Travis Wilson — C+
16-for-26, 170 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions
After earning high grades for pretty much every game prior, the performance of the senior quarterback against Cal was shades of his old self, which isn’t a good thing. Sure, I suppose Ute fans should be grateful he didn’t toss five interceptions like his Golden Bear counterpart, but Wilson’s game was far from perfect. His two interceptions weren’t terribly costly — the Utes won, after all — but they were careless and should have been avoided. He is in no danger of losing his starting position, but if Utah wants to remain a top-five team, Wilson will have to perform better than he did on Saturday night.
Devontae Booker — A+
34 carries, 222 rushing yards, 45 receiving yards, two touchdowns
After Booker’s performance on Saturday, fellow captain Kenneth Scott called him “Mr. Do-it-All.” The thing is, Scott’s not wrong. On the biggest stage of his career as a Ute, Booker did a little bit of everything for Utah to the tune of 267 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns. The running back was seemingly unstoppable at times against the Cal defense and was hardly ever brought down by the first tackler, if at all. There’s a reason they call him “The Beast,” after all. Many believe Booker to be an every-down NFL back after his career in Utah concludes, and his entire skillset was on display for the scouts on Saturday night.
Defense — B
467 yards (given up), six turnovers (five interceptions)
Clearly, it’s hard to be upset with forcing six turnovers, including five interceptions on who many believe will be the first quarterback off the board in the 2016 NFL Draft in Jared Goff. That said, the Ute defense surrendered 467 yards to Goff and company, including 340 through the air. There’s no doubt the secondary is full of ball hawks, evident by the high number of picks for the unit through five games. But sometimes, their aggressiveness comes back to bite them in coverage, and better teams will expose that in future games.
Aside from the secondary, the Utes recorded just three sacks, but the front seven was all over Goff the entire second half. Solid performance from the defense, but still a lot to improve.
Special teams — B+
Aside from punter Tom Hackett’s awesome celebration after his 65-yard bomb that landed inside the 10-yard line on Saturday, the special teams unit was average against Cal. That’s not to say it was bad, because it wasn’t — just average. Kicker Andy Phillips proved to be essential for this Utah win, scoring 12 points, but he still missed a 48-yarder to keep from being perfect. Meanwhile, punt and kick returners Britain Covey, Boobie Hobbs and Corey Butler-Byrd failed to produce any meaningful returns, but never went backwards.
Again, this isn’t to say that this unit performed badly. Ute fans have just grown to expect so much more from potentially the best group on this No. 4 Utah team.
@GriffDoug