Utes Talk BYU Football

With rivalry week beginning August 29th against the Utah Utes, ESPN 960 host Ben Criddle chatted with a few Utah Ute football insiders about game one in Provo, their Ute perspective of Cougar football for the 2019 season and the rivalry through the years.

Bryan Brown (@BrownbearSLC) and Steve Bartle (@SBartle247) of UteZone sat down with Ben Criddle to discuss the 2019 BYU and Utah seasons.

MAXWELL AWARD WATCHLIST

Questions of the Day?

1. Do you buy into the hype of preseason awards lists?

2. Which one of these three players, Zach Wilson, Jordan Love or Tyler Huntley, would win one of these awards and why?

Ben Criddle begins the first segment by discussing the Maxwell Award Preseason Watchlist. The Maxwell Award, named in honor of Robert W. “Tiny” Maxwell, has been given to America’s College Football Player of the Year since 1937.

On the 2019 Maxwell Award Preseason Watchlist, there are three players from the state of Utah on the more the 80 player list. BYU sophomore quarterback Zach Wilson, Utah senior running back Zack Moss and Utah State junior quarterback Jordan Love all found a spot on this years preseason list.

As far as quarterbacks go, Ben, Steve and Bryan dive into who would win a post-season award and why?

Steve Bartle - “Jordan Love probably has the best opportunity, the best odds of winning the Maxwell Award, just because he already has the hype around his name. People already know his game….he is everything to that team.”

“You can say the same argument about Zach Wilson, without Zach Wilson at BYU, what are they? Who do they go to?”

Bryan Brown - “If I am going to take my shot, I am going to shoot at Jaren Hall (BYU So. QB).

Ben Criddle, Steve Bartle - “OHHHHHHHH”

Bryan Brown - “I’m off script….here’s the interesting part about the Jordan Love argument, second highest scoring offense in college football last year, they were elite in the turnover margin, that was a high octane offense, they moved the ball, he had some athletes he could spread the ball to but he is in a different system now….with Mike Sanford….I wonder how he (Love) responds to all that.”

Ben Criddle - “If the hype train is real. And let’s say Utah is undefeated heading into week six and they finish 10-2, even if the production is not there with Tyler Huntley, you are going to have the win-loss record, and maybe a marque play or marque touchdown, a marque throw, and many times the media, the fans, the hype train will buy into a marque game, a marque play rather than the totality of production. Even if Jordan Love throws for 4,000 yards, and let’s just say he is head and shoulders above Huntley in production, that win-loss record will determine who gets an award like this. It’s going to be hard for BYU to get to eight wins during the regular season.”

2nd Question of the Day

What should BYU fans be concerned about heading into the rivalry game this year?

From @espn960 Twitter

- Jordan Lynn - “Playing too emotional and turning the ball over.”

-Dunn8564 - “Putting together four quarters of football, keeping turnovers down and limiting the big play”

Former Utah Ute, Dan Sorensen, on How BYU & Utah Stack Up Against Each Other

Ben Criddle - “In your opinion, why is nine coming and why do you think eight has already come?” (Utah is on an eight game winning streak against BYU)

Dan Sorensen - “If we want to get overly simplistic, Utah is just a better football team. They have more talent across the board, they have better coaches across the board and that’s why they are winning. Now, to give BYU credit, they rise to the occasion and make the games closer than a lot of people think they should be on paper, and one of these days, BYU will get them just because of that thing. But when you look at the resources coming to Utah compared to BYU, you look at the recruiting….and especially with all the top tier guys from the state of Utah (high school), it’s either the Utes or out-of-state. They are not even really looking to BYU for the most part unless they are legacy kids. So you combine all those factors together and you will see that gap that looks like it’s widening. Barring anything unforeseen, it’s a trend we could expect to see for the foreseeable future.”

Ben Criddle - “Dan, knowing the roster, knowing the schematics, knowing the personnel, what would you say, if you were a BYU fan, is your biggest concern heading into the rivalry game heading into 2019 at LaVell Edwards Stadium?'“

Dan Sorensen - “Running the football, I think that is going to be the biggest concern. There is a lot of optimism down in Provo about the offense, BYU did a great job in terms of bringing in some transfer running backs, guys who I think are better than the guys already in the program. BYU has a great offensive line but that defensive line is easily the best I have ever seen in Salt Lake City, it’s arguably the best in the country."

“BYU is going to need to establish the run, they just cannot rely on Zach Wilson to move the football against the Utes, especially if they are changing things up schematically from last year….so they are going to have to establish the run in order to move the football against that front seven of Utah which will probably be the toughest team they face in the schedule all year long.”

Ben Criddle - “What did you guys see from spring ball that made you so much more optimistic about Utah’s chances this year?”

Dan Sorensen - “I saw three things in particular that I really liked. Number one is Tyler Huntley looked like a completely different guy from last year. Last year he showed some flashes, especially early on in the season but then struggled as he began to progress toward the end of the season. Then of course he got injured. But Tyler came in , showed leadership, he looked crisp, he looked like he was understanding the offense and that’s a good thing. He’s a senior and Utah needs him to play well.

“Number two, we some of the linebackers step up. Manny Bowen, the Penn State transfer, coming in looking like he’s picked up the defense, he’s as athletic as or as explosive as any linebacker that we’ve seen coming into Utah…I think we have higher expectations from our linebackers from when camp started.”

“(Third) Then Julian Blackmon, what we saw from him this spring, of course last year he was at cornerback for the Utes, he’s been a two-time All-Pac 12 Conference corner, they moved him from corner to safety in the spring and he was the best player on the field on a team that we can expect to have about a dozen guys play in the NFL in the next couple of years and Blackmon looked like the best guy out on the field. He’s a center-fielder, he’s has great ball skills, I know he got burned time to time playing cornerback but now he can play with his front to the quarterback and see what the offense is doing. I think we are going to see him do a lot of things in the secondary that’s going to make Utah especially difficult to throw the ball over the top on.”

To listen to these interviews, click on the links below.