With several starters out, Utes 'suffocating' defense the difference in win over Gators

SALT LAKE CITY — It wasn't a typo in the final box score after Thursday night's game.

No. 14 Utah held a visiting Florida team in Rice-Eccles Stadium to a meager 13 total rushing yards in a 24-11 loss to start the season. Even if Utah's five sacks that accounted for a loss of 29 yards were stripped out of the total, Florida's team-leading rushers, Trevor Etienne and Montrell Johnson Jr., were held to a combined 31 yards on 10 carries.

That's a pedestrian 3.1-yard average for a supposed strength of a Gators team in transition in Billy Napier's second season with the program.

A year earlier, the two backs combined for 140 yards on 17 carries — to say nothing of Anthony Richardson's 106 yards and three rushing touchdowns — in a disastrous night for the Utes. Last season, there were blown tackles, missed assignments, and a generally "soft" defense on the field that night, according to Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham.

Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley made sure to change that in the return game to Salt Lake City. Utah dialed up the pressure, recorded five sacks, and made Florida quarterback Graham Mertz uncomfortable for much of the night, all without starters Junior Tafuna and Connor O'Toole in the lineup, as well as a handful of usual contributors on the defense.

"We had a bunch of guys step up and pick up the slack," Whittingham said. "That's the mentality you've got to have. You can't cry and whine about who you don't have. The guys that are in the game have to get it done, and our guys did just that."

Florida was without some key starters, too, namely center Kingsley Eguakun, who was a late scratch to the game. Eguakun was the lone veteran player on the offensive line, so his absence left a void Florida couldn't fill against a defense Whittingham described this year as "Stout. Very stout."

But Florida head coach Billy Napier gave all the credit to what Utah did to keep Florida in check in the run game.

"A lot of it has to do with that is the way that they played," Napier said. "But there's no doubt that's an area where we need to improve and we have to get production out of the two (running) backs. We need to give them an opportunity to impact the game. Then when we did run it, I didn't necessarily notice that it was as effective as we would want it to be.

"There were some pressures, they gave us some issues, and I think there's twofold there," Napier added. "It's a tough environment. I think (Utah) does a good job creating variables for you on defense. But there's no question that we'll be able to do some things better whether it's pick up a twist game with the back blocking his guy or the ball being out on time. But Mertz got beat up a little bit and we've got to keep him clean in the future."

Mertz finished the game throwing for 333 yards and one touchdown on 31-of-44 passing, an improved 70% completion percentage to an otherwise up-and-down career, but the numbers were hollow. Florida had success moving the ball through the air, at times, but Utah's defense got the upper hand when it mattered most.

For three quarters, Utah held Florida to zero conversions on third or fourth downs in a combined 11 attempts. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that Florida started to have success. The team finished 1-of-13 on third downs and 2-of-5 on fourth downs, but it was too little, too late for the Gators.

Make no mistake, Florida contributed to its demise with untimely penalties in must-have situations — such as a delay of game on third down to change a third-and-1 scenario into a third-and-6 one — but Utah's defense delivered throughout the game. Compared to that "soft" defense a year ago, Whittingham's "stout" defense was the story of the game.

"The defense was suffocating," Whittingham said. "The defense was the storyline of the game. ... We did play exceptionally well on third down. We did give up a couple fourth downs, but we made some stops on fourth downs, so it kind of balanced out. But I thought our defense, like I said, was really, if you he had to say what was the one phase and the one thing that was the biggest difference in the game, it was the way our defense played."

Added safety Cole Bishop: "It feels really good. I've been talking about how we're embarrassed by what we did last year. We were playing with a chip on our shoulder — D-line, linebackers, safeties, corners, everybody — played our heart out and it paid off."

Even without a handful of players in the lineup, Utah's defense changed the narrative from a season ago and got the upper hand.

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