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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah got its first win Friday following a four-game losing streak. And although it was a decisive win and a step in the right direction for the Utes, the program will be without safety Marquise Blair.
The junior college transfer went down with an apparent knee injury during Utah’s matchup against UCLA Friday. Blair needed the help of his teammates to get him off the field following a several-minute examination by the team’s training staff on the field. As a result, head coach Kyle Whittingham announced Monday that Blair will miss the rest of the season.
Whittingham did not elaborate on the actual injury sustained but said it was a “lower leg injury.” Due to the severity of the injury, Whittingham said that Blair will also be held out of spring practices as well.
“It’s not ideal, but he’ll rebound,” Whittingham said. “He’s a tough kid and he’ll get back on track.”
Blair transferred to Utah from Dodge City Community College and quickly emerged as a bruiser at free safety, earning the starting role after a few weeks into the season. Blair played in nine games this season and had one fumble recovery for an 18-yard touchdown. He added 48 total tackles, averaging 5.33 per game, and two pass breakups.
In Blair’s absence, Utah will start Corrion Ballard at free safety, with Philip Afia backing him up. Although Ballard and Afia have been utilized at safety throughout the season, the loss of Blair is a major blow to the Utah secondary.
The perfect offense
Utah executed its best offensive performance of the season Friday, scoring 48 points and converting either a field goal or touchdown in the red zone on five-of-five occasions. It’s the type of offensive performance that Whittingham said he “envisions how we’re supposed to look.”
Whittingham said sophomore quarterback Tyler Huntley, who threw for 234 yards and four touchdowns on 15-of-22 passing while adding 93 rushing yards Friday, has been a significant part of the offense finding a rhythm.
“You want to tailor-make your offense to your quarterback’s strengths. And if you've got a dual-threat like Tyler, then you want to make sure that you involve him in the run game and get him going,” Whittingham said. There's more than one way to make an offense go. If you have a great pocket guy that is just lights out throwing the football on, you gravitate in that direction. Tyler happens to be a guy that can do both.
Whittingham added that Huntley has been “a big part of that catalyst for the offense” and has executed the offense with “exactly the balance that we’re looking for.”
Establishing the run against improved defense
For much of the season, Utah has tried to establish a strong footing in its run game with little success. Against the Bruins Friday, the worst run defense team in the country, Utah rushed for 272 yards, with sophomore running back Zack Moss rushing for 153 yards and two touchdowns on 23 attempts.
And although Friday was significantly better than much of the season, the challenge will only get harder in the coming weeks as Utah faces the No. 35 and No. 6 rush defense teams in the country with Washington State and Washington.
“Well the degree of difficulty definitely gets higher; we understand that,” Whittingham said. “Yards are going to be tougher to come by. But it was just great to see us have a game where we ran the football like we need to. And so hopefully we can build on that, but again, Washington State's defenses is very stingy.”
Moss said the offensive line has continued to step up each week and that he’s noticed significant improvements since at least the Arizona game, which has helped the run game improve.
“They’ve been doing really good,” he said. “We’re able to see that now — them getting better and comfortable and just wanting to go out there and dominate.”
On Friday, the addition of Paul Toala to right guard and to center for a couple of snaps was a big upgrade to the offensive line. Prior to being inserted into the line, Utah’s offensive line struggled to contain blitzes, forcing Huntley to scramble more. But in the second quarter, Toala was inserted at right guard and the offensive line gave Huntley a nice pocket to work with and Moss the holes to run through.
“I thought Paul played very well,” Whittingham said. “That was the bright spot for the offensive line. … Paul came in and did a really good job.
Whittingham added that Toala’s performance was a “bright spot” in an area that “needs more production.”
NOTES: Placekicker Matt Gay was named the week’s Lou Groza Award “Star of the Week” following his performance Friday. Gay made two field goals — a 25-yard field goal and a 50-yard field goal — and was perfect in his points after touchdown.
