The Utes are opening up Pac-12 play Friday night against the USC Trojans at home, and they’re looking to get their fourth win of the season.
Utah went 3-0 during its nonconference schedule with wins against SUU, BYU and San Jose State. USC on the other hand is 1-2, and it opened up conference play last weekend with a loss against Stanford.
Troy Williams feels like the three opponents leading up to this Pac-12 game did a good enough job of preparing them, but he is working to clean up his game, because of the caliber of players USC’s defense will present.
In Utah’s past two games, Williams has thrown an interception in the endzone. But for the most part, head coach Kyle Whittingham thinks this year’s starting quarterback’s passing game is better than what they have received in recent years — Williams has thrown for an average of 241 yards per game. However, the success of the passing game is not all due to Williams’ play.
Wide receiver Tim Patrick has been a main focal point of this year’s offense, and he has been on the receiving end of 14 passes for a total of 285 yards.
“He’s got the whole package,” Whittingham said. “He’s got size. [Patrick is a] good route runner. He works really hard in practice, and it’s no surprise to us that he’s performing the way he is. He’s definitely our go-to-guy at this point in the season.”
Williams, who grew up in Southern California, knows about 15-20 of the guys on the USC team, so he will be facing a few familiar faces the he lined up against in high school. And Williams knows that the Trojans’ record is not an accurate representation of what that team is capable of.
“I don’t pay attention to their record at all,” Williams said. “They have a lot of talent over there, both sides of the ball. They have played two great teams, so we have to be conscious of the type of caliber of team they are, and respect it.”
When the Utes travelled to Los Angeles in 2015 they had a 6-0 record, but the Trojans were quick to halt any momentum the Utes had going for them, and the Trojans came out on top with a 42-24 win. Whether or not this had an impact on the rest of the season for the Utes, they are not considering Friday night’s matchup a revenge game.
Both Williams and Whittingham have their eyes set on something bigger, and that’s winning the Pac-12 South this season, and outright, too.
“We want to try and challenge for that Pac-12 South title, and this is the first step in that regard,” Whittingham said. “Nonconference games don’t have any bearing on that, so this is step one and a challenge for our team to try and chase that championship.”
Friday’s game is a blackout, and kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
@kbrenneisen