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SALT LAKE CITY — The game doesn't start until the second quarter for No. 14 Utah football in 2022.
After a slow start in Week 2 against Southern Utah, the Utes were held scoreless in the first quarter on Saturday against a San Diego State team that made Utah look average on offense. But in the second quarter, just like the week prior, Utah's offense clicked.
Utah scored 21 unanswered points in the quarter, including back-to-back touchdown receptions from wide receivers Solomon Enis and Devaughn Vele — the first touchdown receptions to receivers this season — to take a three-score lead into the halftime break.
In the end, Utah wrapped up its nonconference slate with a 35-7 win over San Diego State (1-2), leaving no doubt on the field a year after the Aztecs claimed a win over the Utes in three overtime periods. Since its Week 1 loss to Florida, the Utes have gone on a 108-14 scoring run in the last two games.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said the slow start in back-to-back weeks was the "biggest disappointment" from the game, but attributed it to the offense not being able to get into a "rhythm."
"They were slanting and moving, which they do every week — that was no surprise," Whittingham said. "We just didn't hit movement real well in the first quarter and a half and just found ways to kill drives. We'll look at the film and see if there's any common denominators between last week and this week, but once we got going and got momentum, then the floodgates kind of opened and we put the game away mid third quarter."
In the first quarter, Utah (2-1) struggled to get a first down, quarterback Cam Rising missed his targets, the receivers didn't get any separation, and there wasn't anything in the run game to move the sticks. That all mostly changed when Rising connected on a 15-yard pass up the seam to Enis about five minutes into the quarter.
From that moment on, Utah's offense was diverse and the ball moved with ease, though Whittingham said he was a bit disappointed the team only finished with 174 rushing yards.
"Just talked about it right after that first quarter and really just wanted to gather ourselves and get back and start playing our brand of football," Rising said of the shift on offense.
Rising finished the first half throwing for 162 of the team's 260 total yards of offense and three touchdowns on 14-of-24 passing. He finished the night with 224 yards and four touchdowns — a career high for the starting QB — on 18-of-30 passing before being pulled early in the fourth quarter.
The career night for Rising meant "nothing," he said; it just meant "that we won the football game; that's all I really care about."
Rising was replaced by backup Bryson Barnes, who finished with only 3 rushing yards on one carry and no passes in just over 11 minutes of play. Instead, it turned into the Jaylon Glover run-out-the-clock strategy to closeout the game. Glover got extra minutes after running back Chris Curry exited the game with an injury after his only run of the night — an 8-yard rush.
Whittingham said after the game that Curry suffered a season-ending injury on the play.
"Unfortunately, it looks like Chris Curry's gone for the season," he said. "That breaks my heart. Great kid, great teammate, all he does is work hard, doesn't complain, and he's a great leader for us, and so we'll miss his leadership. Fortunately, he does have another year, and so we'll get him back next year, but that's the big downer from the game."
Outside of Rising's connections at the end of the first half with Enis and Vele, the starting quarterback opened up the team's scoring run on a 30-yard toss to an open Brant Kuithe to give the home team a 7-0 lead, and it was all Utah from there.
Just before the half, San Diego State fumbled the ball on a kickoff return and Utah's Caine Savage recovered it on the 27-yard line to set up the Utes for another score before the half — a 15-yard sideline catch by Vele in the end zone as he dragged his feet inbounds.
The Aztecs burned through their depth at the quarterback position early after starter Braxton Burmeister left the game in the second quarter when he took a hard hit by Utah edge player Miki Suguturaga. The Aztecs moved to redshirt freshman Will Haskell for one series before switching to freshman Kyle Crum for the remainder of the game after Suguturaga had another hit on the Aztecs QB.
Crum finished the night throwing for 53 yards on 5-of-16 passing, and orchestrated the team's best drive of the night in the fourth quarter to get into Utah territory with most of Utah's defensive starters on the sideline. The drive, however, ended with a turnover on downs when Crum missed his intended receiver and Utah took over on their 26-yard line.
Late in the game, though, San Diego State recovered a muffed punt by Utah, and scrum found Joshua Nicholson for an 18-yard touchdown for the Aztecs' only score of the night.
"Defense was solid from start to finish — did give up a touchdown there at the end off the fumbled punt return, which is unfortunate to see, that was our only turnover of the night," Whittingham said. "But played a really good run defense, and that's really a starting point for us on D is to take away the run, force people to throw the ball and then get after the quarterback."
Between the three quarterbacks for the Aztecs, they only managed seven completions for 60 yards. And like Suguturaga's attack on San Diego State, Utah's defense held the Aztecs to just 43 yards of total offense in the first half and 173 total yards in the game.
Karene Reid added an interception in the middle of the field on San Diego State's first drive of the second half to set up an 18-yard rushing touchdown by Tavion Thomas four plays later. Reid finished with four tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, and the interception.
"I was responsible for the running back, and so it just looked like I could help elsewhere, read the quarterback's eyes and was lucky enough to be in that position," Reid said of the play.
Safety Cole Bishop led a Utah defense that held San Diego State to just 113 yards rushing and 60 yards passing. The sophomore safety finished with a team-high nine tackles, one pass breakup and a half tackle for loss in the win. In total, Utah's defense finished with two sacks, seven tackles for loss and one forced fumble.
"Last year they ran the ball a lot against us and that was a big point this week, was just being physical and trying to out-physical them and not let them run the ball as much as they can," Bishop said. "And I think we did that pretty good."
Utah returns to action on Saturday when it opens up conference play on the road against an Arizona State team that is just 1-2 on the season after a 30-21 loss to Eastern Michigan.
