Football Season Ends on a Downer

Well, after two blowout bowl wins in a row, the Jackets get a taste of their own medicine, getting blown off the field by Utah 38-10. I don't have time for anything in depth, other than the following points:


- The story was the defense, or lack there of. Don't get all huffy about the offense. It was no different than much of the season, struggling to score points, struggling in the redzone, and just stalling out much of the time. The real story was the complete lack of intensity of the defensive gameplan. How one guy could shred the D for over 200 yards receiving and 4 TD's is beyond me. Does anyone know how to guard a post pattern? This Defense gave up 550 yards of offense - the largest total of the season. This looked like a group that hadn't played in a long time. Don't forget to lay plenty of blame at the foot of Jon Tenuta. He leads the D virtually 100% and Chan leaves him along. He didn't have his group ready today.


- There really wasn't a phase of this game that stood out as a grand positive. Special teams was ok (Travis Bell finally hit a FG), the offense was weak and the defense was poor. The O-Line was abused much of the day. Reggie Ball was running for his life a lot. When he wasn't, he was throwing off his back foot too often. The D-Line didn't get much pressure on the Ute QB. The blitzing schemes just didn't work that much. Nothing much worked today, except 65 yard bombs with seconds running off the clock.


- Ok, Joe Anaoi had a good game with 2 sacks. PJ Daniels had a good game. I tried to find something.


- I think this game was about attitude. It was about desire. The Utes had it. They were excited about playing, and the Jackets were still mumbling about going west. Their heads were never in the game and it showed.


So another years goes by and the Jackets end the season yet again on that broken record of 7 wins. The good news for Chan Gailey - he's got 5 more years to figure out how to get to 8, or dare I say it - more.


Congrats to the seniors. You played your hearts out this season. There is so much to look forward to next season. There really is. GO JACKETS!!!