Utah Ute offense versus Field Position

Let's talk about our bowl opponent today. The Utah Offense averages 1.72 points per drive and scores on 31.6% of their total legitimate offensive drives. They score a touchdown on 20.3% of their total offensive drives. If the Utes receive the ball off a turnover, they are much more likely to score (47.0% of their drives) and they average 2.64 points per true offensive drives after an opposing turnover.

On the negative side of the coin, the Utes turn the ball over on 19.5% of their drives and punt the ball away on 43.6% of their drives. In the Pac-12, only Colorado has punted the ball more times (77) in 2011 than Utah (63). Utah also has the thirdmost turnovers in the 2011 Pac-12 season at 22 turnovers coughed up only ahead of Oregon State and UCLA. The offensive inconsistency has to be frustrating for Utah fans as no Pac-12 team cracked the NCAA's top 50 in total defense in 2011 (besides Utah) and only USC and Oregon were in the top 50 in scoring defense in 2011 (besides Utah). The 2011 Pac-12 was a fairly defenseless league so Utah's offensive woes are pretty hard to defend.

If I had to attribute the Utah struggles to a particular issue, I would say attrition. Utah lost two senior receivers from 2010 in Jereme Brooks and Shaky Smithson. Star junior receiver DeVonte Christopher has struggled to surpass his 2010 numbers with little help in the receiving corps. Also, the Utes lost 2010 starting QB Jordan Wynn in game 4 of the regular season. The running game was there but the passing game really failed to provide the Utes any semblence of offensive balance.

Any thoughts on the Utah offense or Tech's defense?