SALT LAKE CITY — No. 10 Washington rolled into town and spoiled Utah’s hopes of an upset Saturday in a 21-7 win.

Coming off a lackluster performance the week before, Utah hoped to rebound and get more production out of its offense. But three turnovers and a lack of consistency doomed the Utes in the first week of conference play. Junior quarterback Tyler Huntley threw for 138 yards on 20-of-38 (52.6 percent) passing in the loss.

Washington quarterback Jake Browning threw for 155 yards and one touchdown on 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) passing, and had a 1-yard rushing touchdown to keep the Utes at bay. Running back Myles Gaskin added another touchdown for the Huskies on a 38-yard rushing play on Washington’s first series of the game. Gaskin would finish the game with 143 rushing yards on 30 carries (4.8 yards per carry).

Utah enters the bye week with a 2-1 record. The Utes resume play on Sept. 29 when they travel to Pullman, Washington to take on the Washington State Cougars. The following are three takeaways from Utah’s loss.

And the winner for most dropped passes goes to …

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: dropped passes. Utah’s offense will only go as far as its receivers will let them, and right now it’s not very far. Despite Washington holding a 14-point margin over the Utes for much of the second half, the Huskies repeatedly allowed the Utah offense back into the game. The problem was, the receivers couldn’t gather a ball to save their life.

The most egregious came on a fourth-and-one play on Washington’s 2-yard line. Huntley rolled out on the bootleg pass to Connor Haller for the guaranteed touchdown. But Huntley put a little zip on the ball and Haller already had the touchdown playing over in his head as he failed to gather the ball. Turnover on downs.

In total, Utah’s receivers had at least 11 drops. ELEVEN! While some can be attributed to the defense making plays to the ball and breaking up the passes and Huntley overthrowing the ball in a few instances, at least six passes were dropped solely by the receiver.

Until Utah’s receivers can corral the ball, Utah is doomed to be a mediocre, at best, offense. Huntley can throw for all the yards he wants and Britain Covey can work his magic, but it’s meaningless in the end if Utah can’t find itself in the end zone. And at this point, unless something drastic happens in the bye week, there’s little hope of change.

Turnovers also doomed Utah

Sure, the offense wasn’t great at extending plays and getting to the end zone, but there was still a realistic shot for Utah to come away with a win. Except the offense couldn’t hold onto the ball even when its receivers caught a pass. On two key drives in the third quarter, Covey and Bronson Boyd caught passes but ended up coughing up the ball.

The first fumble, a 10-yard pickup by Covey before being stripped of the ball, gave Washington the ball at Utah’s 44-yard line. The Huskies would go on to score their final touchdown of the night with 3:44 left in the third quarter. Given the fight Covey gave all night, it’s hard to completely blame him for one play, but it did result in points for the other team.

Boyd’s fumble, although not as damaging point wise, was just another way for the offense to stall after significant progress. Utah started the drive on their own 25-yard line and marched down to Washington’s 33-yard line before turning the ball over.

Utah’s first turnover came when Huntley threw the ball deep down field late in the second quarter in hopes of getting a score before the half. But Washington’s Jordan Miller read the play well and picked off Huntley, ending any chance at a score. The interception was rather meaningless considering the half was over on the next play, but Utah could have set itself up for a field goal attempt to at least make it a 4-point game.

Instead, nothing but an ill-conceived pass to kill the drive.

But there’s a defense

Let’s end on a positive note — not that many are looking for positives from Saturday’s loss. It’s a shame Utah’s defense doesn’t have a more efficient offense. The defense continues to put in stellar performances to lock down potent offenses.

Once the defense settled in and made some slight adjustments early in the game, Washington quarterback Jake Browning struggled to get what he wanted. Pressure was added and Browning looked rushed for most of the game.

Late in the second quarter, Washington marched down to the Utah 16-yard line and another score seemed imminent. But Utah dialed up the pressure and forced Browning back to the 45-yard line and saved another touchdown. It was hands down the most impressive performance of the night.

Browning later threw an ill-conceived pass into the hands of defensive tackle Pita Tonga, who nearly ran it back for a touchdown before fumbling the ball out on the 11-yard line in the fourth quarter. Tonga is not used to scoring touchdowns, so you can’t blame him too much. The near pick six, though, would have made it a 7-point game and could have potentially given Utah a little more momentum to closeout the game. Maybe.

Still, the defense held Washington to a respectable 327 total yards of offense. Most importantly, Washington’s talented receivers couldn’t get much separation from Utah’s defensive backs. Unfortunately for the defense, their offense couldn’t match their consistency.

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