Utahutesfan

Well one thing that hurts them is the departure of their OC. I just read an article that said he transferred over to Cal? It's in the Other Stuff section under Big 12 if you want to take a look at it. I'm sure that will hurt them quite a bit. Utah's team is a hard read for next season. I honestly don't believe the drop off will be anything like it was in 2005 after the cupboards were bare, but there will be a step back (of course, we went 13-0 last season) The biggest loss is at QB. We have 2 guys competeing for the job who both seem good enough, but neither has started a D-1 game. Around the quarter back though is a lot of talent. They have 6 wide outs who all will contribute, and a running bac returning for his senior year who was a major part of the Sugar Bowl team. As for the departure of the OC, some beleive this was just a matter of time. The OC last season, Andy Ludwig, was brought in in 2005 because he was a good friend of Utah's new head coach. The problem was that Utah was coming off of the 2004 undefeated season and fans wanted to run the same spread, but Ludwig had only run pro style before that. He never seemed comfortable or happy running a spread. He always recruited a second string qb who was a pro type just in case. With his departure the running back coach got promoted from with-in. this coach will spread it out much more. The plan looks like about 80 % of the time we will be in a hurry up no huddle. We will run mostly four wide receiver sets. The 2 qbs are much more mobile then we've had since 2004, so we also will likely run the option much more. On D, I think Utah will look a lot like last season. They lost 4 guys from last years D, 2 of which were guys who left early, but the D is likely to be faster than last season. Utah has run the same defensive scheme for 20 years and it won't change. The coordinator took a head job after last season, and they promoted the line backer coach. The head coach was Defensive coordinator for 15 year before taking the job when Urban Meyer left to Florida, so it is his system and he still is in charge of it. Possibly the biggest loss from last year is our place kicker who was amazing. He onyl missed twice all season last year, and he had some big kicks in clutch moments. He beat oregon state with no time left and had a 53 yarded in the Big House. I think that loss might hurt more than anything else. I expect our D to be realyl good and our O to be okay. We go to Oregon and TCU next season, which are the 2 games I think we are most likely to lose. Most Utah fans believe that TCU was the best team we played last year and that they were more talented than Alabama. I think that is a testimate to the Big 12, because Oklahoma jumped on TCU in the first quarter when they played early in the year. I would say 9-3 or 10-2 is what expectations should be for next season.

I need to get me one of those. We just had our "I Hate the SEC" shirts made by a local t-shirt screening place here in Salt Lake City. They are just read with that accross the chest. I think we will need to order more soon, so if any of you are really interested sned me an email at jdart@utesportstravel.com and I'll send you the information when we get the order together in the next few weeks. Our guy can make anything from kids sizes to a 6X. They usually end up running us about $8-$10 per shirt depending on how many we order and the sizes. I'd happily mail them to Nebraska. I'm not trying to sell them and I didn't come to your site to do this, I swear. I just thought I'd offer

I forgot to mention: we were not prepared for how attractive the women of Lincoln were. There are few places we visit that I say that about. I'm not s fan of sothern women, and I think California women are nothing but what we have with fake parts. But, the women of Lincoln were collectivly very attractive. Congratulations on that

Last week we spent 4 nights in Lincoln for gymnastics National Championships. This was the first trip to Lincoln for both my wife and I. We were VERY impressed. Here are some thoughts: First, I was blown away by your football facilities. Unlike many bowls around the country that are dug into the ground, Memorial Stadium looks like a football stadium from the outside. It is large and commands respect. I love the quotes and signs above the entrances and on the outside. We went into the doors and peer'd into your weight room, and we were very impressed. Your facilties are great. We went into the stadium to take picture when it was empty, then again when it was full for the game. It doesn't feel as big as it is. When we were at the big house we kept saying that is seemed so far to the other side of the stadium and noise seemed to go out the top. You stadium does not have this problem and was much better designed. I also must give a lot of credit to Nebraska fans for being VERY smart sports fans. Evereywhere we went we ran into people who knew about Utah football and even about the fact gymnastics was in town. We got lots of questions about how next year's football team looked. We got lots of questions about how the gymnastics team was preforming. And we got no negative comments demeaning our school or it's accomplishments. We were very gratefule and impressed. I wore my "I Hate the SEC" t-shirt all around campus and people thought it was very funny. There were some players walking out of the weight room on Friday when we were there who saw the shirt and really apprechiated it. Also, when the SEC fans started the "SEC, SEC, SEC" chant friday night at the gymnastics championships, Utah fans responded with the "Sugar Bowl, Sugar Bowl" chant which was very effective at stopping the first cheer. That was reported in a local newspaper Saturday morning and again many of your fans told us how funny they thought that was. What is there to say about having 78,000 at your spring game besides wow? That was a very impressive environment for a spring practice. Sadly, we had to leave at the end of the 3rd quarter for other obligations, but it was a great experience. The weather was perfect and we even got a little sunburnt. It was also refreshing to know football stadiums everywhere are full fot he same guy. The guy behind us seemed upset about all offensive calls and was ready to fire the OC at one point. It was funny, because I sit near that guy in Salt Lake. We went 13-0 last season and won the Sugar Bowl and we still had people calling for our OC's head. It was a very good weekend and we had a great time. Thank you to Husker Nation for being great hosts. And as a Utah fan we always will feel at home in a see of Red. Sometime I hope to be able to see a game weekend in Lincoln

How are you? Just registered and this looks like a great board. We will be in Lincoln on Saturday for gymnastics Nationals and bought tickets to the Spring game. My question is what should we do before the game? Is there any pregame parties going on that non-donor fans can go to? Is there and main tailgating areas we should go and walk through? This is our first trip to your campus and I'm really excited that it is your spring game weekend, I'm just looking for any advice you may have. Thank you