Utah Utes' Midterm Report Card: Hit-and-Miss, Impressive in '09

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+

It's hard to put a finger on how theyv'e got it done in 2009, because at times they look lost, but those manning the Utah defense are made up of tough-as-nails and experienced guys that know how to win.

What's come as more of a surprise? That the much-heralded linebacker trio have been relatively underachieving thus far or how the Utah cornerbacks have been struggling quite significantly?

The biggest surprise has come on the defensive line. A corps that lost Paul Kruger and Greg Newman was looked upon to take some time to adapt and adjust, but the guys on the line have been playing a bit differently thus far this season. 

The sacks are down from last season, only tallying a total of eight so far, but the ability of those such as Christian Cox and Dave Kruger to drop into coverage and help make plays down field has been quite a treat. 

Cox, along with defensive end Derrick Shelby lead the team in tackles for loss and are the type of hybrid defensive lineman that the Utes have grown quite fond of over recent years. 

Although they aren't making as many plays as they did a year ago, the combination of Stevenson Sylvester, Mike Wright and Kepa Gaison are getting their jobs done. Both Sylvester and Wright are leading the team in tackles and are easily the most-experienced guys on the defense. 

Oh, Robert Johnson, too. 

The senior free safety from Watts, Calif., has come on so strong as of late that Whittingham dubbed him one of the best free safeties in the entire country—which is both an attribute to Johnson's ability to work hard and his natural talents to make plays in the open field. 

Johnson has five interceptions in 2009 to go along with two recovered fumbles and two returned for touchdowns. 

While Johnson has thrived, his fellow safety mate Joe Dale was having fantastic year until he was injured a couple weeks back and is expected to miss three-to-four weeks due to a knee injury. 

The senior combo of Johnson and Dale were expected to help usher in the new starting cornerbacks, Brandon Burton and RJ Stanford. It's been quite a different look out wide this year opposed to last. Rather than the physicality, speed and overall skill of Sean Smith and Brice McCain, Burton and Stanford have floundered a bit. 

Neither corner has produced a turnover and both have been incessantly flagged for penalties downfield, something Whittingham and new defensive Kalani Sitake will not and should not stand for if it becomes a growing trend and problem. 

The Utes defense is giving up a total of 18 points per game and 306 yards of total offense per contest, and while it's impressive, the typical Utah defenses pride themselves on stopping the run in its tracks and giving up 130 yards on the ground per outing isn't something that will stand upcoming games against Air Force, TCU and BYU. 

Defensively, the Utes are talented and very experienced and as long as the likes of Sylvester, Wright, Johnson and those on the defensive line make plays, Utah should be in every single game come the start of the fourth quarter. 

Special teams: C+

Quite simple here.

Joe Phillips took over for Ben Vroman who shanked a few field goals at San Jose State. Phillips and Vroman have combined to be 7-for-10 this season and Sean Sellwood is filling in more than nicely for star kicker Louie Sakoda. Sellwood is averaging 41.6 yards per punt, while Sakoda finished 2008 averaging 42.1.

In terms of the return game, nothing really stands out. 

Smithson and Reed started the year on returns, but former quarterback turned wideout DeVonte Christopher came on against UNLV and showed great field vision and explosiveness down-field. It looks to be Christopher's job to lose now. 

The Utes gave up an opening punt return for a touchdown in the loss to Oregon, but since then they've been fairly solid on coverages, which Jay Hill, special teams coach, injects into his players. 

For Utah to continue on winning, they'll have to get production out of Phillips in the clutch and improve field position to help jump-start Cain and the offense when they need it. 

Coaching: B+

Trying to pinpoint mistakes by Whittingham is hard. Why? He rarely makes any. 

The game lost in Oregon started out disastrously, but Utah's play-makers kept them in the game and gave them a shot to win. Cain's first game on the big stage as all for naught and he will grow from that losing experience and has since. 

The offensive play-calling is largely in question, or was while Asiata was taking snaps, but since then, Schramm has had to open it up to other players, other athletes on the team. He's had to. Period. 

Sitake's defense has been doing an impressive job all year long of making key stops when they need to, but long, sustaining drives have been a problem for this defense, along with consistent penalty calls—and giving up big plays, another main staple in the Utah defensive registry. 

I would've guessed Utah would be 5-1 at this point in the season. They didn't have it all pieced together in Eugene to sneak out of Autzen Stadium with a come-from-behind win, but since then, they've played with effort and guts. 

Coming back from a 14-point deficit in Fort Collins, Colo., in 15-degree weather shows that this team does not and will not ever quit while Whittingham is the coach. 

As long as they stick to what the program and the coach preaches, Utah should be fine. 

It's just a matter of executing and controlling the game the way the Utes want to do. 

They do those things, they're in a position to win the game. And that's all Whittingham and Co. ask for. 

Photo by: Ty Cobb