(Red) Late Midseason Grades - #16 Utah Utes (6-1)

QB -Terrance Cain 127/201 ;1502 yards ;63.2% Completion %;11 TDs/5 INTs ;77 rushes 286 yards 2TDs
Grade - B
Cain has been I would say as advertised thus far in the season. Sure there has been some growing pains as the season has progressed and I expected that. I know some people are expecting this kid to pick up where Sugar Bowl MVP and MWC Offensive MVP Brian Johnson left off. He is through 7 games of his Ute career and he has led them to a 6-1 record and is managing the game very well. He has a few fumbles, but he is a running QB that is to be expected at times. Yeah he needs to clean it up a little bit but he is playing very good thus far. I'm satisfied with him and I think he is going to get much much better.

RB - Eddie Wide III (86 rushes 530 yards 6.2 YPC 5TDs  / Matt Asiata 75 rushes 330yrds 4.4 YPC 4TDs)
Grade B+
Matt Asiata started the season on fire. He was running for over 100 yards a game and was running people down. He looked great and was catching the ball out of the backfield. Then against Louisville he ran in a 30+ yard TD on an option play and on that play he tore his ACL and we lost for the season. Things looked scary with our offensive giant going down. Enter Eddie Wide III. Since Asiata's injury Wide has ran for 4 consecutive 100 yard games and is 2nd only to BYU's Harvey Unga, which is remarkable considering Wide rarely saw the ball for the first 3 1/2 games. The coaches have been keeping his carries down to make sure he doesn't get beat up because of his small frame. So with around 17 carries a game he is still averaging a large number of yards. He is playing very well.

WR - David Reed (44 rec 688 yrds 4TDs); Jereme Brooks (28 rec 296 yrds 3 TDs);
Grade - C
David Reed is the best wide out in the conference. Period. He has taken minimal passes and made huge plays (1 slant went 60 yards for a TD and another went for 90 yards and a TD). The rest of the crew has been.. well they have been OK. The blocking by the wide outs has been really good all season freeing each other up for big games. Brooks, outside of maybe the San Jose game and Oregon, has been rather disappointing. He has dropped a number of big passes. Aiona Key, similar situation, he would have much better numbers but, dropped passes. John Peel, dropped passes and FUMBLES. He fights for more yards and always seems to be dropping the ball when he does. If they clean up the dropped balls I would bet Cain would be closer to a 70% completion % and much more yards and first downs. They clean those issues up this offense becomes scary.

O-Line
Grade - B
Early in the season the o-line had a hard time opening holes in the redzone for the RBs to get into the end zone. They have given Cain some good protection all year. He hasn't been sacked much, most of them came in the Air Force game who has been putting pressure on the QB all year. They have been instrumental to helping Wide getting into a groove and getting the yards they have. If they would have been a little better earlier in the year it could be an A.

Overall Offense
B-
Dave Schramm is in his first year as an O Coordinator. He has done pretty good thus far while protecting and developing his young QB. I know fans would like to see it opened up a little bit more but I think we are in good shape as is. We are around #4 in the conference in total offense after a few games of struggling. The biggest problem with this offensive squad is the fumbling problem. Fumbles have continually ended promising drives and have disrupted the rhythm of the offense. They need to start holding onto the ball, if they do this offense could be much more explosive then they are already.
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Defensive Line
Grade - B
Up until the last couple games this grade was easily a C. They have really done a nice job the last couple weeks eliminating the big running plays and making it difficult to run the ball. I wasn't all that worried about the run defense I knew it would come around. I would like to see some more pass pressure however. They are not really getting the sacks that we are used to. They have been getting close but as the season winds down I would like to see some more QBs on their back. The youth here is amazing, this is going to be a good unit for the next 3 to 4 years to come.

Line Backers
Grade - B+
They are the anchor of the defense and they have been playing well. A lot of tackles and just reliable. I would say the best Linebacker core in the MWC. Sly has made some huge plays, especially with the game winning tackle in overtime vs Air Force. I just would like to see them create more turnovers.

Secondary
Grade - A-
Yes the Utes have 2 new corners and have given up a few big plays and some pass interferences. But with the scheme Coach Whitt likes to run this is to be expected. And they are actually one of the best pass defenses in the country statistically. They have just as much speed as anybody in the country. But the real stars of the secondary are the safeties. They have the best safety tandem in the conference hands down. Joe Dale is always around the ball making tackles. He is down right now with a hurt knee but he is still a stud. And the defensive player of the year thus far in the MWC has to be Robert Johnson. He has 5 picks on the season, 2 or so fumble recoveries and a couple of TDs. He was the team leader in tackles against AFA and is everywhere. He has a ton of pass break ups as well. The pretty much eliminates the middle of the field for opposing QBs. Every time a QB has tested him, he has come up big.

Overall Defense Grade
B+
Kalani Sitaki has had a pretty good start to his career as Defensive coordinator thus far. If they eliminate the big plays and get a few more take aways this is an A grade. Defense is never a problem at the U.

Special Teams
B+
This grade would have been a D if after the SJSU game. Vroman missed some FGs.... badly. And against Oregon they gave up a punt for a TD. Overall it has been a solid unit. They are best in the conference in kickoff/punt return yards with Luke Matthews, Devonte Christopher, David Reed, Eli Wesson, and Jereme Brooks busting off some great returns. The kicking game has been solidified with Joe Phillips taking control of being the FG kicker. He has been perfect with FGs since he took over and has some deep kicks (49 yarder). Sean Sellwood has been Louie Sakoda-esk with his punting. He was the special teams player of the week against AFA because he downed some great punts within 20 and 10 yard lines. This kid looks really good. Outside of really 1 game and 1 play this has been a pretty surprising unit.

The team is 6-1, ranked #16 in the BCS poll, and Coach Whitt teams have traditionally gotten better as the season has progressed, so things are looking pretty good thus far for the Utes. It's been a good reloading year thus far. The biggest challenges lie ahead as well.