LAS VEGAS — Mistakes were easy to come by for the Utes on Saturday night. Missed tackles, turnovers and penalties were in abundance as Utah was blanked by UNLV, 27-0.
Not even the return of quarterback Brian Johnson could save the Utes as they suffered their first shutout since 1993.
“It’s embarrassing,” Johnson said. “It’s flat out embarrassing.”
The loss drops the Utes to 0-2 in conference play and is the first time UNLV has beaten Utah since 1979. “I’ve been coaching 21 years and this is the toughest team to figure out that I’ve ever been a part of,” said Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham.
“There wasn’t a phases of the game that we were proficient in,” Whittingham said. “We turned the ball over. We had costly penalties in the first half. We didn’t tackle well on defense. It’s perplexing and it’s my job to figure it out, bottom line.” Utah elected to err on the side of safety in the first half and kept Johnson on the sidelines. But when backup Tommy Grady failed to move the ball and left the Utes down 13-0 at the half, Johnson was brought into the game. The junior momentarily gave the Utes a burst of momentum, driving them down the field on the opening drive of the second half. But a botched play at the one-yard line stopped the Utes from getting into the endzone on fourth down. “We’ve came out and had a nice first drive, but you’ve got to find a way to score from the one-yard line,” Johnson said. “That changed the whole dynamic of the game right there.” Despite moving the Utes down field several times, Johnson was never really able to get into a rhythm against the Rebels. “It wasn’t feeling too good, but at the same time, you’ve got to find a way to make plays,” Johnson said. “Some of the velocity wasn’t there on my balls, but I knew that coming into the game. We were hoping we wouldn’t need me, but we needed a spark offensively so they brought me in.” Most of the Utes’ costly turnovers came in the form of fumbles. Freshman Corbin Louks, who threw a touchdown pass against UCLA, fumbled the ball on his second snap. Senior wide receiver Derrek Richards muffed a punt that gave UNLV the ball at the Utes’ 23-yard line. Center Kyle Gunther snapped the ball over Johnson’s head and he was unable to recover it, giving the Rebels the ball at the Utah 30-yard line. “This is by far the most physical game we have played this year,” said UNLV head coach Mike Sanford. “The thing that was good about it was we played physical on both sides of the football. We dominated the line of scrimmage on offense and dominated the line of scrimmage on defense and that’s why we won.”
UNLV running back Frank “The Tank” Summers punished the Utes defense throughout the contest. The junior broke several Utah tackles and rushed the ball 29 times for 190 yards and two touchdowns.
“We’ve got to keep working, keep searching and find what the hot buttons for this football team are,” Whittingham said. “Because last week we were a different football team than you saw tonight.”