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SAN DIEGO — Leading the game at halftime 20-3, No. 17 Utah looked ready to claim another bowl victory in the Kyle Whittingham era.
But Utah managed four turnovers in the third quarter of the Holiday Bowl and No. 22 Northwestern scored 28 unanswered points to eventually claim a 31-20 victory Monday night.
It’s not the way Utah hoped to end an otherwise successful season, but as Whittingham said after the game, “All streaks have to end sometime.”
Here are three takeaways from Utah’s loss to the Wildcats.
A ‘landslide’ of turnovers
Momentum is the unquantifiable aspect to sports that is hard to factor into a game’s scheme. And for the first half, there’s no question that the momentum was all on Utah’s side.
But in an instant, Northwestern snatched the momentum away from Utah and the floodgates were opened, or as Whittingham called it, a “landslide.”
Quarterback Jason Shelley threw an interception on the first series of the second half and Northwestern responded with a 4-yard touchdown pass two plays later. But Utah responded and marched down the field and was 6 yards away from another touchdown before Shelley was sacked and stripped of the ball.
Northwestern’s Jared McGee scooped up the ball and ran it back for an 86-yard touchdown to cut Utah’s lead down to 3 points. And this is where the momentum shifted. Utah would go on to turn the ball over two more times and Northwestern would score two more touchdowns in a wild third quarter.
The rain coming down in San Diego didn’t help the cause for Utah, but ball security was a huge concern and Utah was on the losing side of the turnover battle.
Sadly for Utah, they were the more dominant team for much of the game and should have come away with the victory. But sloppy play doomed the Utes and they’ve got no one to blame but themselves.
Run game issues are real
The elephant in the room is that Utah has a serious problem in the run game. This is an area where losing their starting running back to injury has hurt Utah the most. Zack Moss was a physical specimen and had the ability to break through even the top-tier run defenses in the nation.
But behind Moss, Utah is left with few answers in the run game against good defenses. Armand Shyne has shown his ability throughout the year to make some plays and elude defenders, but he struggled to do it against teams like Washington and Northwestern — two teams ranked in the top 30 against the run.
The biggest area of frustration here came in the second quarter when Utah had to settle for two field goals when touchdowns were easily in the realm of possibility. In both instances, Utah was inside the red zone and failed to punch the ball in. On Utah’s second attempt, they had three chances to punch it in from Northwestern’s 1-yard line, but had to settle for a field goal.
While it’s not all doom and gloom, there should be real worry next season should Moss declare for the NFL draft in the offseason and forego his senior season. Utah needs to find a guy that has patience, that can read the line and what they’re giving him, that can punch through the gaps to create his own yardage.
Shyne still may be that guy, but it’s going to take a lot of work in the offseason for that to become a reality. And it should be a major focus coming into the 2019 season for Utah.
Bowl loss clouds a successful season
This one isn’t directly tied to the game, but it’s an important factor to Utah’s overall success. The bowl loss stings, but Utah has made tremendous strides and is close to putting together a team that can consistently challenge the best of the best in college football. No, this isn’t some moral victory talk, it’s the reality of Utah football and its state in the Pac-12.
It’s only Utah’s eighth season in the Pac-12, but they have come from a Group of Five setting to establish a dominant program inside the Pac-12 — not an easy task. Colorado didn’t have to go through that big of a transition and they haven’t been able to handle the move as well as Utah and are years away from where Utah is.
Creating a top-tier program takes work. And while Utah may have missed out on a Pac-12 Championship victory and Rose Bowl appearance, it’s a building block to more success. Even a loss in the Holiday Bowl should act as a building block and not overshadow all the good that Utah has accomplished this season.
In fact, it’s Utah’s only bowl loss in the Pac-12 era and the game was easily theirs for the taking until they coughed up the ball six times. Utah is still in a great position with a strong 2019 season on the outlook.
