The Utes have yet to announce who will be the starting quarterback Saturday night, but head coach Kyle Whittingham does not want to rush the process.
Recently, several quarterbacks, such as BYU’s Taysom Hill and Utah State’s Chuckie Keeton, have sustained injuries while running the ball, much like Travis Wilson. Some teams do use the spread offense a lot more than others, but Whittingham is aware of the risk if Wilson is given the option to play in Autzen Stadium.
“If you run the QBs, you put them at harm’s risk — that’s the nature of the spread offense,” Whittingham said. “It’s just a matter of circumstances.”
Wilson’s injury was not as serious as Hill’s or Keeton’s, and Whittingham believes he can still run the ball because of his durability and ability to sustain a big hit.
Aaron Roderick, co-offensive coordinator, sees the benefit of the spread offense and will continue to use it because while the offense is getting first downs, it is taking several plays to do so. He wants to see the offense finally break out this weekend against the Ducks.
“We’ve been doing a lot of good things on offense. The one thing we’re missing is the big play,” Roderick said. “We’re lacking explosiveness.”
Hatfield working his way back up
Recently-reinstated cornerback Dominique Hatfield made his way back into the starting rotation this last Saturday against Fresno State, despite only being back on the team for a couple of weeks.
Cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah said nothing was handed to Hatfield, and he earned his position, just like any other player has to do in practice each week. Shah is confident he could call on any one of his players to step up.
“Nobody’s taking anybody’s starting job,” Shah said. “Everybody works for it. I determine who we start every week by how you perform in practice. This week, I could easily have two different starters.”
Shah sees Hatfield working hard and putting in the effort. Not only is he helping himself, but Hatfield is helping those around him become better players. Shah sees no negatives to having him back in the rotation.
While Hatfield has been making strides on the field after missing fall camp, he is nowhere near where Shah wants him to be. But Shah believes he can eventually get there.
“It’s hard to be off for as long as he has and then come back and be thrown right into the fire,” Shah said.
Just another game
Since the Utes are facing the Ducks this Saturday, many fans are pegging this game as the most important, or most crucial, of the season.
Whittingham disagrees.
While the matchup is garnering a lot of attention, it is just another game to the Utes, who are not reading too much into it. Much like they did with the season opener against Michigan, the players and coaches won’t buy into the hype.
“Every conference game, whether it’s an opener, game two, three, nine, doesn’t matter, is important,” Whittingham said.
With the team playing all its non-conference games at the beginning of the season, Whittingham views this as an advantage for the Utes because this way, they can completely focus all their attention on the task at hand — a Pac-12 title.
“A conference championship is what every team in this league is striving for, and you got to take them one at a time, obviously,” Whittingham said. “Every week from here on out is a big game.”
Although the team is treating this game just like any other, the Utes acknowledge the fact that Oregon is a top-10 caliber team. They will need to bring their best.
@kbrenneisen