Doctors have been prescribing sunny vacations to people for years. Turns out warm San Diego was just what the doctor ordered for the U football team’s offense, but for very different reasons.
Football is a game of momentum8212;any head coach will tell you that. That’s why there was no better way for Utah to prepare for archrival BYU, with its 11-0 season and a potential Bowl Championship Series berth on the line, than to play San Diego State and have its offensive engine hit on all cylinders.
“This was a huge game tonight,” said wideout Freddie Brown after Utah’s 63-14 win over San Diego State. “We weren’t taking anything away from our preparation, the way we prepared the entire week, just because we got done playing TCU last week. (San Diego State) might not have been as superior of an opponent, but I think preparation-wise, we just wanted to come out and play the way we’ve been playing and still make those adjustments.”
The satisfaction and the quality of the win did not come from Utah scoring more points than it had since 2004. In fact, you have to go back to Sept. 10, 1994, to when Utah beat Idaho 66-0, to find a game in which the Utes scored more points. The fact that all phases of Utah’s offense played extremely well8212;the Utes gained 322 yards through the air and 198 on the ground8212;is what made the trip to San Diego so important for the Holy War on Saturday.
“We knew that we wanted to put quite a few points on the board tonight,” Brown said after the win. “After only scoring 13 points our last two games, we wanted to make sure we had a productive day offensively. I guess we did that.”
San Diego State is dead last in the country in rushing yards allowed. It was clear, however, that the Utes were intent on throwing the ball, as 30 of their 47 plays were through the air.
“We know teams came in averaging 200 yards rushing the football and teams just kinda threw it when they had to, but we came out and tried to establish our throw game early,” quarterback Brian Johnson said. “We did that, we got the spread going and the option read and some different things offensively to get into a rhythm and get some touchdowns.”
Utah seemed particularly interested in lining up in five-receiver sets, in order to give the Utes’ talented receiving corps a chance to exploit favorable matchups.
“We try to make matchup problems and try to get those wideouts on linebackers,” Johnson said.
It wasn’t an accident that Utah worked on its passing game with BYU coming up, either. The Cougars only give up 197.36 yards through the air this season, good for No. 53 in the nation, but only sixth in the Mountain West Conference.
Of the 10 FBS teams BYU has played this year, seven of those have eclipsed its season average, while only one of those teams (Colorado State) has a better average than Utah.
Whether or not BYU’s secondary gives the Utes a better test than many analysts are pointing to, it’s hard to argue that BYU has faced a better receiving corps this year than Utah’s. That group, along with its general, in Johnson, is coming off its best performance of the season.
When asked if the win over San Diego State gives the Utes some momentum they can carry into Saturday, wideout David Reed said, “Yeah definitely, it definitely does. BYU’s going to have to watch out for us. We’re coming strong.”
Tyler CobbDarrell Mack and the Utes offence racked up 520 total yards against SDSU. Utah is looking to carry the momentum they gained to this week against BYU.