Travis Wilson — C-
24-for-36, 254 yards, two touchdowns, four interceptions
Back and forth, back and forth. That seems to be the trend for the senior quarterback this season. Against Cal, Wilson showed shades of his old self by tossing two bad interceptions to the Golden Bear defense. He then turned it around the next week by throwing 297 yards and two touchdowns against a tough ASU unit, seemingly returning to early-season form. But with his performance at USC on Saturday — four interceptions to two touchdowns — it’s clear that Wilson still needs improvement in his decision-making. The reason why he isn’t getting a lower grade is because head coach Kyle Whittingham did attribute some of the failures in the passing game to the receiving group not running routes well. Some of the blame is on them. But Wilson knows he didn’t play well, and he has a lot of work to do before taking the field next week.
Devontae Booker — B
62 yards rushing, 49 yards receiving
It’s hard to give Booker a completely bad grade because of all the little things he does that don’t show up on box scores. If not for Booker’s ability to pick up on blitzes, Wilson would have been on the ground more than the three times he was sacked. At the same time, however, Booker didn’t do all that much as a main cog of the offense. He finished with just 62 yards rushing and 49 yards receiving — zero touchdowns. That’s not very Booker-like. Something to keep an eye on moving forward would be Booker’s carries, which topped out at 14 on Saturday. Typically, we are used to seeing the back getting 20-30 carries per game, and the Utes might want to return to that if they want to get back to their winning ways.
Britain Covey — A+
217 all-purpose yards, 129 yards receiving, two touchdowns
I know in the end Utah lost, but Covey was keeping his team in it by himself for much of the first quarter. The true freshman playing in the Coliseum for the first time wasn’t phased by the historic venue, posting career highs with seven receptions for 129 yards. Covey also scored two touchdowns and nearly a third when he used an array of jukes and spin moves before being brought down at the one-yard line on a 40-yard punt return. The 5-foot-8 sensation continues his strong freshman campaign with this performance, and considering this was the first time Covey has lost in two and a half seasons stretching over his prep and college careers, I think he deserves this high grade.
Defense — C
While the defense gave up 380 yards to the USC offense, that really isn’t all that much considering the score of this game. But make no mistake, this Utah defense is not happy with itself after its performance on Saturday night. A group that is typically known for being tough and physical was given a taste of its own medicine against the Trojans, who seemed unstoppable at times throughout this game. JuJu Smith-Schuster had his way with the Ute secondary on his way to 143 yards receiving and a touchdown, while the goal-line defense allowed two rushing touchdowns (the Trojans finished with four total) on fourth-and-goal. But the biggest disappointment for this Utah defense was not forcing a turnover, something it has been hanging its hat on thus far in the season. More than any other, I fully expect this group to use this performance as motivation to come back stronger for the next game.
@GriffDoug