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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s perfect season came to an end Saturday as the Stanford Cardinal grounded out a low-scoring 23-20 win.
Utah rallied late in the fourth quarter on a drive that featured two targeting penalties against Stanford and an 18-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Troy Williams to Darren Carrington. But Utah’s onside kick effort with less than a minute to play was foiled and the Cardinal escaped with a win.
The following are three points to take away from the game.
Troy Williams as a starter
Troy Williams is familiar with the starting quarterback role. In fact, he led Utah to nine wins last season and kept Utah competitive in the Pac-12 South division race late into the season. But on Saturday, Williams struggled to get the offense going and only managed 20 points. Ultimately, the offense looked disjointed and lacked a consistent rhythm.
Stanford’s defense deserves credit for much of the disruption of Utah’s offense, but Williams had an off night, particularly late in the game when he threw two ill-advised interceptions that ultimately kept Utah from having a chance to win the game. The senior quarterback panicked, threw two balls into bad coverage and sunk Utah’s chances with the game on the line.
Williams struggled to read the defense for much of the game and had a hard time finding open spaces to hit his best receivers. He did eventually find Darren Carrington late in the game for a total of 99 receiving yards, but it was too little too late. Williams finished the game throwing for 238 yards and one touchdown on 20-of-39 passing (51.3 percent), but a lot of that failed to get the Utes in the end zone.
And in the red zone, Williams once again — dating back to last season — struggled to get a touchdown while close to the end zone. Twice, Utah was inside the 5-yard line and had to settle for a field goal after Williams took a sack. Not all the offensive woes should be blamed on Williams, but a significant portion of the disjointed effort falls on the shoulders of the quarterback.
Williams took the loss harder than most, as would be expected, and reiterated that he needs to continue to “get better — bottom line.” Should Williams be the starter going into the USC game, it will take a concerted effort to shake off the loss and lead Utah’s offense, but head coach Kyle Whittingham is not ruling out a change at the position should Tyler Huntley not be ready to play.
“No positions are sewn up,” he said following the loss. “You need to compete and meet certain expectations or we will make a change.”
Defense effort in containing Bryce Love
Utah’s defense was not perfect, but had a solid night, particularly against Heisman Trophy candidate Bryce Love. Coming into the game, Love averaged 217.6 yards per game and 11.1 yards per rushing attempt. It was job No. 1 for the Utes to contain Love and for the most part they did.
Utah held love to 152 rushing yards and one touchdown on 20 attempts, averaging his lowest of the season of 7.6 yards per attempt. Had it not been for a 68-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, Utah would have likely held Love to under 100 yards rushing. All-in-all, the defense deserves credit for its performance against a slippery opponent. However, Whittingham said the team should not take any solace in holding Love under his averages.
The defense did its job containing the run for much of the night, but it was the effort on third down that was significantly lacking and was an area that kept Stanford into its drives. Although Stanford was only 4-of-13 on third-down conversions, it was the third-and-long situations that hurt Utah the most. Focusing in on the run, Utah allowed for too much space in the secondary and gave plenty of space and opportunities for either quarterback Keller Chryst or K.J. Costello to complete a pass to extend the drive.
Special teams needs some help
It’s time to make some changes on special teams, particularly with the long snapper. Snaps are coming in low with Alex Whittingham snapping the ball and it caused for significant problems all night. Stanford managed to get a field goal after punter Mitch Wishnowsky was forced to jump on the ball deep within Utah’s territory after a low snap — ultimately the difference in the game.
Wishnowsky was forced to dodge tons of pressure all night with poor snaps, making the field positioning battle difficult for Utah to win. Additionally, a botched hold on a PAT rounded out a rough night on special teams. Fortunately for Utah, placekicker Matt Gay managed to make the PAT, but certainly in unusual fashion.
Utah has great specialists who are making the most out of the opportunities they’re given, but there needs to be some consistency to give them the best chances possible.
