Utah Defeats USC and Overcomes Adversity
After two weeks of unbearable adversity, the University of Utah rose to the occasion on Saturday, defeating the USC Trojans 42-16. No one knew how the team would respond after the death of teammate Aaron Lowe, the second in to strike the program in nine months. However, led by quarterback Cam Rising, the Utes lived up to their new slogan and got 22% better following their BYE week.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham could see the shift coming throughout the BYE week.
"I had a feeling through the week of practice this week. Last week we had a bye. We had some practices and it was very low key and you could see that we were struggling,” said Whittingham. “Then they got back on the field this week. Aaron Lowe's mom came and talked to the team last week and said hey, you guys got to carry on, you got a season to play. And so this week's practices were very good. I had an inclination going into the game that they would play well and they exceeded even what I was expecting."
The Utah offense had an outstanding performance at USC, led by Rising who went 22-28 passing for 306 yards and three touchdown passes. He also added six carries for 27 yards on the ground and a bruising score in which he refused to go down.
"[Cam] is an alpha dog. He's a leader in every sense of the word. He does command the room and he's the the leader of the offense,” said Whittingham. “Between him and Brit Covey, those were two captains elected on offense by their peers. He is exactly what you want in the quarterback when you talk about the 'it' factor and the field general that you want leading the troops."
Rising distributed the ball to nine different players with Devaughn Vele, Dalton Kincaid and Money Parks finding paydirt.
The two touchdown sequences at the end of the first half and start of the second helped Utah run away with the victory, started because of a play mix-up by Rising. Initially to be a run, Rising read flea-flicker on 4th and 1, the coaches then decided to just go with it. It paid off as he found Vele for the 37 yard score with 10 seconds left.
As the second half opened, Utah running back Tavion Thomas re-emerged after early season fumbling issues. He scored on a 43-yard run with 12:41 left in the third quarter and then rumbled and hammered his way to 16 carries for 113 yards.
“Tavion is a talent. We all know that. He's had a little bit of a struggle with ball security earlier in the season,” said Whittingham. “He's worked hard on it throughout the bye week and in this past practice week extensively. We put him in there and his ball security was great. He didn't seem to be loose with the football, so we kept feeding it to him, and he ended up with over 100 yards. Hopefully he's got some traction now and he can pick up where he left off next week."
Defensively Mika Tafua led the way with two sacks and freshman Kamo’i Latu led the team with 10 tackles in his first but of extended action. USC quarterback Kedon Slovis found success against Utah through the air, going 33-53 for 401 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw an interception to Utah’s Vonte Davis.
"We were a little bit too soft in the secondary. We gave up a few too many yards, but we seemed to keep things in front of us,” said Whittingham. “It wasn't a ton of big plays. Some chunk plays up the field, but nothing that was over the top of us. Clark is just a true freshman, and that Drake London kid I think is maybe the best receiver in the country, so it's a big challenge. Clark drew that coverage most of the night with no help, we didn't do anything really special, other than say, 'Clark, match up with him.' Drake still had a heck of a game, but we had other good things to counteract that."
London finished the night with 16 receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown.
Now sitting at 3-2 overall and 2-0 in Pac-12 play, the Utes head home next week to face the 5-1 Arizona State Sun Devils, who are currently ranked no. 22 in the AP Poll.
How the Utes respond the rest of the season is the big question, but for one night they were beginning to look like the team everyone expected them to be. They’ll now move forward by honoring their fallen teammates and getting 22% better individually each day. By doing that, positive results will fall into place.