TAKEAWAYS: No. 12 Utah Beats Weber State 31-7

In their final matchup before entering conference play, the University of Utah welcomed in-state foe Weber State to Rice Eccles Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Despite a plethora of injuries and several others being held out for precautionary measures, the Utes took care of business under the direction of Nate Johnson and Co. While it wasn’t necessarily the prettiest performance, No. 12 Utah will enter Pac-12 play at 3-0 with some much needed rest and everything to play for.

Here are the takeaways from the victory:

Johnson looked good, not great

To begin your first start at Utah with a win, multiple touchdowns, and no turnovers is a good start but there’s still plenty to work on and develop.

What went well for Nate Johnson is that he looked comfortable, made things happen, completed some good passes, found the end zone, and the offense responded. For the day, he finished 13-21 for 193 yards and a touchdown. He also added 71 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries

“I thought Nate Johnson played well today,” Kyle Whittingham said. “His numbers were good. Zero turnovers.”

What didn’t necessarily go well was how long he consistently held onto the ball, a few off-target long range passes, several drives that came up empty and only 24 offensive points against a vastly inferior Weber State team.

But he’s young. He’ll get better and he demonstrated a lot of potential. It’s a big ask for a freshman to command the offense and fill in until Cam Rising returns. So far, he’s been solid and the Utes are 3-0.

“One of my main focuses is accuracy,” Johnson said. “Building that trust with the coaches and receivers. Just building connections with the receivers and confidence with them as well. It felt good today, especially getting the ball to every receiver. It was a good win.”

Bouwmeester was great, the rest of special teams struggled

Following some really good special teams performances through the first two games, Utah struggled a bit against Weber State across the board.

“Special teams we had some issues,” Kyle Whittingham said. “Our kickoff coverage unit was horrendous. We have to get that addressed. We botched a field goal attempt. So, definitely have some things to work on.”

Let’s talk about the good, before the bad… Jack Bouwmeester had a 60 yard punt and also pinned the Wildcats inside the 5-yard line.

In addition to several long kick returns against them — including one for 33 and another for 41 —Utah also encountered a bad snap on a field goal attempt which ended up in a loss of yards and zero points on a lengthy drive.

Utah has to clean things up before UCLA next week. They also might have to figure it out without Cole Becker, who was hurting kicking in warmups.

On returns, the Utes were being held up by blockers, couldn’t get down the field, and left a lot of open space. As for the bad snap, that makes two in the last two games as there was also a bad snap against Baylor but luckily the holder was able to corral it. Against Weber, not the same result.

Those are mistakes that can cost you against really good teams. There will be no room for special teams mistakes heading into next week.

Matthews is showing signs of being special

Coming into the season, there was a lot of discussion regarding Mikey Matthews with some comparisons to some of the programs best receivers. While he still needs some time to reach those comparisons, Matthew’s has been great for Utah early on in 2023 and appears to possess the potential to be as good as everyone has said.

“Mikey [Matthews] may not be as fast as Money [Parks], but he can move. He may be small, but he’s a short guy that can move. So having those two on the offensive side is good,” Johnson shared.

In addition to his speed and elusiveness, what makes Matthews special is his elite route running and a high football IQ to go along with it.

Demonstrated in the first half against the Wildcats, Matthews received a 1 yard pass from Johnson but turned it into a 40 yard gain and set Utah up on the Weber State 25 yard line.

Despite hauling in the reception in a crowded jumble of players, Matthew’s exploded up the field behind some blockers and then switched the field quickly before being brought down in Wildcat territory.

Matthews also fielded a few punts against Weber State and did a decent job as he slipped through a few tackles and averaged 27 yards on two returns in the first half. He did have one punt that he could have read better, as he fielded it falling backwards to the ground.

The early comparisons to Britain Covey are certainly understandable after the first few games. Let's see if he can continue to impress as Utah begins Pac-12 play.

Two decades strong, Utah is Pick-Six U

What can you say about Utah’s elite defense? For the 20th straight season, the Utes recorded a pick-six and it seems unlikely that the streak will end anytime soon.

“That’s one of those records that will probably never be broken…when you go back, I think it’s a five year time-span. When you go back to those five years, we have taken the ball away more than anybody in the country as far as picks and fumble recoveries. When you have a lot of opportunities you're going to get some touchdowns. The biggest reason is we’ve got a defense that's a bunch of ballhawks and is really good at turning the ball over,” Whittingham shared.

This year, the honor goes to Lander Barton who read the play from the start and pounced without hesitation to snag the football on his way to the end zone.

This speaks to not only the recruiting, but the development of Utah’s defenders throughout the years and in multiple conferences. The culture of RSNB has been widely accepted and applied regardless of their personnel and should continue as they step into the Big-12.

The offensive line has to clean things up

Two weeks in a row, the offensive line has given up a number of penalties and didn’t necessarily create the greatest opportunities for Nate Johnson or the backs.

Was it a disaster? No, not at all. But as mentioned previously, Pac-12 play opens up against a formidable UCLA squad next week and today’s performance would not be acceptable against the Bruins.

With several false starts and holding calls, the line has been somewhat undisciplined. Additionally, while Johnson did get carried away with holding onto the ball too much at times, the pocket wasn’t always strong, nor was the protection.

No reason to sound the alarm, but just not quite where it needs to be.

Overall, a decent showing by Utah, but the most important thing they can do now is get guys healthy and start conference play strong with a victory over UCLA next week.

"We've got to get healthy. We have 15 or 16 guys that can help us win that are not available. We've got to start getting them back. We lost some more today...I've coached 40 years and never seen anything like this in that department," Whittingham said.