Position Battles: Utah at Washington State

The University of Utah is set to play the Washington State Cougars in a rare Thursday game at 8 PM MST in Pullman, Washington. Both teams are coming off of a bye, while the No. 14 Utes look to build off of their victory over the No. 7 USC.

Here’s how the position battles shake out:

Quarterback

Fresh off of the best performance of his Utah career, Cam Rising is riding high and looks to be a handful for WSU to deal with. Rising is beginning to perform how he was expected to entering the season, despite injuries all the running back position and Tavion Thomas’ off-the-field issues.

WSU quarterback Cameron Ward and his performance have been mixed since being a highly coveted FCS transfer. He’s taken an alarming amount of sacks (26) and thrown eight interceptions.

Running Backs

Tavion Thomas didn’t make the trip—while it’s been quietly known, he confirmed as much on Instagram. Additionally, Micah Bernard is less than 100%. Tonight, the Utes will have to five deep into their running back depth.

Washington State doesn’t run the ball much, but Nakai Watson (473 total yards and four touchdowns) and Jaylen Jenkins (400 total yards and three touchdowns) have both been effective when they do run.

Rising is the best rushing threat on the field tonight, but Utah might struggle to supplement him with a solid performance from the running back position.

Wide Receivers

Even if you wanted to argue for Utah and their recent uptick in production, that’s heavily slanted to wide receiver Devaughn Vele and then Kincaid at tight end. Both Utah and Washington State are tied for No. 31 in the country, averaging 280.3 passing yards per game. Therefore, this WSU receiver group isn’t as feared as typical, but they rely heavily on their receivers in their offensive attack.

Vele leads Utah—as well as all receivers in this game—with 418 yards and four touchdowns on 39 receptions. Utah’s next closest receiver yards wide is Money Parks with 192. Washington State has three receivers over 300 yards receiving, led by De’Zhaun Stribling with 28 catches for 359 yards and four touchdowns. The WSU receivers are stronger as a whole.

Tight Ends

On the season, WSU tight end Billy Riviere—you read that right, this Wazzu team has a tight end—has six catches for 44 and a touchdown.

Utah’s Dalton Kincaid is coming off one of the greatest NCAA performances by a tight end in college football history with 16 catches for 234 yards and a touchdown. He’s putting up the best statistical season of all tight ends in 2022, and at the moment it’s not even close.

Offensive Line

The strength of Utah’s offensive line is their pass protection, and it’s something Utah will have to likely do more than typical against WSU. The WSU offensive line has 26 sacks—just brutal for the sake of Cameron Ward.

Defensive Line

Neither defensive line is really having a strong season. This one is a push.

Linebackers

Both linebacker units suffer from more missed tackles than you’d hope for. However there’s more impactful depth currently at WSU with Francisco Mauigoa, Quinn Roff, Brennan Jackson, and Daiyan Henley all seeing key roles.

Secondary

Utah is the top pass defense in the Pac-12 in pass defense at 208.1 per game, while WSU is No. 89 in the NCAA at 243.6 yards per game. Their secondary has a total of six interceptions in seven games.

Special Teams

When Utah can consistently kick the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs, there will be a debate in this section. Until then, well, Utah’s all-around kicking is just brutal to watch.