With seven straight bowl game victories to their name and the longest winning streak in the country, the Utes are year in and year out one of the most well-prepared bowl squads in the nation.
A crucial aspect of Utah’s preparation for bowl games and regular season games alike is film study, something Utah defensive end Paul Kruger said the team spends a lot of time on.
“Every day we’re in here, doing our thing,” Kruger said of the hours spent in the film room. “After you’re done watching film, you’re out here working on the same thing you just watched, so countless hours go into it every week.”
Utah has been watching film on Alabama since the SEC championship game against Florida, knowing full well that even with the long layover, every minute counts when facing a team like the Crimson Tide.
Utah safeties coach Morgan Scalley has had a huge role in the Utes’ success both as a coach and a player. Scalley, who lettered at the U from 2001 to 2004, has broken down countless hours of tape in his career at Utah and knows just how important it is to succeed in the bowls.
“Film study is how we get our edge,” Scalley said. “If we had the opportunity to only practice or only watch film, we would watch film. We pride ourselves on being mentally prepared game in and game out.”
To prepare for out-of-conference opponents that Utah is not as familiar with, such as Alabama, the Utes will often trade tape with their opponent as soon as possible to get a head start on their study.
“(Film) is where we get most of our reads,” Scalley said. “That’s how our safeties know where to be and how to get there. Obviously, (Alabama) is not in our conference, but we still have film on them and the bigger edge we can get from the film room the better.”
But what is it that the Utah coaches and players look for in film to get their edge?
It’s one thing to watch film, but it is a completely different thing to be able to understand and break down tape the way Utah has during the past decade or so.
“We look for weak links and fundamentals and how we can exploit them,” Scalley said. “You find the guys that don’t like to hit, you find the guys that struggle with their fundamentals and you take advantage of that. You also look at their go-to guys and find out how they run their routes, how they block.”
The importance of film study is not only stressed by the coaches, but also seems to be something that trickles down from the coaching staff, to the veterans on the team, to the freshmen, creating a culture that makes film study a top priority. A lot of work goes into film study, from the graduate assistants who compile the footage, to the players and coaches who break down the tape as well as draw up game plans.
“We just try to get an overall read on the offense,” Kruger said. “The offensive guys are doing the same thing for the defense, but we just try to get a feel for what kind of team they are and what they like to do in certain situations, when they like to run, when they like to pass and everything like that.”
With the Sugar Bowl still 19 days away, Utah already has a good idea of what the Crimson Tide will try to do. But the Utes will continue to break down footage between now and Jan. 2 to seek out every little nuance of the Alabama game plan.
“From what we’ve seen, they are a very fundamental team,” Kruger said. “They do a lot of the same things, they haven’t changed their game plan all year. They have obviously been successful with it, so I think they are going to come out and be doing a lot of the same things. We’re going to have an excellent read on they want to do.”
Tyler CobbSafeties coach Morgan Scalley congratulates Deshawn Richard after his interception return against San Diego State. Scalley says that the edge Utah takes into games comes from hours of film study.