Passing game needs improvement
After quarterback Travis Wilson threw the ball so well against Oregon, the team hoped it would be a similar story against Cal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
Wilson threw two picks to the Golden Bears and sent the offense backwards, according to head coach Kyle Whittingham. This week in practice, the Utes will make sure the passing game is headed in the right direction.
“Our players are going to be committed to getting the passing game back on track,” Whittingham said. “Throwing game is nowhere near what it needs to be.”
Aside from Wilson’s performance, the Bears’ defense also made sure to limit the quarterback’s options. Britain Covey was made ineffective for the first time this season, and other receivers were forced to make tough catches.
Something else the Utes will be focusing on before the ASU game this Saturday is their deep throws. When Utah went deep in the game against Cal, it worked in its favor with Cory Butler-Byrd going for a 54-yard receiving touchdown.
“We might take some more deep shots and really stretch the defense,” Whittingham said.
But with Devontae Booker going for as many yards as he did, Whittingham will be looking to Wilson to bring a more complete offense to the field.
Wilson takes complete responsibility for his mistakes on the field, regardless of how well the Cal defense was playing. He knows he can get the offense playing to where it was a few weeks ago.
“It’s on me, I should have made some better throws,” Wilson said. “Should have made some more accurate passes, that’s something that I got to correct and get better.”
Pushing past Cal
After beating Cal in a game that went down to the wire, Utah now sits at the No. 4 spot in the most recent AP Poll.
Overall, Whittingham was proud of the way his team stuck around for the entire 60 minutes on Saturday night. It was not a perfect win, but it’s where this Utes squad wants to be — with a 5-0 record.
Whittingham credits the win to his defense’s efforts, causing turnovers on six different occasions.
“The real key to the game was our ability to take the ball away,” he said.
Going up against a quarterback like Cal’s Jared Goff is no simple task, even if the Utah defense made it look easy with five interceptions. The Utes worked hard on masking their coverage because of Goff’s feel for the game.
“Disguising is a big part of playing defense, not giving the quarterback a pre-snap look of what’s coming,” Whittingham said.
In the end, the coaches are pleased with the way all of the players are buying into the system so they can continue to win games.
Player of the Week honors
Every week so far this season, with the exception of the bye week, Utah football has had a player recognized as a Pac-12 Player of the Week. This week the Utes added two more to their now-seven honorees — Devontae Booker and Tom Hackett.
Booker rushed for 222 yards against the Bears, and Whittingham thinks the offense would not have been able to put up 30 points had he not been running the ball so effectively. He also credits the offensive line for finally stepping up and giving Booker more room to run.
“He was obviously huge in the game,” Whittingham said. “He’s a big part of the reason we were able to come out on top.”
Hackett had multiple punts downed within the 10-yard line, and Whittingham considers it a great honor for both of his players.
“Proud of those guys,” Whittingham said.
@kbrenneisen