Questions were abound coming into 2009 for a team that was coming off the only undefeated campaign in '08 calmly tucked away in some unknown region in Utah, but the Utes football team have hit the halfway point of the 2009 season.
And as they sit at 5-1 and the lone loss coming in Eugene, Ore., Kyle Whittingham's bunch is back at doing what they do best—playing winning football.
Here are some marks on what each portion of the team has been able to take advantage of and advance, or rather taking a small step backward.
Offense: B
To its credit, the Utah offense couldn't even be solved by The Riddler himself coming into 2009. Despite losing the entire receiving corps, Brian Johnson graduated and the offensive coordinator bounced his way to Berkeley, Calif., to call the plays in Strawberry Canyon.
It's hard to argue against a 5-1 record at this point in the season, especially with all the newbies on that side of the ball, but here's a quick hitter—this 2009 offense is only putting up 28.7 points per game. The 2008 offense put up 37.1 through six.
That goes without saying, though. Matt Asiata, the running back that newly-appointed offensive coordinator essentially built his offense around, tore his ACL on Sept. 26 and was lost for the season.
Into the spotlight came Terrance Cain, who at the beginning of the season was looking to be called upon as much more of a game-manager, rather than a Johnson-esque leader.
So far, the JC transfer has thrown for 10 touchdowns and 1336 yards, while accumulating a an efficiency rating of 139.57. A thorn in Cain's impressive debut season in a Utah uniform has been his turnover ratio. He has thrown five interceptions this season and lost a couple fumbles.
Turnovers come with the territory of an inexperienced offense, yes, but a Whittingham-coached team has always prided itself on ball control. Win the turnover battle, win the game, basically.
In six games, the Utes have put the ball on the turf 16 times and lost it a total of seven times. 12 turnovers in six games equals out to be an average of two turnovers per contest. With an offense as youthful as this one, the defense cannot be always called on to post bail.
Turnovers haven't been the only stain on the desk thus far for Utah, offensively. The offense has been able to find tremendous strides throughout games thus far this season, but its inability to perform consistent drives has pitted the Utes in difficult situations at times.
The play-calling has come under fire quite a bit, but the combination of poor execution and turnovers have stalled the ability to rest the stellar defense Utah sports has this year, which as the season rumbles on, could prove to be something of note later on.
On the offensive line, the guys up front have suffered unfortunate injuries to some key players. All-MWC and future NFL'er Zane Beadles had a severe gash on his leg and both Caleb Schlauderaff and Waler Watts have missed a couple games due to various injuries. A cause for concern is pass protection—a similar tune to 2008. Cain has been sacked a total of 13 times so far this season and this will be a vital statistic pressing forward.
On a positive note, David Reed has shown that he is the class of the receivers in the Mountain West Conference in 2009. The senior wideout has 546 yards so far and three touchdowns to go along with an impressive average of 14.4 yards per catch. He also leads the team in snags with 38 and averages 91 yards receiving per game.
As painful it was to see such a hard-working good guy and player as Asiata go down, Eddie Wide has proven his worth in the two games since Asiata went down. He has netted 408 yards rushing in 2009 and has three touchdowns, and his more explosive style of running could help Schramm open the playbook a bit.
A few names I look to step up as the season rolls on: receivers Aiona Key and Shaky Smithson. Utah fans have been waiting to see how the amazing athletic ability of Key would be channeled and we saw his one-handed catch against UNLV make No. 3 on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays last week.
As for Smithson, the versatile Baltimore, Md., native will be called upon to step into the "Asiata package" which is Utah's version of the Wildcat and coming off a minor injury, Smithson is a character talent the Utes staff will look to help ease the load on Cain and Wide.
If the Utes are to end the season successfully, the offense will need to find strides each and every game and provide timely rest to the defense and Cain will be looked upon to provide the leadership Utah has had the last four years on the hill thanks to veteran Johnson.
Defense: B+
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