Published Oct 28, 2019
Game Grades: Utah vs. Cal
Andrew Fronce  •  UteNation
Senior Writer
Twitter
@AFronceRivals

It was yet another dominant victory for the Utes at home on Saturday night, their fourth in a row in Pac-12 play, as they took on the Cal Bears and walked away with a 35-0 win. While the final score was impressive enough, it doesn’t fully tell the story of how one-sided this game was. Had Kyle Whittingham not decided to call off the dogs early in the third quarter, this game easily could have been won by 50+ points. Utah’s offense was efficient, running like a well-oiled machine, and their defense was smothering, only allowing Cal past the 50 yard line on one drive.

Utah’s October was one to remember, and the team graded out very well in each of their wins. This one will be no different.


Quarterbacks: A

Tyler Huntley put together yet another impressive performance, finishing 11-17 for 214 yards and a touchdown. That stat line may not look quite as good as some of his other games, but consider that Huntley only played one half, on a hobbled leg, and had three passes dropped. Despite all that, he made some absolutely beautiful throws, none better than his 40 yard touchdown strike to Bryan Thompson off of play action. That Utah was able to jump out to a huge lead in the first half and rest Huntley all of the second half is great news for Huntley’s health going into the Washington game.

Jason Shelley spelled Huntley when the Utes needed a running threat at quarterback in the first half, and took over for him entirely in the second half. On the night, Shelley found the endzone twice, first on a one-yard touchdown run, and second on a short toss to Brant Kuithe. Shelley’s overall numbers were modest- 4 of 5 passing for 28 yards and a touchdown, along with eight rushes for 24 yards- but he finished the night with a QBR of 99.2, which was even better than Huntley’s QBR of 96.2. The two touchdowns aside, Shelley’s highlight of the night came when he got out ahead of Moss and threw a nice block for his running back, helping Moss to gain 25 yards. Drew Lisk also saw some action late in the game, but he didn’t attempt a pass, and only carried the ball once for two yards.


Running Backs: A+

Zack Moss entered the game ready to lead Utah’s offense up and down the field, and walked out of Rice Eccles Stadium holding two more all-time records. He rushed for two touchdowns, giving him the all-time rushing touchdown record, and also ran for 115 yards on 17 carries, which broke the record for most 100 yard games in Utah history. Though Cal had some success limiting Moss to short runs early in the game, it didn’t take long for him to break off a huge gain, when Huntley found him on a broken play, and Moss turned it into a 69 yard reception. Moss’s best moment of the night came when he put an unbelievable move on a blitzing Cal linebacker in the backfield, stopping on a dime, making him miss, and then barreling 10 yards into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game. That score put Utah up 35-0 with 9:36 left in the third quarter, and was the signal for the Utes’ reserve players to come in and finish up the game. Moss finished with 204 total yards on 20 touches.

Moss’s backups got a chance to show what they could do, particularly in the second half, and Devin Brumfield, Jordan Wilmore, Devonta’e Henry-Cole, and TJ Green combined for 68 more yards on the ground. Brumfield got the majority of the workload, and showed off his physicality, rushing for 34 yards on nine carries, and punishing Cal’s defense on most of them.


Wide Receivers: B

Utah’s wide receivers didn’t have to carry the offense on Saturday night, and accounted for just six of Utah’s 15 completions. The highlights from the receivers were, obviously, Bryan Thompson’s fingertip grab in the end zone for a 40 yard touchdown, as well as a couple of nice third down conversions by Demari Simpkins and Derrick Vickers that helped move Utah into scoring position. They also did a good job of blocking downfield and helping open things up for the run game. Were it not for a drop by Thompson and a fumble by Simpkins on a rushing attempt, this group probably would have had an "A-" at least. Fortunately for Simpkins, Braeden Daniels was in good position and jumped on the loose ball before Cal could recover it.

There’s really not much else to say about this unit, other than it’s good to see Bryan Thompson out there making long touchdown grabs after a brief health scare last weekend against Arizona State.


Tight Ends: A

The tight end group had a really nice night, combining for six catches, 63 yards, and a touchdown. Brant Kuithe was the standout among this group, making a tough catch on Utah’s first scoring drive, which got them out of their own end zone on third and long. Kuithe made that catch despite taking big hits from two Cal defenders while doing so. He also got wide open on a quick out and caught a short pass from Jason Shelley for a one-yard touchdown. Cole Fotheringham had two catches for 23 yards, and made a really nice grab on a pass from Shelley that arrived right as he got out of his break and turned around. Rounding out this group’s performance was a 10-yard catch from Ali’i Niumatalolo, the first of his Ute career.

The tight ends also performed extremely well in their blocking roles- Fotheringham had a crucial block on Utah’s first touchdown which helped spring Moss, while Kuithe completely took a man out of the play which helped Jason Shelley to get his rushing touchdown. Kuithe also made an impressive block on the aforementioned 25 yard Moss run which included some blocking help from Shelley as well.


Offensive Line: A

Utah’s offensive line had a really nice night against a quality Cal defense. They helped the offense rush for 231 yards, with Moss averaging 6.8 yards per carry and the team overall averaging 4.6. That 4.6 number may not be eye-popping, but consider that the Utes were averaging 6.2 yards per carry up to the point when they scored to make it 35-0. After that point, they went conservative and started to replace starters with backups as the game wound down.

The line also did a nice job of giving Huntley time to throw. He did take a couple of shots on the night, but those came when Cal brought extra pressure. Nonetheless, the Bears didn’t get a sack against Huntley, and their lone sack of the game came in the second half, when Shelley sat in the pocket for too long while trying to find someone open downfield. It’s hard to fault the offensive line for that one, however, as they gave Shelley nearly five seconds of protection before he was brought down.



Defensive Line: A+

It was another absolutely dominant defensive performance by Utah’s line on Saturday night, as the Bears limped out of Rice Eccles having recorded just 23 rushing yards and 83 yards overall. The Cal run game couldn't get anything going all night, and finished averaging a paltry 1.1 yards per carry. Utah’s defensive line made it impossible for Cal’s running backs to find any rhythm, and were getting pressure on Cal QB Spencer Brasch all night long. To Brasch’s credit, he did a pretty good job of getting the ball out quickly without putting it in too much danger and avoiding sacks, but that led to a low completion percentage and only 60 passing yards on the night.

The exclamation point for the line’s performance came when Leki Fotu broke free of a blocker and showed off scary closing speed, bringing down Brasch for a sack and a loss of 13 yards. Maxs Tupai also recorded a sack on Cal’s final drive of the game.


Linebackers: A-

Utah’s linebackers put together another solid game and did what they were asked, and both Devin Lloyd and Francis Bernard recorded a tackle for loss on the night. The linebackers didn’t have to do as much as they usually do, as the defense was only on the field for 43 snaps. Francis Bernard made a big play early in the third quarter, intercepting Brasch inside of Cal’s own 30 yard line, but the play was negated by a defensive holding penalty committed by Lloyd before the interception. It didn’t make a difference in the outcome, of course, but it was a costly mistake nonetheless and drops this unit’s overall grade by just a hair.

Throughout Utah’s four-game winning streak, their linebackers have been playing extremely well, and that was no different against the Bears. That consistency and playmaking ability should have Ute fans feeling confident in Bernard and Lloyd going into a big matchup against Washington this weekend.


Secondary: A+

Utah’s secondary played another great game, holding the Bears to just 60 yards on 9/22 passing. Yes, it came against Cal’s third string quarterback, but that shouldn’t take anything away from this performance. Jaylon Johnson and Javelin Guidry were lock-down performers all night long, though the same could be said for pretty much the entire secondary. Tareke Lewis made the most impressive play in coverage on the night, preventing a long completion early in the game by leaping and punching the ball out of his man’s hands at exactly the right moment. If not for that play, Cal might have gotten some early momentum and Utah may not have earned its first shutout against a Pac-12 opponent.

Josh Nurse also provided an exciting highlight when he came on a blindside blitz and got an uncontested hit on Brasch, which forced a fumble. Utah’s defense made a bit of a mental error and assumed the ball was dead, instead of playing to the whistle, which cost them a chance at a fumble recovery inside of Cal’s own 20 yard line. However, give credit to Brasch, who got up from that hit, ran back, and recovered the fumble, keeping the Utes from starting a new drive with great field position.


Special Teams: C

Utah’s special teams were pedestrian overall on Saturday night. The good was that their snapping, kick coverage, and punt coverage were all perfect, as they didn’t allow any yardage on kick or punt returns, and there weren’t any botched snaps on field goals or punts.

As for the other aspects, the returners failed to generate any big plays, with Simpkins only returning one punt for eight yards on the night. Jadon Redding went 5/5 on his PAT attempts, but also missed his only field goal attempt of the game- a 32 yarder. Coach Whittingham said in the post-game presser that that one was his fault for yelling at Redding to let the clock run down and throwing off his rhythm before the kick, but you'd hope that a starting kicker would be able to make a 32-yard kick regardless of what his coach says before the snap. Ben Lennon also had a quiet night, averaging 37.7 yards on three punts. However, the bright spot about Lennon’s punts was that two of them were downed inside the Cal 10-yard line.