Utes Parallel '08 — Sort Of

Other than the perfect record in 2008, the parallels between last year’s Utah football team and this year’s continue.

Last season after seven games, the Utes were 7-0; this year they’re 6-1. Both years they found ways to win games, even when they didn’t play well.

The big difference is that Utah had only 14 fumbles at this point last year; the Utes have 22 this year.

It’s highly doubtful the Utes will run the table the rest of the way, as they did in 2008. At this time last year, they still had TCU and BYU ahead, same as this year. But this time both those games are on the road.

Utah had glaring offensive shortcomings on Saturday against Air Force. In that game, the Utes had only 70 yards total offense in the second half, excluding the 90-yard pass play to David Reed. As it was, they ended up with only 267 yards of offense.

Actually, Utah had one game last year when it ran up fewer total yards. At Wyoming, the Utes got only 242 yards of offense. However, that was in a 40-7 blowout win that was aided by three interceptions.

In another game, Utah got just 275 total yards. That was the Utes’ 13-10 squeaker over TCU.

Total offense is an indicator of how your team is performing, but not an absolute.

What do you think? Can Utah win out? Or will its fumblitis — and offensive inconsistency — cause it to lose big games down the stretch?