OCR Text |
Show THE DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Tuesday, November 15, 2011 7 FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK UPDATE White could trounce rushing records keeping up with U alumni Jake Bullinger PAUL KRUGER ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Defensive End/Linebacker, Baltimore Ravens John White has been tearing up Pac12 defenses, and that production is skyrocketing him up Utah's single-season rushing records. White entered last week's game against UCLA with 1,024 rushing yards, already the ioth-highest single season in Utah history. After he accumulated 167 yards against the Bruins, White passed players such as Eddie Wide, Quinton Ganther and Mike Anderson on the single season rushing list. If the season were to end today, White's 1,191 rushing yards would be fourth-best in school history. He sits behind Darrell Mack, Dameon Hunter and Carl Monroe, who owns the top spot with his 1,507-yard campaign in 1982. White has been picking up touchdowns at an equally torrent pace. The Utah tailback has 12 touchdowns this season, good for fourth best on Utah's all-time list. He needs just two more touchdowns to tie Marty Johnson's record of 14, set in 2004. Head coach Kyle Whittingham said the reason for his success is simple. "He's tough. He reminds you of a big back. The more you feed him the ball, especially late in the game, the stronger he gets, but he does it at 185 pounds instead of 230 pounds," Whittingham said. White has made a dent on the national rankings as well. This season, White is eighth in rushing yards and tied for loth in touchdowns. The tailback's success is undoubtedly a product of White's running ability, but coaches and teammates say the offensive line deserves an equal amount of credit. "Where's my name on those stars?" left tackle Tony Bergstrom joked. (Played at Utah 2007-2008) Recorded a sack in Baltimore's 17-22 loss to the Seahawks. On the year, Kruger has 4.5 sacks. STEVE SMITH Utah's junior running back John White points to the cheering crowd after gaining yards on a run Saturday night against UCLA. "Where's Tony Bergstrom's rush yards?" Joking aside, Bergstrom said the offensive linemen are proud of the numbers White has put up. He said yards per carry is the statistic they use to quantify success, and White is averaging a healthy five yards per carry. White has seen measurable improvement over the season, but the offensive line has undergone a similar transformation. It was not uncommon early in the season for White to be leveled at the line of scrimmage by multiple defenders, but the line has since shored up and he is now routinely three or four yards deep before first contact. The difference up front has been an improvement in chemistry above all else. "We lost Zane [Beadles] and Caleb [Schlauderaff] last year and had to fill in for not only two big-name guys, but two guys we'd played with for two years who we had great chemistry with. That's the biggest thing on the oline...building chemistry," Bergstrom said. Secondary makes plays Since Keith McGill went down with a season-ending shoulder injury and Brian Blechen was moved back to safety against Pittsburgh, the Utah secondary has been reborn. Before Blechen returned to the defensive backfield, the unit was bland. Early flashes of playmaking from Ryan Lacy disappeared after the BYU game and quarterbacks were enjoying reasonable success against the Utes. Now that Blechen has returned to the position that earned him a freshman All-American award last season, the secondary hasn't been the same. "We were always a talented group, but bringing Blechen back there has brought more experience and confi- Amid turnaround, Utes haunted by early losses f!") c oasting on the pleasant thermals of a three-game winning streak, the last thing the Utes want to do is think about "what ifs." Nevertheless, they will undoubtedly ask what might have been during the next few weeks. In this case, the missed opportunity the Utes will lament is a trip to the Pac-12 title game in their first season in the conference. From there, they would have had one shot at toppling a giant to steal the right to play in The Granddaddy of Them All. All the Utes had to do to secure this alternate fate, as the cloudlessness of hindsight has shown, was dodge—ease, even—their calamitous start in Pac-12 play. With season-long frontrunner Arizona State imploding in consecutive weeks against UCLA and Washington State, Utah would be in prime position to win the South Division, if not for its bedraggled, turnoverfueled Pac-12 losses early on. As it sits now, the Sun Devils and Bruins are tied atop the South with malnourished 4-3 conference records, one game better than Utah's 3-4 mark. Had Utah won just one of its conference games early on, the Utes at the very least would be in a tie for the South lead, needing just another ASU loss to clinch the division. Had the Utes won two of those games, they'd be sole leaders, needing merely to beat Washington State and Colorado to seal the South and the shot at the Rose Bowl that comes with it. The immediate and correct conclusion on which to pounce is this: With a healthy Jordan Wynn, the Utes represent the South in the Pac-12 title game. It's flat, it's simple and it's the truth. But there are multiple truths in this case. It's also true that the Utes could and should have still won the division without Wynn. They trailed Washington at the half by three, and even led Arizona State in the third quarter before deluges of turnovers BUBBA BROWN 41.4111, 1 StaPOriter made the Utes losers in both cases. Wynn or not, those are both games which the Utes will cringe at when they think about what was ultimately at stake. There's an anonymous quote that succinctly describes Utah's plight: "Hell is the knowledge of opportunity lost; the place where the man I am comes face to face with the man I might have been." The team will likely finish 8-4 and will probably spend the latter part of the year playing in either the Sun Bowl or Holiday Bowl. Those are both fine destinations to be sure, a wiggle up from the Las Vegas Bowl, the Mountain West's top prize, even. That will be a nice and just reward for a solid season, and Utah players and coaches will chatter on and on about how they're grateful just to be there. But behind the rehearsed talk and beneath the sheen of what, at that point, might just be a five-game winning streak, the Utes will be haunted by the ragged, jagged remembrance of what they might have been: a team that finished 8-1 or 7-2 in conference, won the South and a chance at the Rose Bowl, stomping any thought they didn't belong in a big conference along the way. Despite what they might say, the gnawing pang will be immovable. Because when you've let slip through your grasp what the Utes have let slip, how could it not be? Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers dence to the group so we're, as a whole, playing how we should," corner Conroy Black said. Black has been just as instrumental as Blechen in the resurgence. The corner has intercepted three passes in the past two weeks, and returned one for a touchdown last week against UCLA. "I'm more comfortable and more confident week in and week out that I can get the job done," Black said. "It's a product of film study. I know what to expect and I know what [the opponent is] going to do." Utes have a shot in wild South Division USC's postseason ineligibility was obviously a detriment to the program, but who could have predicted the scrap heap it would have left behind in the Pac-12 South? After Arizona lost to Washington State 37-27 a week ago, Utah, which (Played at Utah 2002-2004) The 49ers improved to 8-1 under Smith, who completed 19-of-30 for 242 yards, a touchdown and a pick. That was just his third interception given up this year to 11 touchdowns. was once 0-4 in conference play and lost 35-14 to ASU in Salt Lake City, is now a game behind the Sun Devils in the standings. With some help from ASU, Utah could win the Pac-12 South. The possibility of making the Pac12 Championship game exists, but the Utes say that opportunity is barely on their radar. "We know that we're bowl eligible, so at least the season is a success," Black said. "We just want to finish it strong and finish with eight wins." j.bullinger@ chronicle.utah.edu University MEDIA SALES GROUP THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH TM 8 5 9 4 ANSWER TO TODAY'S PUZZLE 1 3 7 6 8 7 2 9 9 6 8 3 8 1 5 3 1 2 9 7 1 9 2 5 2 4 1 7 9 7 8 LAPTOP NEWS R IM OBEYER ACHY ALE B IN LOCKDEV ICES LUKE FEVER MBAS S PARE ERO I CA AVA RBS TILT C I RCUSACROBAT S TECHS COE CREPE WII I S K E Y G L A S S E S ILIE AI G TDS OUTLAY ULCER PREY CUR I E ALAS TIC JACKANDJ ILL SCAMP I EAT I S LE DHS MEAL ECHOED O Answers can be found on the website at www.sudoku.com Advertise Visit www.umsg.utah. edu popculturecomics.com Doug Bratton 2008 bubba@ chronicle.utah.edu ming ki kilo. ! ill"! 0.0 k 44.00101-,4 h IhNolik%% .1111,4,2% 111 11 .10, kiciolo ,..,: i., 4. 10,41k10-otioi kil Ntjlliiiii I . 14 . 1- 101 Ill 14.1 141 6:6 111111111111 1 iiisob 111111111t 414411114 11111 111 • 11 1.1111111 IIII Oil to Wide Receiver, Carolina Panthers (Played at Utah 1999-2000) Neither Smith nor his team had a strong outing this week. Smith accounted for just 33 yards on five catches, his second lowest total of the year. The Panthers fell to the Titans in a 3-30 blowout and drop to 2-7. He has five 100-yard games on the season. JEFF MCGRATH The Daily Utah Chronicle You just don't tell some jokes around Superman. ili,:q I hit iN, 111§1 lle, 11111111. E iiiiiel- 111111114:11 iii ikkik, II 11114. i 011. 11111141111.1 114 Ill li ' IN - 144 -1 illom r - tii 011:11111114:444 416.11111,10. -011 1 04109411,_!11•14. 1let liiirrAL• . k 68,Thl &veto . Tuesday Special: 99 iii day ionE wish purchase of Fries, 1/4 lb Hamburger/I Ofirlk, 03101 flip Of ZUCC1111 Fries. Since 1981 University Location 222 S. 1300 E. • 582-7200 Also at: 1800 S. State • 255-5000 |