Utah football opened its Pac-12 play against USC on Friday, and it wasn’t without excitement. Within the first quarter, the Utes managed to force two fumbles, but they also fumbled one time. As the game went on, Utah had more takeaways.
“I am very proud of our players for hanging in there and refusing to quit,” said head coach Kyle Whittingham. “We just kept fighting the entire 60 minutes.”
The first turnover of the game happened during a USC drive in the first quarter at Utah’s 41 yard line. Sophomore Chase Hansen forced a fumble, and the ball was recovered by senior Hunter Dimick, allowing Utah’s drive to begin at 13:42. Fortunately, for the Utes, this lead to the first touchdown of the game, giving Utah a 7-0 lead over USC.
But Utah was quick to turnover the ball, too. Freshman Zack Moss fumbled the ball, and USC’s Adoree’ Jackson recovered it. Soon after the Trojans started their drive, junior Sunia Tauteoli forced another fumble, and the ball was recovered by senior Marcus Williams.
Though the second quarter saw less fumbles, it wasn’t without any. Senior Pasoni Tasini forced USC to fumble another one of their balls, and it was recovered by Hansen. This lead to a field goal attempt, and it brought the lead to 10-7 in favor of Utah.
During the third quarter, Utah caught a break after sophomore Armand Shyne fumbled in the endzone. Senior Isaac Asiata quickly recovered the ball, scoring a touchdown for the Utes, bringing the score to 24-17 in favor of USC.
“[Scoring a touchdown] never happens, and it will probably never happen again, but hopefully it does,” Asiata said. “I thought that was a huge momentum changer. When you are in the red zone you have got to score. That was a point we made all week long — being efficient in the red zone.”
The multiple forced turnovers paid off in the end for the Utes, and they finished the game with a 31-27 victory over the Trojans in their first Pac-12 game of the season.
“We are going to enjoy [the win],” senior Troy Williams said. “But, like Isaac said, it is a long season and we have a lot of games ahead of us so we got to take it one week at a time.”
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