UCLA also did some things that we keep seeing over and over again.
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE
Special teams. Steven Manfro is NOT allowed to return a punt or kick the rest of the year. Again, Manfro makes a horrible decision and chases down a punt that he should have let roll in the end-zone. Instead, he catches it, muffs it, and it rolls into the end-zone and Utah pounced on it for a score. He’s young, but he looks lost out there on special teams. This is a very important aspect of the game, very underrated as well.
The coaching was below my standards for this game. Early in the game, Jim Mora burned 2 timeouts, one is forgiven because it was to check if our QB wasn’t hurt. Noel Mazzone’s play calling has been very pedestrian at best, it’s just not as explosive as it was against Nebraska. I’m tired of seeing a 3 yard run up the middle on 2nd and 10.
Also, those swing passes scare the living hell out of me. Our HBs dropped a handful of them, luckily none of them were fumbled and recovered by the Utes. Penalties, penalties and more penalties! This has been a struggle all year long, and they’re stupid penalties too. Such as false starts, and personal fouls. This is a sign of our youth, our offensive line has been called for so many false starts this year. I know they’re young, but losing 5 yards is a pretty big deal. We cannot afford to do this against ASU especially since the game is in Tempe. Talk about a hostile environment, that’s a hell of an atmosphere. Luckily, we have two weeks to prepare for this game, I’m confident we can brush off the little mistakes.
Very important bye week coming up.