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SALT LAKE CITY — Senior quarterback Charlie Brewer wasn't cutting it.
The Baylor transfer who was named Utah's starting quarterback ahead of the 2021 season was just 14-of-26 passing for 104 yards through nearly three quarters of play on the road against San Diego State and not getting Utah into scoring position.
On Utah's first series out of the halftime break, Brewer threw a costly and telegraphed pass that was intercepted in Utah territory and returned to the 7-yard line. One play later, the Aztecs found pay dirt to give the home team a 24-10 lead on a bizarre night for a Utah team still reeling from a loss to in-state rival BYU the week prior.
Still, the coaching staff wasn't ready to pull the plug on Brewer just yet.
On the next series, Brewer got Utah's offense to midfield, but the team had to settle for another punt.
Brewer's night was done.
With 5:24 left in the third quarter, Utah's 2020 starter before he injured his shoulder and needed season-ending surgery, entered the game as the team's signal caller. As Cam Rising trotted out onto the field, the demeanor of the team changed. Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham called it a "spark" at the time and has since re-emphasized that a year later.
Suddenly, there was optimism that Utah could rally and leave Carson, California, with a win.
And though the team responded positively to Rising entering the game after a sluggish and uninspired night on offense, it wasn't until there was 6:33 left in the fourth quarter that Rising finally orchestrated a 10-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard pass to Britain Covey for a touchdown.
It was enough — the spark Utah needed.
On Utah's next series, Rising had finally hit his stride and orchestrated another scoring drive — this time a 13-play, 74-yard drive that lasted 2:20 and ended with a completed 2-point conversion to Connor O'Toole to tie up the game and send it into the first of three overtime periods.
Rising and Utah couldn't ultimately get it done in the end, and the team fell to San Diego State 33-31 to start the season 1-2. Utah's only win up until that point was against an FCS team in Weber State.
On Monday, ahead of the back end of a home-and-home series with the Aztecs, Whittingham recalled that experience that night being "very miserable."
"It just seemed like we were way out of sync in that football game," Whittingham said. "We played good defense for the most part. And then what was it triple overtime. ... But it was not a good experience and we just didn't play well."
But a full year later — after Utah rebounded and rolled through conference play to claim its first Pac-12 title and the program's first Rose Bowl appearance — Whittingham points to that game being a turning point in the season, and one where Rising became the one positive aspect to come away from a bad day.
"After the outcome and moving forward, it turned out to be a change in our season because of making the quarterback change and going with Cam the rest of the way," Whittingham said. "It ended up being a pretty good year."
It was not the performance Utah wanted, but it got Rising back under center and showcased his leadership and talent on the field. So while the team prepares for a sort of rematch game against the Aztecs — one in which has Utah's full attention this season, many on the team cite — it was this same matchup that sparked Utah's run to the pinnacle of the program to this point.
It's now an opportunity, or "unfinished business" as Whittingham describes it, for Utah to show San Diego State what it can do with Rising as the starter and a year's worth of experience under his belt. San Diego State has the talent to beat Utah, but the team believes it has the right mindset going into Saturday (8 p.m. MDT, ESPN2).
"That was a loss that was very bitter, and we need to do everything we can to prepare this year to try to have a better showing, because that was frustrating," Whittingham said. "Not to take anything away from San Diego State, they're a good team. I'm not saying that, 'Hey, there's no way that we should ever lose to those guys' or anything like that, because they're good. But we just didn't play well."
"I think it'll be a good kind of test for us more than anything," added tight end Dalton Kincaid. "But I mean, last year was Cam's coming out party, and this year, we'll have him at the helm. So it'll be cool to see the difference."
Coming out party or not, No. 14 Utah is ready to move on. And given that Utah is a 21-point favorite as they welcome San Diego State to Rice-Eccles Stadium, it's reasonable to assume the Utes are expected to have a better showing in 2022 — at least according to the Las Vegas sportsbooks.
It's the same schematic look for the Aztecs under head coach Brady Hoke, with a few key personnel changes, such as the team's starting quarterback and top receiving and rushing talents. But the Aztecs are physical, like to run and utilize "a couple of big tight ends that they use a lot," Whittingham said.
The Aztecs may, however, be without starting running back Chance Bell, who is questionable to play after he suffered an injury to his left arm against Idaho State. The senior back was limited in practices this week, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, and has an elbow brace that was "hinged and padded in the elbow."
Regardless of who the Aztecs trot out on the field, Whittingham and his players say they are ready for the rematch.
"It means a lot. I mean, we didn't play our best football at all in that game," running back Micah Bernard said. "As a matter of fact, in the first few games we didn't play well at all to begin the season. So, you know, these three nonconference games, we're taking it to heart, we're trying to play hard, we want to win. And that's what we continue to do.
"San Diego State's next on the list, and it's beat San Diego State and then on to the next — go 1-0."
That strategy may start with trying to exploit the Aztecs defense in the passing game, similar to what Arizona did in Week 1 in the Wildcats' first win of the season.
"You try to look at what other people have had success with and implement some of the same schemes and philosophies and see if they've got it corrected," Whittingham said on Monday. "That's commonplace in football, you see a weakness that somebody has exploited, you're going to test that and see if they've been able to get that fixed or if it's still a weakness for them."
