From a 'Madden' moment to 'not good enough' play, Utes run game developing

SALT LAKE CITY — With the clock ticking down and Utah needing a score to break up a tie with Baylor, Jaylon Glover received the handoff and pushed his way through the Baylor defensive line.

At first glance, it appeared Glover would be short of the goal line by a few yards. But the sophomore running back suddenly emerged out of a group of Baylor defenders and started running parallel to the end zone. It was tactic often used in the video game "Madden" to wear out the clock and limit the opponent from getting the ball back with more time.

To Glover's credit, Baylor didn't seem too interested — at least initially — in trying to stop him from a path to the end zone, so he made them pay. They just seemed to think he'd run right into the end zone. After a couple seconds of Glover's parallel run, though, he was pushed into the end zone to give Utah the go-ahead score with 17 seconds left in regulation.

"When people brought it up, it's like, yeah, that was one of those just by myself, bored at home, just running around on Madden," Glover said. "So, yeah, it was definitely one of those Madden moments for sure."

Kyle Whittingham said after the game that he didn't coach up Glover to run that play, even though he credited his young running back for the situational awareness. But it was not the plan; Utah wanted the quick score.

"He and (Quinton Ganther) may have talked about it, but I certainly didn't instruct him to do that," Whittingham said Saturday. "The rule of thumb is if you're ahead by one you don't score, because that's the only way you can lose is to score right there and give them a chance to get a touchdown and a 2-point conversion."

Glover's running back coach had a different take, even though it worked out well.

"My reaction is I'm gonna kill this kid," Ganther joked Monday. "We do have a situation like that, but that wasn't the time for that situation. I mean, it was smart, but it was dumb at the same time. We have to make sure that we get in the end zone and go up by six."

Glover said Ganther told him during Monday's meeting that it was "probably one of the smartest, dumbest decisions I've made."

"For me, personally, I felt like it was the right thing to do," Glover added, laughing at the situation. "I took a glance at the clock — it was 19 seconds. So if they was gonna let me score, I was gonna run out as much as I can till I walked into the end zone. ... Those situations I already knew, but I just felt like it was the right call at the time, so we live and we learn, but I'm glad we got the win."

Regardless of whether it was a smart or dumb decision, it was the play that lifted Utah to 2-0 on the season, and made Utah one of only two team's in the country with both wins over Power Five competition.

It also capped off a better performance in the run game for a Utah team that was held to just 105 net rushing yards in Week 1 against Florida. Against Baylor, Utah started out slow in the run game before picking up steam in the second half and finishing with 224 net rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns — both of which came in the final minutes of play.

Lead back Ja'Quinden Jackson rushed for a team-high 129 yards on 19 carries, and Glover added 40 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. But the group that lost veteran back Micah Bernard to a season-ending injury left feeling like there was more the group could give to the offense.

"I gotta play better," Jackson said. "It's always somewhere that you can improve, and I've definitely got some areas that I have to improve on."

"Ultimately, we need to make bigger plays," Glover added. "We have high expectations for us — I mean, as a team, and the fans do as well. But as the season goes, I just feel like we're gonna make those plays, we're gonna be a pivotal part in our offense, and those improvements will be made."

Ganther said he was pleased with how physical his players ran against Baylor, but added it's only half the job as a running back in Utah's offense. At Utah, playing physical and picking up chunk yards is just as important as pass protection and keeping the quarterback upright. One cannot have success without the other.

"Not good enough," Ganther said, critiquing his position group Monday. "Not good enough. We've got to be able to play football when we don't have the ball in our hands. So to my expectation, not good enough. ... I liked that when they had the ball in their hands, they ran hard, but that's not the whole game. They've got to be complete players or they can't play."

There's no excuses with Ganther. The former Utah running back wants to see his position group excel in all facets of the game. The group is accountable to one another, so if one player isn't pulling his weight, it's a matter for the group.

"We've just got to continue making strides and improving," Ganther said. "As long as we're improving, we're doing something right. But just playing with the ball in our hand is not part of the game."

Utah more than doubled its production in the run game from Week 1 to Week 2, but the production is still not where Ganther and his running backs want it to be for the season. Both Jackson and Glover have graded out well enough in run grades, according to Pro Football Focus, but have average to poor pass blocking grades so far.

It remains a work in progress as the group moves through the season.

"We've got to be the same guy for pass protection and running the ball," Glover said. "We've got to go 110% every time, so those are the things that we've got to clean up and tidy up, but I have full on faith that we can do the things that we want to do this year."

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