Statistical Review: Utah #70

Utah had an above average defense held back by poor play on 3rd down and in the red zone. The offense was below average on 1st and 2nd downs, but even worse on 3rd downs. I can only speculate, but performance along these lines usually points to inferior athletes on offense and defense, poor quarterback play on offense (Travis Wilson netted a negative EPA), and/or sub-par play calling.

Utah was not a very good football team, but this statement demands an important caveat. Before getting to that caveat, I want to again clarify that Utah was not good. They won five games, and two of those wins came against Colorado, who finished one spot below South Alabama in the power rankings, and Northern Colorado, who finished 2012 with a spectacular 5-5 FCS record. In week 4, they lost to Arizona State by 30 points; but in week 3 they beat BYU and in week 2 they lost by 7 in Logan (Utah State) after Jordan Wynn had to leave the game. Utah finished 61st in the power rankings, BYU 23rd and Utah State 14th. Moving to the Pac-12 was not the coup Utah fans thought it was, but at least they aren't getting embarrassed in state (see Colorado).

The Statistical Review breaks down teams along a number of performance categories, everything from red zone scoring to field goal percentage, and compares that performance against the rest of the FBS. All 124 teams will be reviewed from 124 to 1 by the hybrid rankings. You can find short descriptions of the stats used in the table below.