Morgan Scalley says it's 'not time to panic' about sluggish 2nd half play

SALT LAKE CITY — For about 15 minutes of game time against Iowa State, Utah looked suboptimal.

In fairness, that only makes up about 6.3% of all minutes played in the young season for the Utes, but it wasn't what many have come to associate with the current iteration of Utah football.

Instead of a dynamic and creative offense, and a defense that limits opposing offenses, Utah was nothing special. Quarterback Devon Dampier struggled to connect with receivers while pressured and Utah couldn't finish drives before handing the ball back to Iowa State, who managed to add points on the board to narrow a large deficit.

With seemingly the snap of a finger, however, Utah reverted back to its old self in the fourth quarter, Wayshawn Parker added to his career day with a 13-yard receiving touchdown, and the defense made big stops — including an interception by Jackson Bennee — to earn a decisive victory on the road.

But what about that third quarter: Was it a crack in the foundation — a tell-tale sign of something larger yet to be discovered? Or was it simply a blip on the radar and a testament to the fact that winning games isn't about perfection?

Whatever the reason, Utah head coach Morgan Scalley isn't concerned.

"It's not time to panic," an emphatic Scalley said Monday afternoon.

Scalley emphasized there are "things that go into a drive" that may change the outlook at any given time and that Utah wasn't "as clean as we needed to be," but it wasn't like Utah was getting pushed around — even if it felt like it in the moment.

"We took it from the minus-25 to the plus-40 (yard line), so it's not like they were three-and-out (series) and not doing anything in terms of flipping the field," he said.

"I've mentioned this before: the burden of execution's on the offense," he added. "You can have a guy wide open and it's a misread, or he drops the ball, or penalties can also be a factor in that. So, really, in my opinion, it's one game where you're saying, OK, it probably wasn't clean enough coming out of the half."

It was one quarter in the whole makeup of a season that has been otherwise very solid. Utah is in a category of its own in the Big 12 when it comes to points per drive on both offense and defense, and has been one of the best teams in the country in several advanced statistical measures.

One quarter of a game — in which Utah won by double digits — isn't a major problem. If anything, it just means Utah needed to stick to what was working more in that third quarter, offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven said.

"I think in that game, just probably needed to get to some adjustments a little bit quicker, find some things that could get us into a rhythm executionally and schematically, and then just try to lean on what's working for you," McGiven said.

If anything, McGiven believes his offense is well-suited to adjust to situations that arise like the third quarter against Iowa State. If one aspect of the offense isn't coming together as well at a given time, the team has a bevy of other options available.

McGiven attempted to open up the passing game in the third quarter to make Utah less one-dimensional — though Parker was doing well on his own — but in that moment it wasn't completely working against the Cyclones. Sometimes the game plan doesn't work perfectly.

"I think the whole idea was being multiple and trying to distribute the football and getting everybody involved, making defenses have to defend the whole field and not knowing where the ball is going to land," McGiven said. "That, I think, is a big part of our identity. I think where sometimes it gets lost is you go through a period of a game, like the last game, there were called runs in there where Wayshawn could have touched it, and he didn't in the third quarter.

"So that's a delicate balance of trying to distribute, but also getting your playmakers up."

Utah will continue to have ups and downs within each game, but the versatility afforded on the offense gives the team a much higher chance to pivot quickly. It's not a guarantee of future success or wins, but it's an added wrinkle to an otherwise exceptional start to the season.

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