ANN ARBOR8212;It could have been deemed ironic that the majority of the Utah fans at the Big House were shaped in the form of a “U” on the south side of Michigan Stadium. Bleeding bits of red support Saturday afternoon, the U football team showed up to the Big House to play.
The Utes were forced to pull off a “great escape,” fending off a furious Michigan fourth quarter rally and broke out of Ann Arbor with a 25-23 win, leaving the Wolverines stunned in their second straight season-opening defeat.
“A huge venue, a huge task and we accepted that challenge and we came out and got a win,” U quarterback Brian Johnson said.
The offense put on a show in the first half by picking apart the renowned Michigan defense and opening the eyes of many on account of the nationally-televised season-opener.
In front of 108,421 blaring fans, Rich Rodriguez’s era with the Wolverines looked as many expected it to8212;young, but talented.
The Utes rode a 16-0 second quarter performance led by Johnson and kicker Louie Sakoda. Johnson had 253 first-half passing yards, while Sakoda tied his career high by launching four field goals in the game, including a personal record 53-yard try.
Johnson barely missed in the first half, connecting with six different U receivers, most notably Bradon Godfrey who reeled in seven catches for 84 yards.
“We felt like we could compete with (Michigan),” Godfrey said. “We did, and we proved that tonight.”
With the victory, Kyle Whittingham is now 5-3 against BCS conference schools as a head coach.
“Since I’ve been here (at Utah) this has been one of the biggest wins for sure,” Whittingham said. “But you’ll have to look back in the last 15 years to see where it ranks. It was a great way to start the season.”
After the defense got its feet wet to start off the game, it was a frustrating day for the Wolverine offense. The front-four of the U defense were labeled as “inexperienced,” but came up big by constantly troubling and getting past the bigger Michigan offensive line.
Michigan’s quarterback dilemma was settled when Nick Sheridan started under center. Sheridan looked shaky during his time with the offense, which led Rodriguez to insert No. 2 quarterback, Steven Threet.
Once Threet entered the game with 11 minutes left in the third quarter, things picked up for the Michigan offense. Although he only went 8-for-19, he threw a picturesque 33-yard touchdown pass to Junior Hemingway with a little less than nine minutes to go.
Phenom recruit Sam McGuffie had a frustrating collegiate debut with a fumble, but was a key cog in the Wolverines’ resurgence in the fourth with a three-yard touchdown8212;pitting Michigan within two of the U.
“Very proud of our guys, they hung in there,” Whittingham said. “This house got rockin’ man, they got some momentum there. They came roaring back. Very, very pleased with the way our guys hung in there and the way we reversed that tide.”
After a strong offensive first half for the Utes, things began to settle down as the highly-touted Michigan defense began disturbing Utah’s offense. Johnson threw only 52 yards in the second half, threw a pick and also coughed up a fumble
“Well, you know, college football teams make adjustments,” Johnson said. “We have to address this and step up to the plate and make plays.”
Saddled by an enormous amount of penalties8212;137 yards’ worth to be exact8212;the Utes also had an extra point blocked and a dropped punt, not to mention a blocked punt that actually set up McGuffie’s touchdown run.
Although Sakoda felt out of the norm having two kicks blocked, the Utes’ kicker-punter was right there when his team needed him. He delivered a key, lat-fourth-quarter punt down on the Michigan 11-yard line to stick the Wolverines deep in their territory.
“When it was gut-check time, we had to have some guys step up, we did that,” Whittingham said. “How about Louie Sakoda, that punt down on the 11-yard line in that situation, that’s a pressure situation.”
While Utah’s defense was stellar at times, it wanted to make sure that Michigan didn’t look at them as another Appalachian State. Cornerback Sean Smith, who also had a first-half interception, wanted the Michigan faithful to know who his team was.
“Our mindset, as a team, was to come out and hit the Michigan fans and the whole team right in the mouth,” Smith said. “We’re not gonna let us be an Appalachian State all over again, so we came out there and we we’re like, “We gonna show them what we made of.’ The defense was flying around and the offense was making plays8212;we showed them that we mean business.”
The U defense was able to corral the open-field explosiveness of Michigan, only giving up one big play to Brandon Minor on a rush up the middle for 21 yards.
Despite leaving the door open numerous times for Michigan, the Utes made the plays they needed to emerge victorious.
“We stayed together as a team and we stayed together as a fist,” Johnson said. “The only way that fist can be broken is from the inside out, so, for us, to come out here and play like that and fight through that adversity is huge for this team.”
Game Notes: The Utes offense had 341 yards compared to Michigan’s 203. Each team had three turnovers, including identical rushing totals with 36 yards. Utah Jazz guard Ronnie Price was in attendance and was on the field postgame, congratulating the Utes.
“That was a good game, a good game,” Price said. “Things happen, things turn around. That’s why you gotta keep playing. (The Utes) did a good job.”
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The Utah football team and fans cheer on after beating Michigan 25 to 23.
