SALT LAKE CITY — In an ugly performance, Utah squeaked out a 17-6 win over the hosting Northern Illinois Huskies Saturday night to claim its 21st straight non-conference win.

Utah trailed 3-0 going into halftime, but managed to score a meager 10 points on offense after struggles all night to advance the ball. Utah’s defense, though, came up big at the end of the game to stave off a late Huskies push on a Chase Hansen pick six with under 3 minutes left to play.

Hansen finished the game with 12 total tackles, two sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery in the win. Fellow linebacker Cody Barton led the Utes in tackles with 13 and one tackle for loss. As a whole, the defense kept Utah in the game all night, holding the Huskies to 215 total yards of offense and only 6 points.

The following are a few takeaways from the win.

Offensive woes … are offensive

The offense put up 354 total yards and only had 10 points to show for it in the performance. Junior quarterback Tyler Huntley struggled for much of the night and appeared rattled by the Northern Illinois defense. Sure, the Huskies feature a threat in defensive end Sutton Smith, but Huntley regressed and didn’t give Utah much in the way of production.

Game stats will tell a somewhat different story. Huntley ended the game throwing for 286 yards on 20-of-31 passing (64.5 percent), but there was little meaningful production overall. The junior signal caller held onto the ball too long and hesitated to make the right reads, while sometimes overthrowing or underthrowing his receivers.

Additionally, Utah was 6-of-15 on third downs as they failed to extend drives. Huntley can take some solace in the fact that not all the problems were his own, but as the captain and leader of the offense, there needs to be more production if Utah has any chance of competing against Pac-12 opponents.

The offensive line, though, needs some serious help. Huntley was rattled a bit because he had little time to make plays happen as the offensive line gave up way too much pressure. Jackson Barton and Nick Ford/Orlando Umana on the left side had their hands full with Sutton, but struggled to contain any pressure. Jordan Agasiva killed several drives with his three holding calls, forcing Utah into several long situations.

With several starters on the offensive line, Utah needs to clean up its pass protection and give Huntley some time; however, Huntley needs to read the defense and get the ball off faster to give Utah a chance.

The only positive on the offense was Britain Covey, who finished the game with 129 receiving yards on eight catches. The sophomore slot receiver remains an extremely slippery threat that keeps defenders on their toes. His 48-yard catch set up Utah for a 40-yard Matt Gay field goal late in the game.

Special teams questions

This is not a subheading I thought I’d write this season, but the Utah special teams unit has struggled for the second-straight week. Again, Utah allowed for a blocked 43-yard field goal as the line was blown up and NIU had free reign at the ball. It’s the second block of the season, and an unusual position for Utah to be in with Gay as its kicker.

The senior placekicker, though, didn’t help his cause as he missed another 43-yard field goal attempt — this time wide left. All fall camp Gay showcased his ability to kick the deep ball, but hasn’t been quite the shining star Utah would have hoped. Chalk it up to a weird night, but Utah can’t afford to join the college football ranks with unreliable kickers.

And in another bizarre special teams play, Utah again gave up the ball after a Huskies punt touched a player and was recovered by Northern Illinois. Utah lucked out that Northern Illinois couldn’t come away with a touchdown, but the coverage team has to be aware of the ball and clean up its mistakes. Head coach Kyle Whittingham is responsible for the special teams unit, so they’ll be sure to hear about it throughout the week.

Play-calling was a mystery

I’ll keep it brief, but I’m baffled by Utah’s play-calling on offense. Running back Zack Moss ran the ball 16 times for a total of 66 yards, but he wasn’t the showcase of the run game. Huntley, who ran very little in week one, had 19 rushing attempts. While not all were designed Huntley plays, there were far too many for the situations Utah was in against the Huskies.

The offensive line gave just enough protection to give Moss some push in the run game, but he didn’t factor in much in the play-calling. Instead, Utah risked its quarterback with multiple Huntley runs.

One of the most baffling plays came in the second quarter when Utah was in a fourth-and-one situation. Utah decided a QB keeper in shotgun was the most appropriate play-call, despite Northern Illinois taking away much of the run game up the middle all night. The play failed and Utah turned over the ball on downs.

In fall camp, Utah had a play where a tight end worked as a hybrid fullback that allowed Moss to rush for an easy first down. While we can’t know if that type of play-call would have worked, it seems like a better option in the situation. Or at least put Huntley under center for the QB keeper.

Utah ultimately got the win and can prepare for Pac-12 play, but there are many areas where Utah can improve moving forward.

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