Tag: Utah Football

Top 100 2025 recruit Matai Tagoa’i is predicted to commit to the USC Trojans

Matt Entz could be on the verge of landing a big commitment at USC.

National recruiting services predict that four-star linebacker Matai Tagoa’i will commit to USC. Both Scott Schrader of WeAreSC and Greg Biggins from 247Sports have both predicted that Tagoa’i will commit to the Trojans.

Biggins believes Tagoa’i is one of the top linebackers in the country. He added that “At 6-4, 195 pounds, he has a projectable frame and does a little of everything well. He’s an explosive athlete with a quick get-off and can really get around the edge.  He has very good closing speed and can run down plays from behind. He’s a fluid athlete and looks natural dropping in coverage and plays with a nice edge in his game as well.”

Tagoa’i had an unofficial visit to USC last weekend. He returned to campus Thursday to check out practice. He has official visits lined up for Washington in May and two more in June with Utah and Texas.

Doug Belk and Eric Henderson made a significant impact last weekend by securing five commitments from Georgia, Florida, and Texas. Now, it seems that Matt Entz wants to join in by securing the first California commitment for the class.

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Elite TE Bear Tenney names top five schools

Elite class of 2025 tight end recruit Bear Tenney names his top five schools

Elite tight end recruit Bear Tenney has named his top five schools. Who is Bear Tenney?

247Sports ranks Tenney as a three-star recruit in the class of 2025. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound tight end plays high school football for Lehi High School in Lehi, Utah.

The three-star tight end recruit is the No. 382 player in the class of 2025. The Lehi star is ranked as the No. 23 tight end prospect in the nation and the fourth-ranked recruit in Utah.

Who are Bear Tenney’s top five schools? When does he plan to visit each of his top schools?

Alex Grinch has left USC, but he got embarrassed one last time in 2023

Northwestern did what Alex Grinch could not: Contain Utah.

Alex Grinch is no longer employed by USC. He will not coach another game at USC, including the upcoming Holiday Bowl against Louisville. He no longer has anything to do with USC football, and yet his overall Trojan track record took one last night on Saturday night.

Even though Grinch wasn’t coaching on Saturday night — he might have been Christmas shopping, for all we know — the former USC defensive coordinator endured one last taste of embarrassment.

In the Las Vegas Bowl against Northwestern, the pig farmer who embarrassed Grinch and USC got smacked around. Bryson Barnes and Utah rode the struggle bus in Vegas.

Against Northwestern, Barnes threw for just 55 yards. Against USC, he threw for 235 yards.

Against Northwestern, Barnes didn’t throw a touchdown pass. Against USC, he threw three.

Against Northwestern, the Utah offense managed just 211 yards. Against USC, 482 yards.

In both games — Northwestern and USC — Utah held the ball between 34 and 35 minutes, so it’s not as though time of possession or overall opportunities to score were dramatically different. In fact, Utah’s defense allowed just 14 points to Northwestern. This should have been an easier game for Utah to win compared to USC, and yet the Utes lost because their offense was stopped cold. It’s a final sign of just how bad Grinch was at USC.

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Bryson Barnes and Utah offense get smothered in Las Vegas Bowl, score just 7 points

Utah’s season ended with a thud.

The Utah Utes were playing shorthanded all season long, primarily at quarterback. Cam Rising never took the field for Kyle Whittingham’s team, leaving Bryson Barnes and Nate Johnson — mostly Barnes — to handle the offense.

One of the things which attracted USC to new defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn is that when Lynn’s UCLA defense went up against Utah’s limited offense, Lynn pounced on the opportunity. UCLA’s defense allowed only seven points to Utah’s offense. Utah scored 14 points, but seven of them were on a pick-six thrown by quarterback Dante Moore, who has since transferred to the Oregon Ducks. That 14-7 Utah win over UCLA was a selling point for D’Anton Lynn.

Utah’s offense looked a lot like that UCLA game when it played the Las Vegas Bowl against Northwestern on Saturday night. Bryson Barnes and the Utes’ offense were smothered in this game. They didn’t score in the first three quarters and managed only one touchdown for the game. Utah’s defense was — as usual — excellent, limiting Northwestern to just 14 points.

Utah’s offense was not able to exceed that modest point total. Northwestern 14, Utah 7.

Utah will have Cam Rising for 2024 in the Big 12 Conference. USC will be glad to not face Rising ever again (unless the teams somehow meet in a 2024 bowl game).

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Five takeaways from Colorado’s final Pac-12 football game

What are your takeaways from Colorado’s season finale?

As they have for most of the season, the Colorado Buffaloes fought until the bitter end on Saturday in a narrow 23-17 loss to the Utah Utes.

The Buffs finished the year 3-5 in one-score games to wrap up head coach Deion Sanders’ first season at CU.

As an old adage says, a rebuilding football team goes from losing big to losing small to winning small to winning big. Colorado was blown out frequently last season but was much more competitive in most of its losses this year. Will the wins start to come in 2024? Only time will tell.

Here are my takeaways from Colorado’s final football game of the Pac-12 era:

Recap: Colorado’s first season under Deion Sanders ends with loss to Utah

Colorado came up just short in its final game of the year

Deion Sanders’ first season as head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes was quite the ride.

Although many will be quick to criticize how things ended, the Buffs made significant progress this year and are headed in the right direction. As Coach Prime said following Colorado’s season finale against Utah on Saturday, there is hope in Boulder.

The Buffs gave it their all throughout a narrow 23-17 loss to the Utes. With Shedeur Sanders, Xavier Weaver, Trevor Woods and others sidelined, Colorado’s remaining healthy players didn’t accept this difficult Week 13 matchup as an automatic loss.

Here’s a quick recap from Colorado’s final football game as members of the Pac-12:

WATCH: Colorado pulls out the trickery as Jimmy Horn Jr. throws TD pass to Dylan Edwards

Colorado pulled out a trick play that resulted in an early touchdown against Utah

Jimmy Horn Jr. enjoyed an impressive first half in Colorado’s season finale at Utah.

With Xavier Weaver, Shedeur Sanders and several other key players out, Horn has been asked to do a little more for the Buffs this Saturday. In the game’s first 30 minutes, the former South Florida wide receiver caught two passes for 18 yards and also returned a kickoff 41 yards.

Horn’s best moment came midway through the second quarter when he caught a backward pass from Ryan Staub and slung it downfield to running back Dylan Edwards for a 30-yard touchdown.

Check out some of the best social media reactions to Colorado’s successful trick play:

Tony’s Take: Predicting the final score of Colorado’s season finale at Utah

We could be in for a battle of the backup QBs

Colorado’s 2023 season finale at Utah was initially supposed to be a showdown between two of the Pac-12’s best quarterbacks, Sheduer Sanders and Cam Rising. But with Rising officially out for the year and Sanders battling injuries, we could now be in for a battle of the backup quarterbacks.

Reports emerged on Friday that Utah is expected to start walk-on Luke Bottari while Colorado will likely run out freshman Ryan Staub if Sanders can’t go.

CU featured the run plenty last week after Staub entered in relief of Sanders. If Staub starts, it will be up to him and the Buffs’ running game to put up points against a tough Utes defense. Because Colorado has struggled both offensively and defensively in the run game, I don’t see the Buffs coming away with the victory.

Colorado will put up a fight but I see Utah pulling away late. My final score prediction is Utah 24, CU 14.

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Colorado at Utah: Stream, injury report, broadcast info for Saturday

Where will you be watching Colorado’s season finale?

We’ve reached the final Saturday of the college football regular season.

Earlier this fall, Colorado was the biggest story in the sport, but Deion Sanders’ Buffs (4-7, 1-7 Pac-12) are now riding a five-game losing streak heading into their finale at Utah (7-4, 4-4). Head coach Kyle Whittingham’s Utes have also fallen off recently, though, with losses in three of their last four games.

The Buffs will be looking for their first win at Rice-Eccles Stadium since 2011 when Colorado and Utah met for the first time as Pac-12 members.

Now 12 years later, the Buffs and Utes will play their final Pac-12 Conference game on Saturday before joining the Big 12 next year.

REPORT: Utah expected to start walk-on quarterback Luke Bottari vs. Colorado

Utah is reportedly expected to start a walk-on quarterback against Colorado

Utah is expected to start walk-on quarterback Luke Bottari in Saturday’s regular season finale against Colorado, according to Josh Newman.

Typical Utah starter Bryson Barnes is apparently unavailable and Newman also reported that redshirt freshman QB Nate Johnson intends to enter the transfer portal, leaving Bottari as the next man up.

So, who is Bottari? After setting eight school passing records at Junipero Serra High School in California, Bottari played at College of San Mateo from 2019-21. He then transferred to Utah as a preferred walk-on prior to the 2022 season but has yet to see any game action with the Utes.

It’s also possible that Colorado will start true freshman Ryan Staub in place of the injured Shedeur Sanders, who left last week’s game at Washington State early with an injury. On Tuesday, head coach Deion Sanders said Shedeur is considered day-to-day.

If Bottari and Staub indeed face off, it could be a big day for both teams’ running backs.

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