In a matter of hours, the University of Utah football team went from playing a Pac-12 south foe to playing one in the North. For the first time this season the Utes will hit the road, this time to face a hot Washington team. 

Scouting the Utes: 

Ranking: N/A

Record: (0-1, 0-1 Pac-12) 

Last Week: L vs USC, 33-17

It was messy; it was painful at times, but Utah football was finally back last week. The Utes hosted USC for their season opener after having their first two games of the season cancelled because of COVID-19. The Utes dropped the game 33-17 to the Trojans. 

Along with losing the game, the Utes also lost starting quarterback Cam Rising to a season-ending injury. In response to Rising’s injury, graduate transfer Jake Bentley took over for the Utes in the second quarter and finished the game for Utah. 

His first showing was not the best, going 16-28 for 171 yards. He did have two interceptions that night as well. 

Bryan Thompson led the team in receiving with 48 yards. Samson Nacua had the lone offensive touchdown for the team and had 29 total yards in the game. Solomon Enis had 42 yards in the loss. 

The Utah rush game also looked vastly different without workhorse Zack Moss. It very much was a committee style load distribution with three different backs handling most of the load. True freshman Ty Jordan led the team with 32 yards. Jordan Wilmore had 30 yards and Devin Brumfield had 28 yards. 

Fans also got their first look at a reloading Utah defense. Devin Lloyd led the team with 11 tackles on the night. Nephi Sewell had 10 tackles as well as the other Utah touchdown on a scoop and score play. Sewell also had an interception for the Utes. 

Hear it from Coach: 

“We have that luxury to have two quarterbacks we feel really good about,” Whittingham said at his weekly presser. “It didn’t take us long to get to the number two guy, and that’s where we are at and we have full confidence in Jake moving forward. It’ll be a big benefit to him taking all the reps with the ones this week and should be more comfortable and more settled in this next game.” 

Scouting the Huskies: 

Ranking: N/A

Record: (2-0, 2-0 Pac-12) 

Last Week: W vs Arizona, 44-27

Last week the Huskies hosted Arizona in what at the time was thought to be their lone crossover game of the regular season. The Huskies easily handled the Wildcats 44-27, making the Huskies 2-0 after having their first game of the season cancelled. 

Dylan Morris was 15-25 for 230 yards on the night. He had two touchdown passes and zero interceptions in the win. Cade Otton was Morris’ favorite receiver last Saturday. Otton had 100 receiving yards and one touchdown. Puka Nacua had 65 receiving yards and the other receiving touchdown for the Huskies. 

The UW running backs were able to put up 233 total yards versus the Wildcats last week. Multiple players had rushing touchdowns. Richard Newton logged the most yards on the game with 81 yards, and he also had two of the four rushing touchdowns. Kamari Pleasant and Sean McGrew accounted for the other two rushing touchdowns for Washington. 

On the defensive side of the ball, Kyler Gordon led the team with six tackles.  Zion Tupuola-Fetui had two sacks and Edefuan Ulofoshio had one forced fumble. 

How to watch: 

This week’s game will be nationally televised on ABC with kickoff set for 5:30 p.m. MST. Stormy Buonantony, Kirk Morrison and Beth Mowins will be on the TV call. Fans can also listen to the game on the Home of the Utes, ESPN700 with Bill Riley and Scott Mitchell on the call. 

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