Takeaways: Utah vs. Colorado
The University of Utah continued their special season on Saturday night with a 45-15 thumping of the Colorado Buffaloes, during the ninth installment of “The Rumble in the Rockies.” In what was once billed as a new Pac-12 rivalry, it’s still anything but that, as the Utes steamrolled Mel Tucker’s squad on their way to back to back Pac-12 South championship.
Here are the takeaways from the party at Rice-Eccles:
The Utes program has adjusted well to the Pac-12 move
It’s the Utes ninth season, so why are we talking about this? It’s because we could easily say, “Back to back Pac-12 South champs,” but the Utes have claim to three Pac-12 South titles in nine years. Sure they lost the tiebreaker to USC in 2015, but the point is, Utah has adjusted extremely well as a program.
With Utah graduating 19 seniors—we’ll be doing a separate senior takeaways piece on those guys—one may think that Utah will need to build up again, but these guys simply reload and are a threat nearly every year and that should be expected in 2020. They’re not like their forced rival Colorado, who has provided the Pac-12 little value other than one surprising year, after entering the league at the same time as Utah—and from an easier lateral move away from the Big 12.
Thankfully for the Utes the slow start didn’t last long
Raise your hand if you thought the Utes would come out a little slow in this game… If you’re not raising your hand, you have more confidence than most fans and that’s nothing against this team.
The Utes looked to clinch the Pac-12 South for the second year in a row in freezing conditions. They were going up against a team with nothing to lose that had just defeated a talented Washington Huskies squad. The Buffaloes knew their only chance at victory was a strong start and they came close to accomplishing that in the first quarter.
Colorado held Utah scoreless in the first quarter, in what was their toughest looking start arguably on the year. The Utes punted on three straight possessions, and were unable to capitalize on a muffed punt return by Colorado. They went scoreless the first 15 minutes, but as soon as the second quarter hit, they were off to the races with a quick 17 points. From there, Colorado didn’t score again until the fourth quarter, but the game was already decided and the celebration had basically already begun,as the Utes had scored 31 straight points.
With the steady leadership of the captains, as well as their coaching staff, these guys never seem to panic and small deficits never seem to phase them. Once they got the pregame senior day celebration out of their system and got locked back in, there was little that Colorado could do.
Kuithe might currently be the most dangerous weapon among CFP hopefuls
Brant Kuithe has scored six touchdowns in the last three games, that’s a pretty remarkable feat for a tight end. The fact that three of those came on the ground is something that any opposing coach is going to lose sleep over. Tyler Huntley said it best in the press conference when he was asked if he was surprised at Kuithe’s emergence. Huntley told the room no, they just needed to find ways to get him the ball.
Kuithe carries with him a swagger that is refreshing to see. He knows he’s a difficult matchup for any opponent and he’s staying in the moment, locked in but exuding a type of confidence that should scare teams going forward. Ever since he arrived on campus, he’s had a knack for getting open. Now that Ludwig has devised sweeps with him in the running game, he’s become one of the most electrifying threats in college football.
With Oregon on a short week, what will the brain of Andy Ludwig design next? Stay tuned.
With it being of high importance, Utah is beating the large point spreads
With Oregon not holding their end of the bargain, Utah has just had to control what they can control. One way of doing that, is not just by beating their opponents, but by beating the large point spreads for their games. Why is that important? Style points. However, it’s also important because there will be some that want to argue about Utah’s strength of schedule. That argument will especially grow louder with both Oklahoma and Baylor squaring off in the Big 12 Championship Game, as both are just behind Utah in the CFP rankings.
The CFP committee looks at things thoroughly. They see that Oklahoma is winning, but just barely and their game last night was close up until nearly the end of the third quarter. The Utes aren’t just winning, they’re dominating and by more than the betting masses expect them to.
The fourth spot in the CFP is there for the taking as Georgia looks shaky and vulnerable—ignore their 52-7 score against an atrocious Georgia Tech team. The Bulldogs will be down their top two receivers, likely their running back, and also have some key injuries on defense. Even if their offense was fully healthy, that unit just doesn’t strike fear in P5 defenses.
We continue to say this and it continues to hold true: JUST KEEP WINNING.