Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — It was two weeks ago where a small rumbling of Utah fans wanted a change at quarterback.
After all, what could it hurt when the prospects of losing the remaining games seemed imminent given the perceived — and oftentimes real — ineptitude of the offense. Sure, the defense was going to keep Utah in games — that’s the way it’s always been — but without a surefire bet at quarterback, at least that was the thought for some, Utah was due for a change.
But the reality is not always a clear picture, particularly in a game where blame can be assigned to one of many factors or players. Receivers took much of the blame in the early weeks for their multitude of dropped passes, while coaches received blame for play-calling errors in both Washington outings.
Still, quarterback Tyler Huntley was seemingly on the chopping block for a contingency of fans looking for instant success.
But then something changed with the offense — an awakening of sorts. Everything clicked and Huntley and his receivers became the heroes of a heralded offensive unit that ESPN commentators labeled “potent” ahead of a blowout win over Arizona Friday — a phrase uncommon to a Utah Pac-12 offense.
Against the Wildcats, Huntley became the hottest ticket in town as he threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns on 14-of-19 passing, rushed for 64 yards and had a reception for a 58-yard touchdown on a trick play throw from receiver Britain Covey.
That stat line is unheralded of sorts, as Huntley becomes the first player in college football since at least 2000 to throw for over 200 yards, rush for more than 50 yards and finish with over 50 receiving yards in a single game, according to sports-reference.com.
His game-winning performance was the second-consecutive game where he completed more than 70 percent of his passes — against the Cardinals, he completed an impressive 81 percent of his passes and led his team to back-to-back 40-point scores. It was enough to rank Huntley the best Pac-12 quarterback over the weekend in passing grades, calculated by Pro Football Focus.
The disjointed season for the then-sophomore kept him from building on his early momentum as he was forced to resume play with an injured shoulder and little time to get up to speed. But for his part, he still put up solid numbers on the season: 2,411 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, completing 63.8 percent of passes and adding 537 rushing yards.
Midway through his junior season, Huntley is on pace to surpass those numbers, particularly if the offense continues to produce the same results as the last two weeks. Most importantly, Utah has a quarterback and offensive scheme that it can pair with a stout defense and always impressive special-teams unit.
And to have success, Utah doesn’t need Huntley to throw for gaudy numbers, as somewhere around 20 passes for about 200 passing yards seems to be the right balance. But that passing effort relies on the rushing attack of Zack Moss, Armand Shyne and a little bit of Huntley sprinkled in.
As the opposing defenses have relaxed on the passing game to cover a powerful rushing attack, Huntley has found the space he needs to get his always available short gains and several deep-threat opportunities.
The result has been an improved average depth of target for receivers — the point at which receivers are targeted on the field. In the early part of the season, Huntley was targeting receivers around 5-6 yards off the line of scrimmage. In his last two performances, that number has been over 7 yards. While not a seemingly huge increase, it’s a sign of the passing game opening up downfield and Utah obtaining its necessary yardage on each down.
It’s only a small sample size, but the early results are favorable for Utah and an emerging Huntley. With continued production similar to the Stanford and Arizona games, Utah is well on its way to claiming its first-ever South division title.
