August 26, 2025 • 19 mins
In this edition of Statistically Speaking on the UteNation Podcast, Joe Silverzweig, Matt Patton and Dustin Birch break down with Ivan Withers what they look for to feed their passion for predictive stats.
Ivan will question them and call them out throughout the season, in a battle to see who breaks down the numbers the best.
Ivan will question them and call them out throughout the season, in a battle to see who breaks down the numbers the best.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
What is up? Everybody? Welcome to Statistically Speaking a Ute
Nation podcast. I'm ute fan Ivan and I'm known as
the dude on Twitter who makes hype videos of the
University of Utah football team. Are Utah Utes joining me today,
I've got Joe, Dustin and Matt. Do you guys want
to introduce yourselves real quick?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Uh? Yeah, I'm Dustin Birch. I do statistics for you Nation,
and I like to look at kind of what the
team has done and statistically take a look at kind
of the explanations for what happens. And in my real life,
I'm an attorney. I'm Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm also an attorney. It's really it's really a heavy
academic group this podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
But what I do is is deep statistical, forward looking analysis.
So we look at the play by play results, break
it all down, get really gragular with it, and then
mash it all together to say, this is what I
think the score is going to be next week. And
I've been having a lot of fun with that, been
doing that for gosh, I shudder to think about fifteen
(01:26):
years now. Matt, what bet you?
Speaker 5 (01:29):
I am not an attorney, but I have two brothers
that are so yeah, uh no, I'm a financial analyst
in my real life and in my fake life. I
just love finding those unique stats, those things that just
give me that much. It's more of a feeling like, Okay,
this is why the youths can win this game. And
(01:52):
so I love shouting those out on Twitter especially and
put them in the youth nation. So that's my forte.
That's what I like to do. So so glad to
be here with all you guys. And yeah, I want
to hear more about you too, Evan.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, I you know, I'm the dude who I'm like
known as the guy who's a huge nerd. So I
I work in it. I'm not a you know, an attorney.
In fact, I stay far as far away from that
as possible with my career. I am not ice cold
enough in my veins for that career. So but yeah,
I love the University of Utah. Been cheering formed since
(02:27):
I was oh as long as I can remember. And
I love video editing, and so I started making high
videos and on TikTok and Twitter, and uh that's how
people really know me the most is is those and
and talking about Utah football. So I'm happy to be
(02:47):
here with all of you, guys. I'm meeting most of
you for the first time. I'm honored, uh and I'm
excited to see where this goes. So all right, you guys.
So for the first section of what we're talking about,
we're going to start a discussion on retrospective What are
we expecting based off of what we saw last year
(03:08):
from our utel Utes. That's a hard question to ask.
A lot of changed since last year, especially on the offense. Dustin,
what are your thoughts going into this year?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Listen, I'll talk about the one thing that hasn't changed.
The Utes offensive line is the exact same five piece
as it was last time, and it is two of
the best tackles in the country. Pro Football Focused thinks
Fano is the best offensive tackle, not just best returning
offensive tackle. They had him rated number one last year,
so it's not like he had a bunch of seniors
(03:42):
ahead of him that graduated and went to the NFL.
He would have been the top rated offensive tackle last year,
and they don't have Lomu rated quite as highly. But
he's still upper seventies and a lot of the draft
guys are like, look, those are two first round offensive tackles,
and then you've got Cump who's got almost two thousand snaps,
(04:03):
You've got Moko Fiesi who has over two thousand stats,
and you have Togiai who's got over a thousand snaps.
That is an offensive line that Kyle Whittingham is going
to want to run the ball behind and I and
I think they'll be fantastic at it because I have
long been a believer that you can have the world's
(04:23):
most talented offensive line in the country. If they haven't
played together, they won't do a good job. These guys
have been playing together for a long time at a
high level.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Not only talking about the offensive line being as good
as they're going to be and as good as everyone
knows they're going to be, you also talk about Wayshan
Parker and Nakuari Rodgers sitting in the backfield ready to
take advantage of the holes this line's going to open up,
like that's a huge deal, and I feel like it's
an under talked about point, right is how good our
(04:52):
running backs are going to be. I think they're going
to be quite good. And we're going to have depth
at that position, which is something we struggled with a
little bit last year.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
So no, here's the thing. You've got the continuity that
you get with the utes that most teams don't get
when you have all this changeover on offense, right, I mean,
you've got Ryan Davis, You've got Devin Dampier, You've got
Naquarie Rodgers and the offensive coordinator that they played with
last season. So that's so unique to Utah this season.
And then when you put all those guys behind that
(05:21):
offensive line, things should go really well, especially when that
was a top ten offense last season in the nation.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Usually it's my job to poor cold water you guys,
but I've got to agree.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
I think there's a little bit of an addition by
a subtraction situation here. All the love in the world
to the youth players who have departed, but you know me,
big believer of the Bell curve, big believer in things
reverting to the mean and to being more or less
like what you can expect. And what that means is
when you have underperforming pieces that you pull out and
(05:57):
you don't have any information or a lot of information
that you mentioned way Sean Parker, some really really good
numbers on the surface of it. Last year, one hundred
and thirty seven carries five yards per carry average, that's
what you want to see, but never more than fourteen
carries in a game. Didn't play after October twenty six,
you really have very limited information. But if you just
(06:20):
drop in average performance there, and then you drop in
average performance at quarterback and average performance in some of
these other places with missing pieces, and we know the
returning pieces are strong, it's reasonable, I think, to see
the Utes returning to an average offensive performance for them,
which is not a world beating performance, but is certainly
(06:42):
enough to be extremely competitive in the Big Twelve. I
am never that optimistic, but cautiously optimistic. This is a
good launching pad for this football team right now, with
a lot of opportunity, especially behind that offensive line.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
So we talk about the offense that the University of
Utah is going to have this season, how they're going
to look, the changes that the changes that they've made.
What about the defense? What are you guys' thoughts about
the defense? How they're going to play. I know that
Utah always has a pretty awesome defense. Even at last
(07:22):
year with a struggling offense, they were a top three
defense in the Big Twelve. What are you guys takes
on how they're going to do this season.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
They're going to be worse. There's no sugarcoating it. Utah's
defense is going to be worse this year because Utah's
defensive line is going to be significantly worse this year.
There is no there's no If the young guys really
really really step up, then maybe Utah can get back
to that level. Last year's defense is a top twenty
(07:52):
five defense statistically, top twenty five, top thirty defense, and
that is what the offense, putting them in the absolute
worst possible position over and over and over again. Utah
had a bottom twenty offense last year. Even rushing, which
was the only thing Utah sort of did okay last year,
was a it was ninety nine. They are barely out
(08:14):
of the bottom of the of the offenses. So the
defense is going to be worse this year. But Utah's
got some good pieces. But you can't lose Tona Vasa
and Tafuna and Fillinger, you know, and we all had
some criticisms maybe of Fillinger at times, but those are
three experienced and talented defensive linemen. You can't lose all
(08:38):
three of them. And expect performance to be as good,
particularly when the team just didn't have a ton of
bodies there are you know, there are guys coming in.
We're gonna play some pressure on defensive line, which Utah
just doesn't do. So yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
To your point about the offense, the advanced statistical way
of discussing that has to do an offensive a defensive efficiency,
meaning for an average football team, how many points would
they give up for an average field position against an
average offense.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
And then you compare that against their actual performance. And
if you use for example, ESPN's efficiency metric, Utah ranked
eighth in defensive efficiency. So they did almost more with
what they were given than anybody else in the country,
exceptional exceptional defensive performance under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. And again
(09:35):
we look back at that Bell curve and we think, Okay,
if Utah is losing pieces on the sort of south
end of the curve, then we're going to expect a
higher performance. The other side of the coin is, if
Utah is losing pieces on the high end, we're going
to expect regression to the mean. And as as much
(09:55):
of a miracle worker as Kyle Whittingham often is with
the defensive players. It takes time to work that magic,
and I fully expect to see growing pains and those
sort of traditions of player growth and breakout players that
we see towards the end of the year. Especially. I
(10:18):
find one of the biggest consistent patterns and Kyle Whittingham's
defenses is breakout pass rushers who take somewhere between seven
and ten games for the light bulb to turn on
and then it's gangbusters for the rest of their careers.
So that's what I'm waiting to see, is sort of
waiting to see who breaks out of the stable of
(10:41):
defensive players that are available, but definitely expecting your aggression.
Just a more typical team this year, which for me,
as a long time watcher of the Utes, I could
really do with a team that can score points and
isn't so good at stopping other teams from scoring, because
(11:03):
it gets a little bit exhausting to to.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Pray for the field goal to hit so.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
That the team can win by six points or nine points.
So we want a little more, We want a little
more action with with our football watchings. So looking forward
to a more balanced.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Season and we all the the Utes only needed the
most average of offenses last year. Because Arizona State's a
one score game, TIACUS a one score game, Houston's a
one score game, by US a one score game, and
Iowa State's a one score game. It's five losses by
(11:43):
less than this by a score or less Arizona State's
eight points. So, but I was at the Arizona State game.
A quarterback that can throw anywhere near a receiver's hands
rather than into their feet wins that game. Utah wins
that game with if Isaac Wilson had been ready or
(12:05):
tent Rising had been healthy. Utah wins that game walking away.
That game's an easy win for them. If their offense
was at all ready to go. It just wasn't.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
What do you think, Matt, I've had to just keep
my mouth shut because I respect you guys, but I
have to respectfully disagree. I think that the defense is
going to be just as good as it always is
because it's still got Morgan Scaley and they've got nine
to ten guys with starting experience that are coming back.
(12:40):
How many of the teams in the nation have nine
to ten guys coming back on the defense. It depends
on the package. They use, but they've got ten guys
that they could put out there that have starting experience.
Are you kidding me? No, it's not going to drop off.
And they had all off season to know whether or
not they needed to grab somebody for the transfer portal
helped the defensive tackles, they felt comfortable with it. I
think there's an guys in there that they know and
(13:03):
that they're confident in that can step up and do it.
The linebackers, they're healthy. You know you got Levanni the
mooney back. He wasn't playing last season. Lander Barton didn't
look right all season. He's gonna be healthy. That secondary,
nobody wants to face the secondary. And then the last thing,
I think that there's a big drop off of the
other teams around the Big twelve. And so when you're
(13:23):
playing teams that no longer have Devin Neil Gettins from
Kansas State, r J Harvey, all these guys that are
in the NFL this season. So now these other teams
are putting out other guys other offenses that I don't
think will be as good as what they faced last season.
So I actually disagree, and I think Utah is their
defense is gonna be right on pars what we've always seen.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
I wasn't headphones off.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
He said everything I wanted to say. I'll say this.
I lean a little more towards that the defense is
going to struggle a little bit more than they have
in the past. You highlighted that Lander Barton and levonniy
De Mooney were both coming back. The other one that
you need to remember too is Logan Fano was also
playing hurt last season. He is healthy now from coming
(14:12):
that acl. Yeah, I think Utah's defense is going to
be solid. So that's kind of where I'm sitting with this.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Whole thing, and I don't want to be misconstrued. Fano's
going to be a monster if he stays healthy, which
we have to say about him every year. But if
he stays healthy, Fano's going to be an absolute monster,
and the linebackers and secondary are going to be very good.
My concern is that there isn't there isn't the depth
(14:40):
on the defensive line that Utah expects most of the year.
Daily is got some talent, but is unproven. Fitzgerald was
very good. If we if we're willing to trust Mountain
West stats, which we were with the New Mexico guys.
Fitzgerald was very good at Utah State. So there are
there some pieces there that if they perform up to
(15:03):
their potential, Utah's defense is going to be very good.
But I don't have what I like. Utah doesn't have
what I like to see, which is what Utah has
on the offensive line two thousand STAPs altogether. The defensive
line does not have that. The defensive line's got nobody
with more than one thousand snaps. Really, I mean, Fano's
(15:27):
got less than a thousand steps, Blacalahi's got less than
three hundred snaps. They've got Barton. Barton's the god. Barton's
got fifteen hundred and sixteen hundred snaps, and they've got Johnson.
Tao Johnson got a little bit unfairly criticized by the fandom.
Tal Johnson is a monster that is a future NFL safety,
(15:48):
and he's got about thirteen hundred snaps. But there just
aren't a ton of experience that I, as a fan
like to see the potentials there. They put the pieces together,
this is another top thirty defense, but I'm not confident
they'll do that.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
All right, money time man, since we're kind of here
at the end of this thing. Over under from Vegas
for wins is eight point five for the University of
Utah utes. You take that over, You take that under.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Over over, I take the over. I think the the
most likely losses. We'll see how U s l A goes,
but I'm we'll get to it on the next segment.
But I'm expecting a win against US.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Summer children with flowers in your hair? Bless you all?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Are you going to take me under all day?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Okay? Here, I'm taking the money, I guess, so we
can have it on the record. I'm taking the over
because what are Utah's three toughest games this year? Texas
Tech in Salt Lake, Arizona State, and I don't think
Arizona State's as good as the media pole thinks they
(17:13):
are in Salt Lake, and then Kansas State in Salt Lake.
They're all gonna come to Salt Lake. I think Utah.
Utah goes to and one in those games, even one
and two in those games, and lose one home game
one road game, They're still over over eight and a half.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Minutes.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
We're gonna talk about how they're gonna start zero and
one so so that.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Euyu is going to be bad, is going to be bad.
They're gonna be struggling to get.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
To stick the heat, because that's that's my job. I
see you lovely, uh you lovely Elvin Believers, and I
just gotta I've just got to bring the.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Backgrounds kind of dark, yeah, that dark or a hood
like over your eyes, and just bring it down.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I think maybe I'll maybe I'll do that next thing.
I have a nice big one and bring it down,
so you know, you know what.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
We need to get you like a sign that says
down or alert, you're gonna hold on as you're about
to like Cridres, So.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I think you ends with the top fifty defense, but
not a top twenty five defense, and and a mid
tier offense somewhere between fifty and eighty, and that's good
enough to get them to nine wins.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I don't think so you're underestimating that defense man. Everybody listening,
thank you for listening. We appreciate all of you. Please
like subscribe on any platform that you're listening on, and
thank you for listening.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Again.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
From the bottom of our hearts, everybody, I hope you
have a good, great weekend. And go use.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Me when by me, when
What is up? Everybody? Welcome to Statistically Speaking a Ute
Nation podcast. I'm ute fan Ivan and I'm known as
the dude on Twitter who makes hype videos of the
University of Utah football team. Are Utah Utes joining me today,
I've got Joe, Dustin and Matt. Do you guys want
to introduce yourselves real quick?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Uh? Yeah, I'm Dustin Birch. I do statistics for you Nation,
and I like to look at kind of what the
team has done and statistically take a look at kind
of the explanations for what happens. And in my real life,
I'm an attorney. I'm Joe.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm also an attorney. It's really it's really a heavy
academic group this podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
But what I do is is deep statistical, forward looking analysis.
So we look at the play by play results, break
it all down, get really gragular with it, and then
mash it all together to say, this is what I
think the score is going to be next week. And
I've been having a lot of fun with that, been
doing that for gosh, I shudder to think about fifteen
(01:26):
years now. Matt, what bet you?
Speaker 5 (01:29):
I am not an attorney, but I have two brothers
that are so yeah, uh no, I'm a financial analyst
in my real life and in my fake life. I
just love finding those unique stats, those things that just
give me that much. It's more of a feeling like, Okay,
this is why the youths can win this game. And
(01:52):
so I love shouting those out on Twitter especially and
put them in the youth nation. So that's my forte.
That's what I like to do. So so glad to
be here with all you guys. And yeah, I want
to hear more about you too, Evan.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, I you know, I'm the dude who I'm like
known as the guy who's a huge nerd. So I
I work in it. I'm not a you know, an attorney.
In fact, I stay far as far away from that
as possible with my career. I am not ice cold
enough in my veins for that career. So but yeah,
I love the University of Utah. Been cheering formed since
(02:27):
I was oh as long as I can remember. And
I love video editing, and so I started making high
videos and on TikTok and Twitter, and uh that's how
people really know me the most is is those and
and talking about Utah football. So I'm happy to be
(02:47):
here with all of you, guys. I'm meeting most of
you for the first time. I'm honored, uh and I'm
excited to see where this goes. So all right, you guys.
So for the first section of what we're talking about,
we're going to start a discussion on retrospective What are
we expecting based off of what we saw last year
(03:08):
from our utel Utes. That's a hard question to ask.
A lot of changed since last year, especially on the offense. Dustin,
what are your thoughts going into this year?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Listen, I'll talk about the one thing that hasn't changed.
The Utes offensive line is the exact same five piece
as it was last time, and it is two of
the best tackles in the country. Pro Football Focused thinks
Fano is the best offensive tackle, not just best returning
offensive tackle. They had him rated number one last year,
so it's not like he had a bunch of seniors
(03:42):
ahead of him that graduated and went to the NFL.
He would have been the top rated offensive tackle last year,
and they don't have Lomu rated quite as highly. But
he's still upper seventies and a lot of the draft
guys are like, look, those are two first round offensive tackles,
and then you've got Cump who's got almost two thousand snaps,
(04:03):
You've got Moko Fiesi who has over two thousand stats,
and you have Togiai who's got over a thousand snaps.
That is an offensive line that Kyle Whittingham is going
to want to run the ball behind and I and
I think they'll be fantastic at it because I have
long been a believer that you can have the world's
(04:23):
most talented offensive line in the country. If they haven't
played together, they won't do a good job. These guys
have been playing together for a long time at a
high level.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Not only talking about the offensive line being as good
as they're going to be and as good as everyone
knows they're going to be, you also talk about Wayshan
Parker and Nakuari Rodgers sitting in the backfield ready to
take advantage of the holes this line's going to open up,
like that's a huge deal, and I feel like it's
an under talked about point, right is how good our
(04:52):
running backs are going to be. I think they're going
to be quite good. And we're going to have depth
at that position, which is something we struggled with a
little bit last year.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
So no, here's the thing. You've got the continuity that
you get with the utes that most teams don't get
when you have all this changeover on offense, right, I mean,
you've got Ryan Davis, You've got Devin Dampier, You've got
Naquarie Rodgers and the offensive coordinator that they played with
last season. So that's so unique to Utah this season.
And then when you put all those guys behind that
(05:21):
offensive line, things should go really well, especially when that
was a top ten offense last season in the nation.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Usually it's my job to poor cold water you guys,
but I've got to agree.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
I think there's a little bit of an addition by
a subtraction situation here. All the love in the world
to the youth players who have departed, but you know me,
big believer of the Bell curve, big believer in things
reverting to the mean and to being more or less
like what you can expect. And what that means is
when you have underperforming pieces that you pull out and
(05:57):
you don't have any information or a lot of information
that you mentioned way Sean Parker, some really really good
numbers on the surface of it. Last year, one hundred
and thirty seven carries five yards per carry average, that's
what you want to see, but never more than fourteen
carries in a game. Didn't play after October twenty six,
you really have very limited information. But if you just
(06:20):
drop in average performance there, and then you drop in
average performance at quarterback and average performance in some of
these other places with missing pieces, and we know the
returning pieces are strong, it's reasonable, I think, to see
the Utes returning to an average offensive performance for them,
which is not a world beating performance, but is certainly
(06:42):
enough to be extremely competitive in the Big Twelve. I
am never that optimistic, but cautiously optimistic. This is a
good launching pad for this football team right now, with
a lot of opportunity, especially behind that offensive line.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
So we talk about the offense that the University of
Utah is going to have this season, how they're going
to look, the changes that the changes that they've made.
What about the defense? What are you guys' thoughts about
the defense? How they're going to play. I know that
Utah always has a pretty awesome defense. Even at last
(07:22):
year with a struggling offense, they were a top three
defense in the Big Twelve. What are you guys takes
on how they're going to do this season.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
They're going to be worse. There's no sugarcoating it. Utah's
defense is going to be worse this year because Utah's
defensive line is going to be significantly worse this year.
There is no there's no If the young guys really
really really step up, then maybe Utah can get back
to that level. Last year's defense is a top twenty
(07:52):
five defense statistically, top twenty five, top thirty defense, and
that is what the offense, putting them in the absolute
worst possible position over and over and over again. Utah
had a bottom twenty offense last year. Even rushing, which
was the only thing Utah sort of did okay last year,
was a it was ninety nine. They are barely out
(08:14):
of the bottom of the of the offenses. So the
defense is going to be worse this year. But Utah's
got some good pieces. But you can't lose Tona Vasa
and Tafuna and Fillinger, you know, and we all had
some criticisms maybe of Fillinger at times, but those are
three experienced and talented defensive linemen. You can't lose all
(08:38):
three of them. And expect performance to be as good,
particularly when the team just didn't have a ton of
bodies there are you know, there are guys coming in.
We're gonna play some pressure on defensive line, which Utah
just doesn't do. So yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
To your point about the offense, the advanced statistical way
of discussing that has to do an offensive a defensive efficiency,
meaning for an average football team, how many points would
they give up for an average field position against an
average offense.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
And then you compare that against their actual performance. And
if you use for example, ESPN's efficiency metric, Utah ranked
eighth in defensive efficiency. So they did almost more with
what they were given than anybody else in the country,
exceptional exceptional defensive performance under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. And again
(09:35):
we look back at that Bell curve and we think, Okay,
if Utah is losing pieces on the sort of south
end of the curve, then we're going to expect a
higher performance. The other side of the coin is, if
Utah is losing pieces on the high end, we're going
to expect regression to the mean. And as as much
(09:55):
of a miracle worker as Kyle Whittingham often is with
the defensive players. It takes time to work that magic,
and I fully expect to see growing pains and those
sort of traditions of player growth and breakout players that
we see towards the end of the year. Especially. I
(10:18):
find one of the biggest consistent patterns and Kyle Whittingham's
defenses is breakout pass rushers who take somewhere between seven
and ten games for the light bulb to turn on
and then it's gangbusters for the rest of their careers.
So that's what I'm waiting to see, is sort of
waiting to see who breaks out of the stable of
(10:41):
defensive players that are available, but definitely expecting your aggression.
Just a more typical team this year, which for me,
as a long time watcher of the Utes, I could
really do with a team that can score points and
isn't so good at stopping other teams from scoring, because
(11:03):
it gets a little bit exhausting to to.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Pray for the field goal to hit so.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
That the team can win by six points or nine points.
So we want a little more, We want a little
more action with with our football watchings. So looking forward
to a more balanced.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Season and we all the the Utes only needed the
most average of offenses last year. Because Arizona State's a
one score game, TIACUS a one score game, Houston's a
one score game, by US a one score game, and
Iowa State's a one score game. It's five losses by
(11:43):
less than this by a score or less Arizona State's
eight points. So, but I was at the Arizona State game.
A quarterback that can throw anywhere near a receiver's hands
rather than into their feet wins that game. Utah wins
that game with if Isaac Wilson had been ready or
(12:05):
tent Rising had been healthy. Utah wins that game walking away.
That game's an easy win for them. If their offense
was at all ready to go. It just wasn't.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
What do you think, Matt, I've had to just keep
my mouth shut because I respect you guys, but I
have to respectfully disagree. I think that the defense is
going to be just as good as it always is
because it's still got Morgan Scaley and they've got nine
to ten guys with starting experience that are coming back.
(12:40):
How many of the teams in the nation have nine
to ten guys coming back on the defense. It depends
on the package. They use, but they've got ten guys
that they could put out there that have starting experience.
Are you kidding me? No, it's not going to drop off.
And they had all off season to know whether or
not they needed to grab somebody for the transfer portal
helped the defensive tackles, they felt comfortable with it. I
think there's an guys in there that they know and
(13:03):
that they're confident in that can step up and do it.
The linebackers, they're healthy. You know you got Levanni the
mooney back. He wasn't playing last season. Lander Barton didn't
look right all season. He's gonna be healthy. That secondary,
nobody wants to face the secondary. And then the last thing,
I think that there's a big drop off of the
other teams around the Big twelve. And so when you're
(13:23):
playing teams that no longer have Devin Neil Gettins from
Kansas State, r J Harvey, all these guys that are
in the NFL this season. So now these other teams
are putting out other guys other offenses that I don't
think will be as good as what they faced last season.
So I actually disagree, and I think Utah is their
defense is gonna be right on pars what we've always seen.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
I wasn't headphones off.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
He said everything I wanted to say. I'll say this.
I lean a little more towards that the defense is
going to struggle a little bit more than they have
in the past. You highlighted that Lander Barton and levonniy
De Mooney were both coming back. The other one that
you need to remember too is Logan Fano was also
playing hurt last season. He is healthy now from coming
(14:12):
that acl. Yeah, I think Utah's defense is going to
be solid. So that's kind of where I'm sitting with this.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Whole thing, and I don't want to be misconstrued. Fano's
going to be a monster if he stays healthy, which
we have to say about him every year. But if
he stays healthy, Fano's going to be an absolute monster,
and the linebackers and secondary are going to be very good.
My concern is that there isn't there isn't the depth
(14:40):
on the defensive line that Utah expects most of the year.
Daily is got some talent, but is unproven. Fitzgerald was
very good. If we if we're willing to trust Mountain
West stats, which we were with the New Mexico guys.
Fitzgerald was very good at Utah State. So there are
there some pieces there that if they perform up to
(15:03):
their potential, Utah's defense is going to be very good.
But I don't have what I like. Utah doesn't have
what I like to see, which is what Utah has
on the offensive line two thousand STAPs altogether. The defensive
line does not have that. The defensive line's got nobody
with more than one thousand snaps. Really, I mean, Fano's
(15:27):
got less than a thousand steps, Blacalahi's got less than
three hundred snaps. They've got Barton. Barton's the god. Barton's
got fifteen hundred and sixteen hundred snaps, and they've got Johnson.
Tao Johnson got a little bit unfairly criticized by the fandom.
Tal Johnson is a monster that is a future NFL safety,
(15:48):
and he's got about thirteen hundred snaps. But there just
aren't a ton of experience that I, as a fan
like to see the potentials there. They put the pieces together,
this is another top thirty defense, but I'm not confident
they'll do that.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
All right, money time man, since we're kind of here
at the end of this thing. Over under from Vegas
for wins is eight point five for the University of
Utah utes. You take that over, You take that under.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Over over, I take the over. I think the the
most likely losses. We'll see how U s l A goes,
but I'm we'll get to it on the next segment.
But I'm expecting a win against US.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Summer children with flowers in your hair? Bless you all?
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Are you going to take me under all day?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Okay? Here, I'm taking the money, I guess, so we
can have it on the record. I'm taking the over
because what are Utah's three toughest games this year? Texas
Tech in Salt Lake, Arizona State, and I don't think
Arizona State's as good as the media pole thinks they
(17:13):
are in Salt Lake, and then Kansas State in Salt Lake.
They're all gonna come to Salt Lake. I think Utah.
Utah goes to and one in those games, even one
and two in those games, and lose one home game
one road game, They're still over over eight and a half.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Minutes.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
We're gonna talk about how they're gonna start zero and
one so so that.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Euyu is going to be bad, is going to be bad.
They're gonna be struggling to get.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
To stick the heat, because that's that's my job. I
see you lovely, uh you lovely Elvin Believers, and I
just gotta I've just got to bring the.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Backgrounds kind of dark, yeah, that dark or a hood
like over your eyes, and just bring it down.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I think maybe I'll maybe I'll do that next thing.
I have a nice big one and bring it down,
so you know, you know what.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
We need to get you like a sign that says
down or alert, you're gonna hold on as you're about
to like Cridres, So.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
I think you ends with the top fifty defense, but
not a top twenty five defense, and and a mid
tier offense somewhere between fifty and eighty, and that's good
enough to get them to nine wins.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
I don't think so you're underestimating that defense man. Everybody listening,
thank you for listening. We appreciate all of you. Please
like subscribe on any platform that you're listening on, and
thank you for listening.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Again.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
From the bottom of our hearts, everybody, I hope you
have a good, great weekend. And go use.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Me when by me, when
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