SALT LAKE CITY — In a game intended to be a warm-up ahead of Pac-12 play, the University of Utah started out slow before eventually rolling to a win over visiting San Jose State Spartans.

Utah amassed 501 yards of offense on the night in a pass-heavy attack to beat the Spartans 54-16. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Huntley threw for 341 yards and four touchdowns on 30-of-43 passing. He added 53 yards on the ground in another stellar performance for the young quarterback.

The first quarter started out with three consecutive field goal attempts from Matt Gay, including a made 56-yard field goal, before Utah scored its first touchdown of the night on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Huntley to receiver Darren Carrington. The touchdown was nearly picked off by a San Jose State defender, but Carrington managed to beat out the defender to get the score.

Carrington would finish the game with three touchdowns and 153 receiving yards on nine catches. He’s the first receiver since former Utah receiver Dres Anderson in 2013 to record three consecutive games over 100 yards.

The following are three takeaways from Utah’s victory over the Spartans.

The offense is a passing team now?

Since joining the Pac-12 — and before — Utah has traditionally been a run-heavy offense, with backs like Joe Williams, Devontae Booker and John White IV eating up opposing defenses. But with the emergence of Huntley at quarterback, Utah has transitioned to an offense more than capable of putting up big numbers in the passing game.

It’s an offense that resembles a lot of Utah’s Pac-12 counterparts who put up gaudy numbers in pass-heavy offenses. In the first three games of the season, admittedly against lesser opponents, Utah has managed to consistently put up high numbers in the passing game.

Huntley threw for 341 yards and four touchdowns — career highs for the sophomore — and has emerged as a difficult quarterback to play against. Carrington said Huntley has not quite reached his potential but felt as though he has the capability to be like his former quarterback Marcus Mariota at Oregon — a Heisman Trophy-winning QB that took the Ducks to a National Championship game.

Although Huntley is not quite there, it’s an encouraging sign for the offense that he has put up back-to-back 300-yard passing performances and is completing his passes at a high rate. Against San Jose State, Huntley finished the game completing 70 percent of his passes. His completion average for the season is 72.1 percent, which would rank him in the Top 20 nationally.

Utah trades penalties for turnovers

Coming into the game, Utah was averaging 11 penalties a game, which were mostly on the offensive side of the ball. The focus coming into the week was on cleaning the penalties up and keeping the offense on the field with sustained drives. Utah still managed six penalties on the night, but cutting their average in half is a good sign.

Most of the penalties Saturday were not drive killers, as in weeks past, and managed to be relatively minor in the totality of the game. Additionally, Utah managed several drives without a penalty, leaving the offense plenty to work with as they continued to put points on the board.

And although the focus on penalties resulted in a positive for Utah, it was the turnovers that kept Utah from really taking control of the game. Utah had three total turnovers on the night, and all three could have been more impactful against a better opponent. In the first quarter, Huntley fumbled the ball on San Jose State’s 15-yard line, leaving points on the board early for the Utes.

The final two came in the second quarter when Sampson Nacua fumbled the ball on San Jose State’s 4-yard line, resulting in a touchback, and then Huntley threw an interception that ultimately led to a San Jose State touchdown two plays later — a 47-yard touchdown pass.

Special teams once again dominates

Utah has been known over the years for its talented kickers, and Saturday’s showing was no different. Placekicker Matt Gay continues to be perfect on the season, making four field goals in Utah’s win. His long of 56 yards is the second longest in school history, falling just short of the 59-yard benchmark set in 1971 by Marv Bateman.

Head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game that Gay has made field goals from 60 yards in practice, but felt like he was at the “tip of his range” Saturday. Gay has emerged as a surprising talent for Utah, who was expected to struggle following the departure of Andy Phillips.

Gay finished the night with made field goals from distances of 20, 21, 50 and 56 yards. At least Utah has a kicker to turn to in difficult end-of-game situations should they need to.

As if Wishnowsky needs more praise for his talent, his ability to make plays was once again showcased Saturday. After a low snap, Wishnowsky took off to try to pick up the first down, but ultimately realized he’d be short, so he improvised and kicked it with his left foot. Even his improvised kicks are good. And as we saw last week, he could be called on to play defense at least some of the time to stop players from advancing the ball.

And add Boobie Hobbs to the list of players emerging on special teams, who had one of his best return games of his career. Hobbs finished with 95 total yards on three punt returns, averaging 32 yards per return. His ability to give Utah better field position was a game changer for the offense.

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