - 10th

2016 - 8th

2017 - 7th

2018 - 5th

2019 - 7th

2020 - 5th

2021 - 6th

2022 - 4th

 

With these recruiting classes within the conference Utah has won the Pac 12 south the past 4 full seasons, and won the conference the past 2 seasons. They have never been ranked higher than 4th in recruiting ( last year ) and been in the lower half of the conference in recruiting 7 of the 12 years they have been in the conference. I would say they are doing more with less.

[Orange]

I get what @Mano is saying and don't disagree, but I do think there is a strong element of bias to these recruiting rankings whereby if a recruit is getting attn from UU or OSU, they're a 2- or 3-star, but as soon as UO or USC ends up on the radar, they're a 4-star.

From a facilities standpoint, Utah also seems pretty flush (or at least far more so than OSU or WSU)

[Mano]

On 12/15/2022 at 11:25 AM, Orange said:

I get what @Mano is saying and don't disagree, but I do think there is a strong element of bias to these recruiting rankings whereby if a recruit is getting attn from UU or OSU, they're a 2- or 3-star, but as soon as UO or USC ends up on the radar, they're a 4-star.

From a facilities standpoint, Utah also seems pretty flush (or at least far more so than OSU or WSU)

This is what I mean by superior player evaluation. Up until the past 2 years or so, Utah almost never won recruiting battles against the glamour teams in this league ( USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon ) . For the most part, the players they have competed with have not had offers from these teams. 

I am proud of how far the program has come. I remember being mocked when I said Utah would be competitive out of the gate, and should win their fair share of division and conference championships over time. They have developed as great as I could have wished, upgraded their facilities as their success has allowed, and have built up to be a perennial contender. They may have some advantages NOW over a few teams at the bottom of the league, but they have gotten here in a very short amount of time starting from an upper MWC roster and facilities. 

 

[utenation]

On 12/15/2022 at 11:25 AM, Orange said:

From a facilities standpoint, Utah also seems pretty flush (or at least far more so than OSU or WSU)

Utah's facilities are top shelf.  We are building a new IPF as well. The one we have is just fine but it's overused by our other sport's teams.  Our budget is about mid pack but last I checked we were around top 3 on spending money on football. 

I asked Quack12 to clarify because I want to understand where he is coming from.  Another thing. KW has always thrived in the underdog role. It's his M.O. If he feels the Utes are being overlooked, disrespected, he uses all that to his advantage.  This will never change, it's his style.  I can see how this may come off as a "little guy routine" to outsiders, so I get it. 

We have a great recruiting class going this year(16th nationally and 3rd in the P12). But Mano is correct on the other years.

Personally, I don't think Utah lacks any resources to win championships these days. Shit started coming together in the P12 around 2014. Better talent, depth. We sucked balls the first 3-4 years because of not being up to snuff in many areas. 

 

[Quack 12]

On 12/15/2022 at 2:39 PM, utenation said:

I asked Quack12 to clarify because I want to understand where he is coming from.  Another thing. KW has always thrived in the underdog role. It's his M.O. If he feels the Utes are being overlooked, disrespected, he uses all that to his advantage.  This will never change, it's his style.  I can see how this may come off as a "little guy routine" to outsiders, so I get it. 

I was more than a little drunk when I posted that,, but yeah, I guess I was off put by the sort of "little guy" attitude.

My apologies. I'll try to avoid posting in a stupor going forward. 😬

[HLB]

On 12/5/2022 at 10:11 AM, Orange said:

Who fucken cares what you think.  SEC isn't dominating ANY other sport with a playoff.  Pound sand, bitch.

Wow.  You need to get in touch.

SEC ranks among the strongest conferences in baseball, basketball (higher than the PAC12), women's basketball, women's softball, swimming and diving, M & W golf, M & W tennis, W Volleyball .... There's a whole cluster of sports with playoffs where the SEC excels.