I sure hope it's just the vocal minority that keep posting about how bad the game was. In all honesty, I wanted a win but expected a loss so maybe those that keep lamenting about Kalani, BYU, HC, Ricks, etc had unrealistic expectations. Me? I really want to win, but what I'm really looking for is improvement because that will lead to wins. Sure I'd rather see it happen sooner than later but after 2017 all I really care about is that we're taking steps in the right direction. To say the program is a dumpster fire and that we need to get rid of our coaches because we lost a game we were expected to lose is pretty silly IMO.

With that in mind here's my random thoughts and musings...

Overall (TL;DR):

• Take away the pick 6's (they make me wanna puke) and the fumble that we gave up inside the 30 and BYU played a very solid game. Shoot, until the 2nd pick 6 we were still playing great ball. The offense wasn't as unique as I was expecting (seemed pretty vanilla) based on the talk from the players and coaches this offseason. The defense was pretty solid but missed some assignments in the secondary which led to big gains by Utah.
• As much as I love BYU we have some work to do before we can be a ranked team again but there's no way in hades that Utah makes it to the playoffs with that offense.  
• Ute fans suck. My 10 yr old is a BYU lifer now because of them.

Offense:

• Needs some work (namely: WR's need to get better separation and Zach needs to check down more often) but they aren't far off.
• Zach needs to not force things. The 4th and short deep ball on the first drive was just dumb. Maybe the play fell apart and he was just tossing it up but that didn't make any sense. Neither did his 2nd INT. That ball should've never been thrown. I haven't listened to any postgame interviews but there wasn't anything there from the beginning so I have no idea why he threw. Granted, that play should've never happened to begin with if the blatant facemask against him the play before was called. How do they call the one on our DB and not that one on their's?
• I really didn't mind Hall's play call but the kid has got to make sure he has the ball before he starts running. That was a total momentum killer. The stadium lost it's breath.
• The fumble on the exchange was the team's lack of mental toughness showing. They lost their steam after the 2nd INT and it showed. They simply lacked focus and mental toughness.

Defense:

• The D played pretty stellar. Yes, the long 3rd and 4th quarter drives were not pretty but the 3Q drive was aided by some pretty aggregious officiating so the D was getting tired after exerting some serious energy to come up with the stop.
• BYU owned the first half on both sides of the ball, fueled by excellent defense, but the mistakes on O allowed Utah to be in it. Our DL and LB's are a step below Utah's but not by much. These units will do lots of damage the rest of the season.

Special Teams:

• Not much to say here. They did what they were supposed to do, and executed it well. The inside 10 yd line kickoff was great, but made more so by Utah's returner thinking it was going OB.

Utah and the rest of the season:

• No way is Utah making the playoffs with that O. Moss is a great RB but our DL held him in check for the most part until the end of the game when it was pretty well decided and our lack of depth took over. Huntley is a "poo poo" QB that won't do much to help his team win games. Nothing special about anyone else they put on the field.
• All things being equal, I would MUCH rather beat Tennessee, Washington, and USC than Utah. I really want us to get the Utah monkey off our back, but if the streak weren't an issue I'd be much more interested in beating big name programs.
• At this point, I'd be totally fine with getting the W over Utah and never playing them again. I'm all for civility in the game but there's a competitive part of me that can't handle Kalani kissing their hineys like he does. You can be respectful without gushing about them.

Ute Fans:

• My daughter is 10 and although all of her immediate family is BYU blue my wife's brothers (3) all converted to Utah after 2004. She's always supported BYU but has said that she would like to go to Utah games with her uncles to see if she likes them. I was planning to sell my tickets to this game but when she was saying that I told my wife I was going break my promise to her (I said I'd sell the Utah tickets to pretty much pay for the season tickets I wanted to buy) so I could drive out from CO and take my daughter. I spoiled her with whatever BYU gear she wanted, we hung out at the Cougar Canyon where she met Bosco and Jenkins, saw the NC trophy, and loaded up on a Cougar Tail. Anyways, by the end of the game (after the rain delay) she was pretty much still in BYU's corner. As we were walking up Stadium Ave a 40 something yr old Utes fan gave her a U sign so my daughter flashed him the Y shaka. His response was "what the *bleep* does that mean?" Her response was "Wow, his life must suck". Proud Dad moment.