SALT LAKE CITY — By dismissing Stanford last week in Palo Alto, Utah gave the Pac-12 football community and its fan base a small look at what it could be when everything was put together.

The question many wanted to see was whether Utah could do it in back-to-back weeks? Friday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Utah fans got yet another glimpse into just how good the Utes can be when they put it all together. Utah's 42-10 demolition of Arizona served as notice that Utah is right back in the Pac-12 South race.

Utah set the tone for the evening on the game's opening drive, when they methodically marched 75 yards in 15 plays, a mix of seven runs and eight passes, which culminated in a Tyler Huntley to Samson Nacua 8-yard touchdown pass. That drive would be the first of four first-half scoring drives that resulted in touchdowns for the Utes.

For a second-straight week, offensive coordinator Troy Taylor had the game plan perfectly matched to the strengths of the personnel and his quarterback. The Utes totalled 495 yards of offense, which is the sixth highest total for Utah in 67 Pac-12 games. Utah went for 230 yards rushing and 265 yards passing against an Arizona defense that had no real chance to slow the Utes down.

The win moves Utah to 4-2, 2-2. It also sends a clear message to the rest of the conference that this Utah team has finally arrived and will be a factor in the race to the Pac-12 South title.

Tyler Huntley

When the Utah offense was attempting to find its identity in the first three weeks of the season, nobody took more criticism — from the media or fans — for the struggles than Huntley. It isn't unusual most of the time as the QB gets too much credit for a team's success and too much blame for its struggles. Huntley, as well as his teammates, took that criticism to heart and used it as motivation. The last two weeks you've seen the results of that.

One thing that both Huntley and the iffense lacked in the first three weeks of the season (that was very apparent in fall camp) was some swagger. It's hard to define exactly what swagger is, but you know it when you see it. Huntley and the offense now appear to have their swagger back.

Huntley’s numbers reflect a complete football game and exactly what Utah needs from its junior field general moving forward. Huntley went 14-of-19 for 201 yards, two touchdowns and an interception through the air. He rushed for 64 yards and a touchdown, and added a 58-yard touchdown reception from Britain Covey on a "Philly Special" like play to complete the touchdown hat trick.

Huntley's versatility, good decision making and leadership will be the key over the next month to Utah making a run at the Pac-12 South title.

Game balls

Offense - Tyler Huntley, for the reasons mentioned above. But even more than the numbers, Huntley's confidence and leadership is infectioius with his offensive teammates and that has shown the last two weeks.

Defense - Maxs Tupai was one of the most heralded recruits in recent Utah football history. In his third year with the program, the light switch appears to have been flipped on. For a second-straight week, Tupai made a real impact on the game. His final numbers show nine tackles and a pass break up, but his impact was much more than that. He was a constant irratant on the Arizona QB's. When Utah gets Mika Tafua back healthy, they will have three very impactful pass rushers coming off the end.

Special Team - Mitch Wishnowsky just simply continues to Wishnowsky things. His punting was spot on Friday night, averaging 48.2 yards per attempt, including a 55 yarder. Wishnowsky also had Utah's longest rush of the night, 28 yards on a fake punt in the fourth quarter.

Utah by the Numbers

495 yards of total offense for Utah was their sixth best offensive game in the Pac-12 era. Utah has just four 500+ offensive yardage games in 67 Pac-12 games.

Friday night was the eighth time in 67 Pac-12 games that Utah rushed for more than 200 yards and passed for more than 200 yards, with 230 rushing and 265 passing. Utah is 6-2 in those eight games. Their only losses coming in 2013 against Oregon State and 2016 against Oregon.

For the second time in the Kyle Whittingham era, Utah had a player run, catch and pass for a touchdown. Huntley threw for two touchdown passes, ran for a touchdown and caught a 58-yard touchdown pass from Covey. Last year in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum against USC, Troy Williams caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Demari Simpkins, ran a touchdown in from 1 yard out, and threw a 33-yard touchdown to Simpkins.

Offensive and scoring efficency has jumped the last two weeks for the Utes. In their first four games, Utah scored on 27 percent of their possessions. In the last two games, Utah scored on 58 percent of their possessions.

Up Next

Utah gets an extra day of rest and will turn their attention to the USC Trojans, who visit Rice-Eccles Stadium next Saturday night. Utah has beaten USC the last two times they met in Salt Lake City.

USC hosts Colorado in a big game in LA on Saturday night. The Pac-12 South appears to be a three-team race with Utah, USC and Colorado as the teams to beat. Utah faces the toughest scheduling road, while USC has what appears to be the easiest.

You can catch my next broadcast next Saturday night at 6pm with Scott Mitchell and Tom Hackett on ESPN 700.

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