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SALT LAKE CITY — No. 11 Utah scored 17 unanswered points in the first quarter, and the rest was history as Utah went on to beat the visiting Idaho State Bengals 31-0 Saturday.
Utah (3-0) running back Zack Moss got things moving early for the Utes to put some distance on the FCS opponent. Utah took a 3-0 lead on their opening series before Moss escaped for a 39-yard run down the sideline and was downed at the 1-yard line. That set up Moss for a 1-yard rushing touchdown and Utah’s first of many in the game.
Moss didn’t stay long in the game, though, and subbed out with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter. He finished with 106 rushing yards and one touchdown in just over one quarter of play.
The senior from Florida moved into second all-time at Utah in career rushing yards, passing Tony Lindsay’s 2,995 yards dating back to 1977-80. Moss has 3,024 career rushing yards and needs 196 yards to eclipse the leader, Eddie Johnson.
“Barring injury, he's going to put this thing way out of reach for No. 1, and it would be tough for someone to come in and break that,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the game. “But that just tells you what Zack's meant to our program ever since he came in as a freshman. He's been very productive for us.
“We're going to lean on him pretty heavily the rest of the way.”
Senior quarterback Tyler Huntley kept things going for the offense on back-to-back drives to open up the passing game against the Bengals. Huntley found Bryan Thompson, who has been sidelined with injuries the last two seasons, with a perfectly-placed ball down field for an 82-yard touchdown strike. That was followed up by a 60-yard pass to a wide-open Brant Kuithe streaking for another score.
Huntley finished one half of play throwing for 200 yards and two touchdown passes on 8-of-12 passing. After the halftime break, Huntley orchestrated another touchdown drive that was capped off by a 23-yard passing touchdown to Thompson in the end zone to give the Utes their final score of the game.
Huntley finished the day throwing for 282 yards and three touchdowns on 15-of-19 passing, and a 255.7 quarterback rating.
“I think Andy Ludwig has done wonders with Tyler, and they seem to really be on the same wavelength and the same page,” Whittingham said about his starting quarterback. “They are very in sync. Tyler is like a sponge. When he says something, he pays attention, and he's playing his best football, I don't think there's any question about that.”
Huntley was replaced in the third quarter by senior Drew Lisk on the ensuing series, who finished the night throwing for 38 yards on 6-of-6 passing. Redshirt sophomore Jason Shelley later replaced Lisk in the fourth quarter.
Utah’s defense held the Bengals scoreless and managed another takeaway — an interception in the second half — despite missing a handful of starters that were held out of play to get healed up before conference play.
“That's everything,” linebacker Devin Lloyd said. “That's what you shoot for every game, so to hold them to zero points — if you don't score, you don't win.”
Utah will begin Pac-12 play on the road in Los Angeles, California, in a vital South Division game against USC. The Trojans come off a 30-27 overtime loss to BYU. The game will kickoff on Friday at 7 p.m. MDT and will be broadcast on FS1.
