TAKEAWAYS: Utah’s Struggles Catch Up to Them in Loss
After an impressive 4-0 undefeated start to the season, the wheels finally fell off for the University of Utah. The offense once again was bad, the defense made key mistakes and the Beavers took full advantage to hand Utah their first loss on the season.
Here are the takeaways from Utah’s 21-7 loss against Oregon State:
The offensive weapons didn’t make Johnson’s job easy
In what was an unproductive game for the Utes offensively, the inability to move the chains and create was initially more on the receivers and role players than it was on Nate Johnson. Not that he was particularly good — 8 of 21 for 101 passing yards is not a line you want from your quarterback — but he wasn’t given a lot of opportunities and there were a number of drops that ended drives before they were able to really get going.
First off, the protection was subpar and Johnson was either forced to run or had to release within a split second. This led to a couple overthrows, poor deliveries and put him in some situations where he had to simply escape.
Additionally, there were a number of drops from the receivers that would’ve either kept the chains moving or hit for sizable gains. Multiple penalties also set the Utes back and one in particular canceled out what should’ve been a long touchdown for Landen King on broken coverage.
It wasn’t a great display by any means, but Johnson wasn’t getting much help from the rest of the offense.
The amount of injuries hitting Utah is unfathomable
Coming into the 2023 season, Utah fans knew it would be awhile before Cameron Rising and Brant Kuithe returned, but the continued injuries to so many others has been absolutely unreal for Utah this season.
Like head coach Kyle Whittingham shared a few weeks ago following the Weber State matchup, the amount of injuries Utah has had to deal with is unlike anything he’s seen in 40 years of coaching.
Trying to win a Pac-12 game on the road without QB1, QB2, RB1, RB2, TE1, PK1 a top DE and several defenders is nearly an impossible task. How can you create rhythm offensively with so much inexperience? So much instability under center? Not to mention when you just can’t catch a break and every week somebody else is going down in the middle of a game.
This team is talented. But injuries are significantly holding them back from their full potential. When it's all said and done this might be the most, “what if?” season in program history.
Utah suffered three more known devastating injuries on Friday to both Logan Fano, Bryson Barnes, and Charlie Vincent. Fano went down after an impressive quarterback sack. He was later seen on crutches. Barnes took an alarming cheap shot and Whittingham said he had to be taken to the hospital.
Every time someone goes dow now, a sick feeling hits.
Vaki was a bright spot on a bleak night
It’s not easy to find a lot of positives in a game like this, but safety Sione Vaki stood out demonstrating his diverse skill set.
Overall, he finished with a game-high nine tackles, seven of which were solo, 3.5 tackles for loss, a pass break-up and a six yards rush offensively in a wildcat formation.
Vaki is talented in a lot of areas. He has a high football IQ and he has a nose for the football. He’s good in coverage while capable of creating problems in the backfield and rarely misses tackles. The crazy thing is, he’s only a sophomore.
There should still be plenty of growth for the young safety over the next few years.
His fellow safety, Cole Bishop was second on the team with seven tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, and a late interception.
The cornerbacks had a rough game
In somewhat of an uncharacteristic manner, Utah’s secondary was not up to the task against Oregon State. It cost them greatly on the scoring drives they surrendered to the Beavers.
While the defense as a whole corrected some of its mistakes after a poor first drive, the corners continued to struggle. There were several missed coverages, they were playing too far off of the receivers, and several missed tackles became key in the Beavers progression.
DJ Uiagalelei wasn’t necessarily stellar but he made a few big plays that led to touchdowns and that was a big difference in the game.
Also credit to the Oregon State receivers. They made the type of difficult plays that Utah’s receivers couldn’t make.
It was a rough night for Utah Football.