Utah defied all odds and blew out last year’s national title runner-up Oregon 62-20 in Autzen Stadium in its Pac-12 opener. Head coach Kyle Whittingham was finally pleased with how his team played as a collective unit.
“Nice road win by our team. Played well in all three phases,” Whittingham said. “Everybody showed up tonight. It’s a good football team we beat. Oregon’s a quality program.”
Things did not look too terrible for Oregon at the beginning of the game, but the Ducks eventually lost their grip on seemingly everything as Utah took full advantage and came together to play its first complete game of the year.
Oregon was forced to punt deep in its own territory in the first quarter after a couple of early stops by Utah’s defense which gave the offense good field position and Utah then jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. But the Ducks soon answered, following the Utes’ second field goal. They returned the ensuing kickoff for 77 yards and benefited off of a face-mask penalty on the Utes. A couple plays later, Oregon’s Royce Freeman scored a touchdown, but after a failed two-point conversion the score was 6-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The Utes found the endzone in the second quarter when Travis Wilson — who did start despite being injured earlier in the season against Utah State — hit an open Britain Covey for the 26-yard touchdown, putting Utah up 13-6. The defense continued to come up big for the Utes, continuously not letting Oregon get a first down. After another punt from Oregon, Covey returned the ball 19 yards to midfield to start another scoring drive for the Utes. Wilson eventually found Kenneth Scott for the score, Scott’s first touchdown of the year, putting the Utes up 20-6.
While Vernon Adams did get the start and the first touchdown for the Ducks, he was pulled in the second quarter and Jeff Lockie came in and immediately made an impact. He took the Ducks down the field and after a couple of 20 yard throws and a 20 yard run, he threw one to Bralon Addison to make it a one score game with the Utes leading 20-13.
Utah quickly responded with a touchdown of its own, this time from Wilson to Caleb Repp. This was Repp’s first career catch and it gave Utah a 27-13 lead at halftime.
The Utes started off the second half with the ball and took it all the way down the field to score another touchdown. After a 22-yard run from Devontae Booker and a face mask penalty against Oregon, Wilson ran it in from two-yards, making the score 34-13.
Shortly after this, something surprising happened. After Marcus Williams came away with his third interception of the season, he took it all the way to Oregon’s 25-yard line, then Devontae Booker threw a 25-yard pass to Covey, which put the Utes up by 28 points.
Williams and the entire defense were focused on making plays of their own, not on what Oregon was bringing to the table.
“It’s what I do in practice and what I do in the game,” Williams said. “We practice all week knowing we’re going to come out and win the game, we’re not worried about what they’re going to do.”
Oregon looked poised to score after a big gain from Freeman in the third quarter, but on a third-and-long Lockie threw into the endzone and was picked off for the second time, this time by Dominique Hatfield.
After it looked like Utah would not score off of this turnover, Tom Hackett’s punt hit the camera wire so the referees agreed to replay the fourth down, which Hackett took advantage of. Instead of punting, he ran it 29-yards to get the first down for the Utes. Wilson eventually found Repp again to put the Utes up 48-13. Wilson finished the game with five total touchdowns and 227 yards passing.
“It felt amazing,” Wilson said. “It’s a great win for this program. To put that many points on a team like Oregon is unheard of. Really happy with our performance, but still got some more challenges ahead of us.”
Late in the third, Boobie Hobbs had a 69-yard punt return touchdown, giving Utah the 55-13 advantage.
In the fourth quarter, Hackett had a punt downed on Oregon’s one-yard line and the Utah defense was able to eventually come up with a fumble recovery. Once the offense got on the field, Kendal Thompson ran it for a touchdown himself, giving the Utes a 62-13 lead. Oregon eventually scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to make the final score 62-20.
Utah has a bye this upcoming week and Whittingham views this game as a confidence builder.
“Great going into the bye week, great momentum,” Whittingham said. “We got a tough game in two weeks, but right now we’re obviously right where we want to be.”
@kbrenneisen