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SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah played its most complete game of the season Saturday night against Cal, putting together a 49-27 romp en route to its first Pac-12 victory. Offense, defense, and special teams each scored touchdowns as the Utes rallied to save their season and keep their bowl hopes alive.
The offense was a breath of fresh air after the stagnant, excruciating mistake-fest fans have witnessed for much of the season. Travis Wilson was solid all night, completing 66 percent of his 24 throws for 156 yards. He rushed for one touchdown and repeatedly made big plays on third downs, leading to an 8-for-13 third down conversion efficiency — Utah's highest rate of the season.
"It was good to see our offense come out and be productive," Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. "That's winning football, when you're up to 60 percent [third down conversion rate]. That's exceptional."
Wilson's one interception came when receiver Luke Matthews ran the wrong route.
"We took care of the ball for the most part," Whittingham said. "We had the one interception, it was an incorrect route that was run. That was why it looked so off."
"It was just a miscommunication between myself and the receiver," Wilson said. "So we'll have to fix it."
Matthews later helped Wilson out on a sideline pattern, catching Wilson's career-long 41-yard pass and keeping his feet in bounds. Matthews was originally ruled out of bounds, but the call was overturned after a video review.
The Utah ground game finally got going, as John White IV and Kelvin York combined for 156 of the team's 188 rushing yards, as well as three touchdowns. The offensive line did a commendable job paving the way for the run game over the course of the contest.
"I was just driving legs and making sure I got that extra yard," White said. "[York] runs hard. We're like thunder and lightning."
On defense, Utah managed to do what it had struggled to do all year create turnovers. The Utes took the ball away three times— and better yet, they were able to turn those takeaways into 21 points. Cornerback Reggie Topps nabbed a fumble and scampered into the end zone for a score, while Ryan Lacy's interception led to Wilson's touchdown run. Later, Star Lotulelei recovered a fumble which led to one of White's touchdowns.
"The defense did a nice job creating takeaways and put our offense in some short-field situations, which needed to happen," Whittingham said.
The Ute defense gave up yardage early on, but didn't break after bending. It only yielded six points over the first 45 minutes of the game, with Cal's first touchdown coming on the final play of the third quarter.
"We played well overall, but could have played better," defensive lineman Joe Kruger said. "I could have made a couple more plays, but I'm proud of our defense."
Whittingham applauded the defensive effort, but was dissatisfied with how his defense closed out the game, giving up two more touchdowns during the fourth quarter.
"The defense played well for three and a half quarters," he said. "We got soft there at the end, but I'm very proud of the players and coaches."
And that brings us to the special teams— ah yes, special teams, the often forgotten step child in the realm of football elements.
The Utes' special teams were flawless Saturday night, and were arguably the reason they won going away in front of the blackout crowd.
The punting team was spot on. Tom Hackett and Sean Sellwood combined to kick four punts, with all four being downed inside the 20— two inside the 5-yard line. The Bears were backed up all night long, and the resulting field position shifts were exactly what Utah's previously sluggish offense needed to get its spark going.
"It's hard to get out of there," Cal head coach Jeff Tedford said of his Bears being backed up in their own territory. "You don't want to take too many chances backed up deep. But their punter did a nice job of knocking it down in there and they covered it well. It was good execution by their punt team."
Yes, and there were also those two 100-yard runbacks by Reggie Dunn.
Dunn made history by taking two kicks to the house, setting school records for the most kicks returned for touchdowns in a game (2), most 100-yard kick returns in a game (2), and most career kickoff returns for touchdowns (3 — his first occurring in 2010 at Iowa State). He also set both an NCAA record and a school record for highest kickoff return average in a game, with three returns for 74 yards per return.
"It felt really good," Dunn said. "It sparked the team and the crowd. A lot of credit goes to the special teams coordinator and the kickoff return unit."
These big plays on special teams not only put the opponent in difficult positions, but they also created a spark that rallied the team and the crowd.
Though the odds are still stacked against them, the Utes' bowl hopes are remain very much alive. They will need to build on this momentum, while playing balanced football in each phase of the game. If the Utes can continue to put together complete games like they did against Cal, they will find themselves bowling come December.
"It's what we need, we need a complete team effort," Whittingham said. "We still have a lot of things that need to get better, so we're just taking it one game at a time."
