Takeaways: Utah at Northern Illinois
Well, that was an uncomfortable nail-biter, as the University of Utah narrowly escaped DeKalb, Illinois with a victory over the pesky Northern Illinois Huskies, 17-6. However, a win is a win, and now we can expect the Utes to put their foot on the gas, as they enter Pac-12 play.
Here are the takeaways from the game:
There’s a severe lack of efficiency on special teams
In year’s past, one of the staples of Utah football has been outstanding special teams play. After Saturday’s game, Utah has had two field goal attempts blocked in consecutive weeks and former Lou Groza Award winner Matt Gay saw a 43-yard attempt sail wide on Saturday. In back to back weeks, the lineman on the field goal unit were blown back, allowing the opposing rush to sneak through and get a hand on the ball. Also, for the second week in a row, the punt return team failed to communicate, and the opposing team’s punt blatantly hit a Utah player, causing a fumble. What is so concerning about these two things is that they both happened in consecutive weeks. These things just aren’t supposed to happen with a historically sound unit, under Kyle Whittingham. Gay and Mitch Wishnowsky have proven to be some of the best in the nation at the kicker position, but Utah must find a way to take advantage of the special teams plays to shift momentum and put opponents in bad starting positions. This should be more than a little concerning, but look for them to right the ship.
Defense remained dominant, thanks in large part to the linebackers
Utah struggled in many areas against Northern Illinois, but the defense was not one of them. Despite being on the field for almost 32 minutes, due to offensive inefficiency, the Ute defense held the Huskies to 228 total yards, averaging out to just three yards per play. The defensive line and secondary looked solid, and John Penisini and Julian Blackmon in particular were big parts of Utah’s success.
As clutch as those two guys were, the linebackers were the group which truly excelled against the Huskies. Cody Barton and Chase Hansen led the Utes in tackles, with 13 and 12, respectively, and were all over the field making plays. Barton had an up-and-down game, as he made some big plays, but also put the game in question with an inexcusable personal foul as NIU was driving, allowing them to tack on a field goal and close the score to 7-6. However, he also had an excellent play shortly after to prevent the Huskies’ running back from breaking inside the 10 yard line. Chase Hansen was the undisputed player of the game, and may have an argument for Pac-12 defensive player of the week. He finished with 12 tackles, two sacks, a fumble recovery, and the crucial pick-six which sealed the win. Though we didn’t see as much of Donavan Thompson in this game, he also played well in relief of the two starters, and finished with four tackles.
The first two games have been a roller coaster for Huntley
Despite being under duress a majority of the game due to a lackluster performance by the offensive line, quarterback Tyler Huntley managed to complete 20-31 of his passes for 286 yards for an average of 9.2 yards per pass. Albeit, Huntley did not throw for a touchdown, was sacked six times, and seemed to struggle to get into any sort of rhythm during the game.
After a solid fall camp where he separated himself from backups Jason Shelley and Jack Tuttle, Huntley set high expectations coming into the 2019 campaign. Year two in Troy Taylor's system felt like it was going to be the year where Utah's offense properly complemented its stout defense. Two games into the season, the offense is still working on establishing itself early in games. Whether it is due to offensive line woes or placing too much pressure on himself and overthinking in the moment, Huntley's play feels inconsistent for a second year starter. Flashes of brilliance are followed by what appears to be indecisiveness and not trusting his instincts.
Despite the frustrations that fans have about overthrowing his receivers and avoiding hits or awkward slides, Huntley is still connecting with his playmakers. He had some big plays against the Huskies as he connected with Britain Covey for a 48 yard gain, as well as freshmen Jaylen Dixon and Bronson Boyd for longs of 41 and 25 yards, respectively.
With the Pac-12 favorite Washington Huskies on deck for this coming Saturday night in Rice-Eccles, Huntley needs to remember the great moments that helped him amass over 350 total yards and three touchdowns in a gut wrenching loss to the Huskies last season and put together his first complete game of 2018. The game is winnable, he proved that in 2017.
Field position was a key factor to the offensive struggles
There were numerous issues that could be mentioned, and without looking at the box score, you’d think that the Utes lost. How about this stat: the only times that Utah started a drive past their own 30 yard line, was after a fumble—which they gave right back— and their final play of the game. Out of their 13 drives, 10 of them started at the Utah 25 or even deeper in their own territory.
There were numerous reasons to this. For starters, the defense seemed to occasionally play “bend but don’t break” defense, allowing longer NIU drives—something you can’t really argue with when a team only scores six points. However, there are a few other glaring things: no one wants to kick to Covey, the new kickoff rule is great for safety—but the Utes are taking no risks—and the lack of turnovers also figures in. All that being said, Hansen’s pick-six doesn’t exactly count as a possession, since he took it to the house, sealing the victory.
No, Harding is NOT the problem
The fact that fans are calling for offensive line coach Jim Harding to be fired, is downright nuts. This past offseason, he nearly landed a job with the Cincinnati Bengals, so there’s not a coach that would watch the Utah games and say that he’s the problem. He’s put five guys in the NFL in the last two years—and at least another two should continue that trend in the next draft. Again, he’s not the problem, but his unit is absolutely struggling. Much of that has to do with the personnel which features more maulers than mobile linemen. The group is made more for a ground and pound, north to south, running game. Out of all the positions this unit takes the most time, when the schematics get altered.
Enjoy Harding while you have him, folks. He’s going to be doing big things in his career.
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