UTA '22 | Flight of the Bumbling Bees

[Aston]

Bet nobody saw that coming! One week after an impressive showing as the last undefeated standing, Utah takes a dump in the bed and gets held under 300 yards in a mistake-filled, overtime slugfest.

P.S. Carlos Melnick 6 hurries, 4 knockdowns. It was fun to watch him go to work today. Larry Shed and him got well acquainted, but Melnick never brought him down with the ball in his hands.

[Aston]

Randy Boone has a pretty unique statistic. In his last two games against Los Alamos, this is what he's done:

34/49 (69%), 602 yards (12.29 ypa), 8 TDs, 0 INT, 148.7 avg QBR, 150.68 cumulative QBR

Other notable accomplishments:

-It took seven tries with Utah, but Earnest Giang has reached the 100-yard mark for the first time as a Bee.

-Carlos Melnick with 29 hurries.

[Aston]

Earnest Giang has reached the 100-yard mark for the first time as a Bee.

Hard to believe this was about one week ago, as Giang has now ripped off five straight 100-yard games, to finish with 235 carries for 1132 yards on the year for Utah. I say 'finish', only because he's probably going to be shut down for these last two.

Utah has already clinched homefield throughout the playoffs, and there are some injuries that need nursing - as well as backup WLB Matthew O'Donnell's upset, twisted panties. Two starts at WLB - that should shut him up, yea?

Ian Subramanian, as it turns out, holds on to the sack record with Utah at 14.5. Melnick, however, may have just smashed the league Hurries record.

At this point, Utah has outscored opponents by an average of over 19 points per game, 32.4 to 13.2, and is the league's #2 offense and #1 defense by yards.

A very nice year, and here's hoping it doesn't get tarnished too much in the last couple of weeks. I would love for Boone to stay on and round out this year of achievement, but memories of 2020 haunt me. We were still fighting for a playoff spot then, and we got it, but Boone was knocked out for several weeks in our epic Week 16 stomping of Columbus - and we got smoked once we were in the playoffs, with Wendell Longhenry at the helm.

The current backup is Roderick Sikkenga, so I better figure out what he is able to do, in case Boone's appendix gives way or he gets knocked out in Round 1 or something.

Ultimately, the chance to be able to just develop the youth of the roster with nothing at stake and two games to go is extremely rare - so we better take it while we can. The 13-1 earned this opportunity for the Sikkengas, Jared Craigs, Cole Motzes of the team.

[Aston]

SHRINE TO CARLOS MELNICK, OLB



Here in Utah, we bow to The Great Melnick!

I thought he was OK, nothin' on my own Sub, and started to get the chills a little bit when he started six games and pulled in eight sacks. And after he kept it up this year, I started to realize what I know now: this dude is not human.

12.1 PR% over 477 pass plays, completely raises the bar for what "stud pass rusher" means to me. And what was most impressive this year is that Melnick smashed the single-season hurries record with 41 hurries in 2022 (37 was the previous best).

And Melnick did it in fourteen games. Not even active for the last two as he dealt with a minor injury.

All haaaaaail. I can't believe the level of play he's brought. Oh, and the next-best on the hurries list for 2022...Casey Parker, with 23.

[Aston]

Bees '22 Wrapup

As the team prepares for its first bowl appearance in a while, a wrap-up and a look back to a season ago, when the Bees capped a season full of charming stats by blowing another chance to enter the playoffs.

Utah entered the offseason mad and determined to rectify its shortcomings, and here we are! Ultimately, it was just a season where everything 'clicked' and came together. Whether we finish or not, the show put up by the '22 Bees should satisfy fans for years to come.

The offensive skill players have little need for mention here. Instead, we'll turn our attention to under-the-radar guys we think key to our success, and a look to the future.

RB Herman Woods is the only holdover on a RB roster listing that was torn and mutilated following the '21 campaign. Fans were shocked and dismayed at the Schacht dismissal, but Woods was the perfect remedy. In a backup role, he posted 627 yards, a 5.10 average, and 8 touchdowns in the regular season. He's already added two more scores in the playoffs.

TE Mario Bradford stepped up big while Nate Barlow began to show his age just a little. Not so much in the regular season, but a dominating performance vs Punxsutawney has us feeling very secure about the future of this position after Barlow eventually hangs 'em up. For now, we have a very promising duo.

WR Hunter Vandersommen was needed to step up, and by the end of the season, had finally found his groove. He shined in the playoffs, with touchdowns in each game, and has solidified his role as the 3rd option in the WR corps, and not one to be taken lightly.

LT Bruce Roberts may only have one year after this left to play, but he has done a marvelous job in allowing us to part with Willie Sidharta. The run blocking stats have suffered as a result, but worries about how his age has affected his ability to deal with pass-rushers have mostly been allayed.

K Troy Parrish - rookie knocks in 34-of-37 field goals, including 13-of-16 from beyond the 40.

NT Jerald Berrios - stepped up to grab the nose tackle job over third-year starter Billy Johns. Offers more of a dual-threat from the position.

WILB Troy Conant - second year man who was always around the ball whenever he was on the field. With this LB group allowing us a lot of base defense, Conant roamed the defensive front and scored 52 tackles from the WILB spot.

WLB Matthew O'Donnell should really get over his anger issues with us, because he looks like a stud pass-rushing in this system. If Ian Subramanian's unhappy fate - suddenly losing his production - befalls Melnick, O'Donnell should be able to step up and dominate.

CB Benjamin Chmelik - I feel like I'm playing with the Patriots secondary of almost every recent year. Chmelik is just some UDFA guy that plays with toughness and has, surprisingly to me, found a big role this year among the CB group and emerged as the top backup.

SS Brent Driscoll - If memory serves, I have never ever had safeties in Utah. Time and time again we went with FA options, such as the elderly-even-then Michael Lyon, and more recently Blaine Johnston. Driscoll was a no-look gamble in the 2nd round, not having come in for a pre-draft visit, but he's helping us turn the fortunes in our secondary. He allowed us to part with Johnston, and has stepped up big to be, arguably, our best safety in years.

FS Chester Foster is the other side of our safety development program. A 6th round pick many years ago, he's finally, finally come into his own in the past two years and has proven more than able to man his position. This was no sure thing at all after his initial starting season in 2020, and we're very glad we have been able to count on him. Driscoll aside, it's been swing and miss in the draft.

FS Lance Morris - here's a surprising one, a rookie free agent who has found his way to comparable playing time as our first-and-top-2nd-round picks. And he has been pretty decent, too. His ongoing development will be key to Utah's efforts to get something out of its patchwork DBs. One we are watching in the offseason.

QB Roderick Sikkenga - here's the guy we counted on to take over if Boone ever went down this season. That is one hell of a gamble, for a 5'11, 2nd year, inexperienced UDFA. The infighting among other AC teams and our lighter schedule allowed us to claim 1st seed unusually early, and Sikkenga got two full games of real action as a result. His 70.7% completion, 95.1 QBR performance has us feeling very good about leaving him back there as the #2, and giving him time to develop.

The Training Staff - The last mention must go to these guys, who kept our stars injury-free for almost the entire year. The injuries with which two starting OL are now saddled presents us with the worst injury situation we've had all year. Lucky break for us, because injuries in a few key places would have really sunk this team long before it could reach this point.

Now bring it home!

[Aston]

Everyone's mad after this one. The press in Utah are descending like ravenous vultures around the humiliating performance the Bees put up in the Bowl.

"Learn 2 play, noob," shouted hecklers at quarterback Randy Boone.

"Head Coach Sucks At Playcalling", reads a local headline. Subheader: "Like really, what was that???!"

Here's what we said at the start of the year:

And now the fans are getting restless. This mediocrity is killing them...and coach Mike Tarr is finding his seat plenty hot.

Mr. Tarr may now consider it to be white-hot, searing, even scalding. We were looking to replace him last offseason, and now, the jig may really be up for the 59-year-old. Stay tuned...