LAS VEGAS — Doctors cleared Brian Johnson to play against UNLV. Kyle Whittingham didn’t want to take the chance if he didn’t have to. After a scoreless first half, the Utes had no choice.
In the end, it didn’t matter either way.
Despite getting their highly touted quarterback back, Johnson and the Utes could do no right and lost to UNLV, 27-0, to drop to 0-2 in the Mountain West Conference standings for the first time since 2002.
“We were hoping we wouldn’t need me, but we needed a spark offensively so they brought me in,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s return to action came after three weeks’ worth of nursing a separated shoulder. The premature return was elicited — and largely provoked — by a plague of penalties, turnovers and miscues that left the Utes trailing 13-0 at half time. From the first six plays of the second half, it was unclear if Johnson was feeling 100 percent. Soon the answer became as clear as Thanksgiving crystal.
The Utes ran the ball on the first seven plays of the second half, with Darrell Mack doing the bulk of the work marching the Utes down field. Johnson would go on to complete his first three passes, but all were of the quick-hit variety.
It was not until the Utes’ second drive that it became painfully obvious that Johnson was less than himself.
Amid the assortment of less-than-crisp, near-intercepted and under-thrown passes, there was no doubt that Johnson could not get anything behind his throws.
“I think (timing) was the fact that I couldn’t throw the ball as hard as I normally do,” Johnson said. “I think that’s the main reason for the timing being off. They were doing zone drops and their QB zones. We knew we had to throw the ball underneath…and we had put together 12 play drives in order to score.”
Despite the immediate rushing surge the Utes experienced with Johnson under center, UNLV was prepared for Johnson. UNLV head coach Mike Sandford attributed this to UNLV’s preparation for whatever quarterback Utah was prepared to throw out at them.
“What we saw is basically, Brian Johnson is their quarterback,” Sanford said. “Grady and Louks (combined), they run the same thing Brian Johnson runs, so we just prepared for Brian Johnson and everything. It really didn’t matter much which guy they went with.”
UNLV was also assisted by a few critical factors. Utah had absolutely no momentum after its first drive of the second half stalled at the one-yard line. Utah was also playing from behind and as the seconds melted off the clock, UNLV’s tendency to load the secondary with defenders grew more and more prevalent. And try as he might, Brian Johnson threw more than a couple of passes that could have easily been intercepted because of his lack of velocity.
To Utah’s credit, the team threw everything it had at UNLV. On Saturday, it turned out to be not enough.