Utah Looking for First Pac-12 Win Saturday Against California

The Utah Utes are on the road this Saturday, October 22 at San Francisco's AT&T Park against the Golden Bears of California. Both teams will be looking for their first conference win this season, and Utah will be looking for its first ever Pac-12 win.

What will Utah need to do to beat Cal on Saturday? Well being the professional "armchair quarterback" that I am, I will put down some thoughts.

1. The defense needs to be solid. Utah's defense was stingy against Pittsburgh last week and caused several turnovers, a couple of which were turned into touchdowns. Hit hard and hit often. Don't give up an inch of field without making Cal earn every bit of it.

2. Limit turnovers. If the Utes fumble and bumble like they did against Washington and Arizona State, the Bears have more than enough manpower to make the Utes pay. Utah must hold on to the ball on offense. Protect that football, because Cal's defense will be hitting hard and often as well.  

Jon Hays must improve his reads when he passes. Throwing into double coverage will bite him hard. Also, Hays needs to get rid of the ball more often if a play collapses and avoid sacks. John White will need to protect the ball while having a good running game.

3. Scoring in the red zone. Red zone offense is very important. You can't win in the Pac-12 if you rely too much on field goals for points. Field goals are the back-up plan after good solid attempts at touchdowns. Utah will need more offensive touchdowns, instead of rolling the dice and hoping the defense can get the ball from Cal and score.

4. Penalties. Utah has been great at racking up the penalties in games, some worse than others. Limit false starts, holding, late hits, pass interference, roughing the passer, etc. Yellow flags will cost Utah the game if they get too many.

5. Special teams need to not allow kickoff returns for touchdowns. Utah blew a kickoff return with missed tackles last week. This week if the Utes want to win they will have to tackle on special teams.

No more blocked punts. Utah had a blocked punt against Pitt as well which was a gift of a score. 

6.  The offensive line needs to block so Hays has time to deliver the ball to the receiver. Too much O-line collapses have lead to too many sacks. Utah's O-line needs to be a wall so that Hays can get the ball to the receivers, running backs and tight ends.

7. Missed tackles are bad, but ones where you can wrap the offensive player up and don't that is just sloppy. Make those tackles. Utah needs to know one missed tackle is one too many.

8. Clock management is a key here. There were a couple of times in previous games where I was wondering why Utah called timeouts so early in the second half.  Unless you have to burn a time out, don't.

Also don't get in a position where there is too little clock to make things happen and you have to hope for that Hail Mary moment. Use the clock wisely and it can be your friend. Abuse it and it can be like like a wife whose husband forgot their anniversary. Not pleasant at all.

9. Coaching. I know that Norm Chow is all the rage in Salt Lake City, but Whittingham needs to tell Chow what he wants done and then it is Chow's job to get the plays executed. Kyle Whittingham may be a defensive-minded coach, but he does know offense also.

Whittingham has to be more assertive in all aspects of the game. He sometimes delegates a little too much control in tight situations and I think that has caused some errors in my humble opinion. If the offensive or defensive coordinators are not getting the job done, it is up to the head coach to take the reigns and then hand them back at the appropriate time.

10. Don't get behind early. Utah needs to not get down by two scores early on like they did at Pitt last week. Playing catch-up wastes time and energy. It drains the offense by playing hurry up. If the offense gets out of rhythm, then the defense is on the field getting worn down.

Play four quarters of solid football. Spotting points to your opponents is not a good idea, especially in the Pac-12 where most wins will be earned by hard aggressive play.

Also keep those trick plays in the bag. Use sparingly, but when necessary. Houdini was a great magician because he kept the masses guessing. The same is true in football. If your opponent can read you like a book, then forfeit the game and go sightseeing. 

I will be watching this game on TV Saturday evening and I am hoping the Utes can pull off a win to stay competitive in conference and be bowl eligible come postseason time.