Takeaways: Utah vs. Cal

On Saturday night, the University of Utah manhandled a severely outmatched Cal squad, on the way to a 35-0 blowout in which Kyle Whittingham called off the dogs early in the second half. While the defensive performance was somewhat expected, there’s also a lot to like with the Utes’ offense as they moved the ball almost at will, against a solid Cal defense.

Here are the takeaways to the victory:

This team is measuring up to the 2004 Utes, so far

There's no question that the 2004 squad is the greatest team in Utah football history. This is partially due to what they accomplished but also to the manner in which they did it. That year, the Utes' smallest margin of victory was 14 points, and they won each game by an average of 25.8 points. While this year's team still needs to achieve a lot more to be mentioned in the same breath as the 2004 team, thus far, they are beating their opponents in similar fashion.

This season, Utah's smallest margin of victory has been 18 points, and they beat BYU, NIU and ASU by that amount. On average, the games they've won, they've won by 27.1 points—a bigger average margin of victory than the 2004 team. Of course, they won't go undefeated, due to an early season loss to USC, but as long as they keep winning, great things are in store for this team. While the 2004 team will always be special, so far, this team is proving to be just as fun to watch, and it's exciting to imagine what they could end up achieving.

EDITOR’S NOTE: While the 2004 squad played a weaker schedule, I still believe that team would have beaten anyone even on a Pac-12 style schedule.

Shelley is back to 2018 Jason Shelley

Last season, Jason Shelley stepped in for an injured Tyler Huntley to finish out the season, showing good command of the offense and poise for someone handed the keys in such a crucial part of the year. Despite his effectiveness last season, Shelley has not been the de facto no. 2 this season, as Drew Lisk has been the first off of the bench at various times. As both Shelley and Lisk did not play particularly well up to this point in the 2019 campaign, questions of what happened to Utah's reliable backup swirled amongst the fans. After Huntley sustained an injury against Arizona State, many wondered if Lisk or Shelley would step in during the blackout game against Cal.

Cue the return of “2018” Jason Shelley. With Huntley's mobility limited, it was clear from the get-go that Shelley would come in for read-options and rollouts, at minimum. What might have been unexpected for Cal, however, is that they could not always assume it was a running play when Shelley jogged onto the field.

After playing in certain packages for the first half, Shelley played most of the second half and looked like the confident Texan we saw last year. Shelley finished the night going 4-5 for 28 yards and a touchdown, along with 24 yards on 8 carried and another touchdown. While those numbers are not exactly eye-popping, Shelley's QBR was 99.2 and displayed full command of Andy Ludwig's offense. As Utah heads into the final third of the season and the expectations rising with every week, having a strong backup for the possible event that Tyler Huntley goes down, is a priceless asset for Kyle Whittingham's squad. Even more promising, Shelley stepped in against one of the better defenses out west, not named Utah.

These guys are historically good, historically scary

The Utes extended their winning streak to four on Saturday night against Cal and produced another dominating performance for the fourth straight week. What has been so impressive about this streak is the way that the Utes have controlled these games from start to finish. Excluding the garbage time touchdown against Oregon State, opponents have not scored a legit touchdown against Utah since the first quarter against Washington State. Yes, the only touchdown scored on the Utes in the month of October was late in that Oregon State game. Utah has also dominated the time of possession, first downs, total yards and total plays during this streak. The Utes ran about double the amount of plays that Cal did last night and were in control from start to finish.

Being in control allows the offense to remain “on schedule” and it also helps the defense stay off of the field. This is most important going into this week’s game against Washington because the defensive starters played about half of the snaps that they typically do in a normal game. The Utes have been in control this whole streak and will need to perform well in these categories again to come out victorious against Washington.

Moss is the Utes' G.O.A.T.

Wow. Just wow. If you were told that Zack Moss would have almost two and a half times the amount of total yards as the Cal Bears, no offense to Moss, but you probably would have laughed. Utah’s defense was relentless in allowing under a hundred total yards—83 to be exact—while Moss steamrolled his way to 204. Not only are Ute fans being rewarded this season with an epic defensive run, they’re witness to arguably the greatest offensive player to ever suit up for the Utes. That’s right, we said it, by the end of the season, Moss will have likely taken over the honor from Alex Smith.

Saturday night, Moss added to his all-time records, scoring two touchdowns to overtake Del ‘Popcorn’ Rodgers and then surpass John White IV for the most games over 100 yards—all this just one week after breaking Eddie Johnson’s long-standing rushing yardage record.

If you’re a fan of the Utes in 2019, you’ve been spoiled with Moss’ efforts, the defense’s dominant run, and also the possibility of Huntley eventually breaking a few Utah quarterback marks. No matter where this season ultimately finishes, enjoy these guys before a majority of them are making a name for themselves on Sundays.