“No shadow, no stars, no moon and no cars. November. It only believes in a pile of dead leaves. And a moon that’s the color of bone …”
Tom Waits sings that song, bemoaning the dark 11th month of the year and all the pain and suffering November brings with it. Some see it as a month of thanks and thanksgiving. Not Waits, and, man, Utah football can relate.
For the Utes, November is an anchor and chain wrapped around their collective body. And it’s a problem, a vexation that must be solved if their designs on a South division title and a shot at a Pac-12 championship and every rosy thing that comes with all of that are ever to be gained.
And since Utah has that back-end issue, struggling to finish what it starts, maybe thinking about that back end right up at the front end could help.
“No prayers for November, to linger longer, stick your spoon in the wall, we’ll slaughter them all …”
Since the 2013 season, the Utes have conquered every other month, except for that one. They are the champions of September and October, and then … November kicks them in the teeth, laughs at their frustration, their agony, and leaves them wholly unsatisfied.
“November has tied me to an old dead tree. Get word to April to rescue me. November’s cold chain, made of wet boots and rain, and shiny black ravens on chimney smoke lanes …”
Over the first two months of each season and in December since 2013, Utah is 27-8, but only 6-10 in November. The Utes have achieved high national rankings — and been in the chase for a spot in the Rose Bowl — the past two seasons, until … well, you know what came around.
“November seems odd, you’re my firing squad. November …”
Nobody is exactly sure why things have gone so wrong over the tail end of these seasons, especially when so much promise has been evident early on. Asked about it Monday, former Ute offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said, “I don’t have a great reason why. Utah football is known for toughness and embracing the year-round grind of football. We’ve won so many games just being tougher than other teams, finding a way to out-last them.
“Sometimes, though, I wonder if the grind of it all, the team might get worn down a little bit that late in the season. It’s a thought. … Depth is another issue. As the team gets deeper in recruiting, then they’ll have a better chance to survive November. In other years, we’d be off to a good start and then, last year, we got to our fourth or fifth center, our fifth running back, some of those things start happening and the drop-off can’t hold up against opponents. … This is a year where they might survive November.”
The Utes will face UCLA and Washington State at home, then go on the road to play Washington and finish the month against Colorado at Rice-Eccles. If they were to qualify for it, it’s worth noting that the Pac-12 title game is in … whew, December.
“With my hair slicked back, with carrion shellac, with the blood from a pheasant, and the bone from a hare, tied to the branches of a roebuck stag, left to wave in the timber, like a buck shot flag …”
Maybe the Utes really are to the point where they can weather the storms that the long season brings. Maybe, as Roderick suggests, they are deep enough now, with the program drawing an ever-increasing number of athletes, that they can withstand everything November hauls in with it — injuries, opposing coaches scouting the Utes, game-planning for their strengths and punishing their weaknesses. Maybe a more balanced attack will share the offensive load enough to take stress and wear and tear off guys who and positions that have been relied on too heavily in the past.
Utah football deserves credit for the progress it has made over the past six seasons. Kyle Whittingham has built a respected program, indicated by the media voting it to finish second in their preseason poll, despite the fact that the Utes sent 16 players to the NFL after last season.
When Utah first joined the Pac-12, a well-known journalist who had covered college football in general and the Pac-12 in particular for many seasons guessed that it would take 25 years for the Utes to get to the Rose Bowl. He’d likely amend that prognostication now.
But to make that a sure thing, obviously, the Utes must find a formula that will sustain the program through an entire season, not just the first two-thirds of it. Going on as is, not making it different, might continue to bring Utah respect, but it will not get the Utes what they want the most. For that, a certain month — and a complaint — must be conquered and put to rest.
“Go away, you rainsnout, go away, blow your brains out. November.”
GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.
Follow @GordonMonson