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SALT LAKE CITY— It seemed at times as if there was as much yellow fabric on the field as there was red fabric in the stands at Rice-Eccles Stadium Thursday night.
Thirteen penalties for 122 yards — no, that wasn't the total for the game. That was just penalties committed by the Utes. The Trojans added another 14 for 100 yards. Mix that in with four turnovers, and you have the ingredients of a rather sloppy contest.
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"The penalties are definitely the biggest negative," senior wide receiver DeVonte Christopher said after the game. "There were a few big plays that I can remember that were called back. Just situational football that we need to get better at."
Some of these penalties and turnovers proved costly for both teams, especially Utah. While they benefitted from two bad snaps in the opening minutes of the game, resulting in fumbles that led to 14 Utah points, they also gave up 14 points on turnovers — a Dallin Rogers fumble and a Jon Hays pick-6.
The Utes also had third-down conversions called back due to penalties, and let's not forget about that dazzling trick play they executed late in the first half:
Trailing 24-21 on a second down and 10, Christopher took a direct snap and rolled right before pitching the ball to sophomore receiver Dres Anderson. Anderson took the reverse back toward the east stands, avoiding an oncoming rusher, before tossing the rock back to Hays — who had lined up as a wide receiver — who subsequently threw a spot-on 44-yard strike to sophomore receiver Kenneth Scott in the end zone.
Touchdown! Utes go ahead 27-24. Right?
Not so fast. Out comes the yellow fabric: Bring the ball back. A penalty from an ineligible man downfield wipes away seven-potential points from the board. Utah ends up settling for a field goal, which gets blocked. Half-time score remains 24-21.
By my count, that's 21 points either given away or taken off the board due to sloppy play, in a game that concluded with a 10-point differential. And when you're playing a team like USC, you can't do things that give away points or take your own points off the board. Most of the time, you're going to need the Trojans to slip up a couple of times in order to beat them, like they did Thursday night. Unfortunately for the Utes, the former happened for them as well.
Now, while Utah looked a lot better Thursday night than they did on Sept. 22 at Arizona State, they still have a lot to improve. Especially considering the fact that the Utes have a two-game road trip coming up, which includes visits to No. 25 UCLA and No. 14 Oregon State.
