In the four matchups between Air Force and Utah since head coach Kyle Whittingham took over in 2005, no team has won by more than one possession8212;and Saturday was no different.
All week, coaches and players stressed that when a team plays Air Force, it gets a full 60 minutes of football. But on Saturday, 60 minutes wasn’t enough to decide a winner, and for the first time since 2005, the Utes went to overtime.
After trailing 10 to 6 at halftime, the Utes battled back in the second half and sealed their third Mountain West Conference win of the season, 23-16, when Eddie Wide scored his second touchdown of the day in overtime.
“That’s exactly the kind of game I would expect based on our series with Air Force,” Whittingham said. “This was very similar to games we’ve had with them for the past 15 years. They’re a tough football team.”
The Utes escaped with the win despite fumbling the ball six times, getting only eight first downs and having the ball for 17 minutes less than Air Force. Utah quarterback Terrance Cain had three fumbles, two of which were recovered by Wide.
“We got to do a better job holding onto the ball,” Cain said. “You can’t blame anybody but yourself. I take full credit for what I did, I got to do a better job holding onto the ball.”
Cain finished the day going 11-of-21 through the air for 167 yards and one touchdown. Cain’s lone touchdown came in the third quarter, when he completed a short pass to wideout David Reed from Utah’s own 10-yard line, which Reed carried all the way down the field for the touchdown. The play went 90 yards for the score and became the second-longest passing play in Utah history.
“That gave our offense a little jump, and it was a nice spark,” Whittingham said. “Other than that, we had trouble on offense today, but you have to give credit to the Air Force defense.”
“I was just looking at the JumboTron,” Reed said. “I was just thinking I couldn’t get caught.”
The touchdown was Reed’s fourth of the year. Reed finished the day with seven receptions for 149 yards. It was the Connecticut native’s third 100-yard receiving game.
Other than the big play from Reed, the Utah offense struggled to find rhythm Saturday.
“We didn’t really get anything going,” Whittingham said. “We didn’t get a rhythm going, and we kept putting the ball on the ground. We know we have to improve our turnover margin and if we do that, we will be more productive on offense.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Utes held the Falcons to 318 yards of total offense, 254 of which came on the ground. Air Force quarterback Connor Dietz led the team in rushing, gaining 98 yards on 28 carries.
“In the triple option, the quarterback is just like a running back,” Utah co-captain Stevenson Sylvester said. “(Dietz) is a great runner, that’s what you have to do to run that offense.”
As a team, Air Force averaged 3.4 yards per carry, which is down from its season average of 4.5 yards per carry. Park City native Jared Tew scored the only rushing touchdown of the day for the Falcons on a 1-yard run in the first quarter.
“I’m pleased with how the defense played this afternoon,” Whittingham said. “We gave up a lot of rushing yards, but that’s bound to happen when Air Force rushes so much.”
“(Air Force) just wears you down,” said safety Robert Johnson. “That’s their whole mindset. They are going to wear you down and make you tired on defense.”
Johnson had a career day Saturday, leading the Utes in tackles and setting a personal best with 15 stops. Although the Falcons did rush the ball 75 out of 85 plays, Sylvester said he never let the thought of fatigue set in.
“Tired, no, this defense is never tired,” Sylvester said. “I didn’t feel tired at all and played pretty much the whole game.”
With the win, the Utes became bowl-eligible for 2009 with six wins on the season. Utah will look to improve on its 6-1 record when it welcomes Wyoming into Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday.
“This will give us great confidence,” Reed said. “That was a great opponent we just faced, now we need to keep it rolling.”
Lennie Mahler/The Daily Utah ChronicleStevenson Sylvester had 13 tackles Saturday against Air Force, including the game-winning tackle of Connor Dietz on the fourth down in overtime to give Utah the 23-16 win.