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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 8 Tuesday, November 12, 2013 FOOTBALL Coaching to blame for ASU loss Chad Mobley ASST. SPORTS EDITOR CONOR BARRY/The Daily Utah Chronicle Sophomore punter, Tom Hackett punts the ball away during the game against ASU. Hackett leads the Pac-12 in yards per punt with 44.3. After nine games, Utah's record is a carbon copy of last year's — four wins, five losses. While the records are identical, there is a major difference between the two teams. The 2012 Utes dropped their first five losses by a total of 68 points. This year, Utah has lost its five games by just 38. "We're a better football team this year than we were last year and our record does not reflect that," Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "We're standing toe-to-toe with the best the conference has to offer ... We've made progress, but nobody cares unless you're getting the W" Three of Utah's losses have been barn-burners in Rice-Eccles Stadium that the Utes only lost by a total of it points. After dropping last Saturday's game by a point in devastating fashion to No. 23 Arizona State, Whittingham didn't have a lot of good things to say in his weekly press conference Monday afternoon, but special teams was one area he was impressed with on Saturday. "[Punter Tom] Hackett kicked the ball exceptionally well," Whittingham said. "He continues to lead the league and is a field position weapon for us. Just a big advantage for us in the punt game." Hackett averaged over 5o yards per kick Saturday, including an impressive 70-yarder, but he remained humble in defeat. "Obviously Arizona State's game was disappointing in the team aspect," Hackett said. "Personally, I was able to play my role and have my best game of the year, I guess, so I just play my role and hope the boys can play their role and I'll put the defense in the best position to make plays for the team. We were close on the weekend, but unfortunately we fell away." Coaches bear the weight of loss It was clear there were deficiencies across the board for the entire team on Saturday. Whittingham said no position had an exceptional game. The offensive line did not give quarterback Travis Wilson enough protection, receivers were unable to get open, the running backs were not productive enough and the defense allowed two late scores as the game slipped away. However, the players are not to blame, according to Whittingham. "We've got to coach better," he said. "I always bring it back to coaching because we're not gonna point fingers at players and blame them. If guys aren't performing, then you gotta coach them better, and if they can't perform better then you recruited the wrong guys. No matter how you spin it, it always comes back to coaching." Wilson's lack of production Since leaving Rice-Ec- SWIMMING & DIVING Men's, women's teams defeat UNLV cies on the shoulders of the MUSS after defeating then-No. 5 Stanford on Oct. 12, Wilson has not been the same. Over Utah's following two games on the road, he injured his hand and threw for just 66 yards and four interceptions. Back to full health on Saturday, Wilson continued to struggle as he completed only six passes and threw two more picks. But Whittingham said Wilson can't be blamed for the absence of the passing game versus the Sun Devils. "He didn't have time. It's tough to get a read on it because the rush was showing up in about 1.8 [seconds]. They were in his grill," Whittingham said. "I don't think it's fair to Travis to assess. I know he threw it very well in practice all week, I can tell you that much. If you don't give the guy a chance to throw the ball, you're not gonna get a very good evaluation." While Wilson was not trying to place blame, he agreed with Whittingham and said his team has work to do. "When I was looking down the field I didn't feel like I had all the time in the world, and when I did have some time, it felt like the wide receivers were pretty covered," Wilson said. "I think [ASU's] DBs did a good job of covering our wide receivers. I think that forced me to run the ball a little bit more. We just gotta get better and we gotta get the passing back." c.mobley@ chronicle.utah.edu , twittertweet0 ymrasp weet liettalek nt w a ri ate t err twet r ee tweet a little ha a need more tweets?+",, heard on the twk*ti ittertweet witt teeddr rn slaittkwwt: m he STAFF WRITER Over the weekend, Utah took on rival UNLV and dominated in their home pool. The men came away with an upset over the No. 18 Rebels 166134 and the women conquered the competition 195-105. "We raced really, really hard today and had a great effort and great attitude," said head coach Joe Dykstra. Utah swimmer Nick Soedel took first in the 200-yard free, second in the 50-yard free and first in the tooyard free. Sophomore Bence Kiraly was able to help the Utah men with a first place finish in the t,000-yard and 500-yard free. Kiraly placed second in the zoo-yard IM. "We did good, we got our hands on the wall first and the other races we didn't win, we went two, three and got all the points we could get," Soedel said. Other contributions for the men came from sophomore Kristian Kron, who won the 200 back and placed second in the too-yard back by a thin margin. Sophomore Dave Fraser won his race in the too-yard fly and sophomore Andy Cunningham finished second in the t,000-yard free. Senior Ken Tiltges placed second in the too-yard Nu YYYYYYYY libtriiiiiiissimummis Mil UV LI CHAD ZAVALA/The Daily Utah Chronicle Swimmers dive off their blocks at the Ute Natatorium. The Utes defeated UNLV last weekend at home. breast and freshman Nolan Rogers took third in the 200-yard breast. The final race of the meet provided the Utah fans with a dramatic finish to a dramatic meet. The Utah men were led by Soedel in the 200-yard free relay to narrowly beat UNLV by just a few tenths of a second. "It feels good. We are finally showing the rest of the country that we belong in the Pac-tz and are a top 20 team. We are going to be a threat at NCAAs this year," Soedel said. Traycie Swartz, Amanda Barrett and Stina Colleou led the way to victory for the Utah women. Swartz won letters @ chronicle.utah.edu grA Even hamstets‘writeiletters both the too-yard back and 50-yard free, Barrett took the t,000-yard free and the 200-yard back and Colleou took first in the too-yard and zoo-yard breast. Selin Ozturk followed right behind Barrett to claim second in the woo-yard free. Utah divers dominated the competition by taking the top three spots in both the one- and three-meter events for both men and women. "It is the first time in I don't know how long the women's side has swept one, two, three," said junior Kersten Merry. Merry led the Utes by taking first in both events. Sophomores Jake Crayne and Josiah Purss went one and two in the three-meter event and senior Caleb Herrick followed in third. The order switched for the one meter event but the same three divers took the top three spots. Purss was first, Crayne second and Herrick third. Dykstra was proud of his team for the win but wants to focus on future meets. "It is just a step in the right direction, but we do have a lot bigger fish to fry," Dykstra said. The Utes next competition will be at the Missouri Invitational Nov. 21 through Nov. 23. d.garcia@chronicle.utah.edu t re tweets? t tAil need more tweets: twitter twitter twitte N- ‘ twitte twitter tw on need Dominic Garcia twidiot • t . et r twe ha tweet a need more t twittertatt ._ e i er el • ers . eak twitter eg .spe water need more tweets" S UtIOLIO tl t need more tweets? :Wittertattpr tw tweetie p ertwee ni twidiot weet tweet twee speak twitter eard on ma Itweete w weet ee twittert tweet a li need more tw :wittercept need mor er et weets7 weeet itter alt •n the tweets ittec h eard eeeE need more t eets?tweetwa I kerm weet€ 1. lemaniac= twitte reeeee • ter heard on t t eet ee er R eetje deb speak twitter nnaltweete mweete a r• twidiot tertw on the twatt speak twitter ma ltweete rnaltweete eetel itter ea K tWIttE d ore twee et5 heard on he tweetttrz need more tweets? tweetwa I kermaltweel twe q ema giac:p1Z1.! tweet a ittle ttle ha r erspeak twitt need more tweets? tutiittortulictra |