Recap

The University of Utah football team picked up a dominant win over Arizona State on Saturday night, moving them to 1-0 in Pac-12 play on the young season. The Sun Devils are in turmoil after firing head coach Herm Edwards last week, and the Utes took advantage of a team in flux with a complete dismantling of ASU, 31-13.

The much-discussed slow starts of the last two weeks were nothing but a memory Saturday night, as Utah scored two touchdowns, both to Dalton Kincaid, in the 1st quarter. Arizona State had trouble moving the ball all night long as the Utes set the tone with back-to-back sacks on the Sun Devils’ first drive.

Cameron Rising was sharp and effective in finding his weapons, threading a nice pass to Kincaid over the helmet of a defender for a great catch and the score to make it 14-0.

Brant Kuithe went to the injury tent at the end of the 1st quarter with some type of knee injury. He didn’t return to the game on Saturday night, and his health will definitely be something to monitor going forward. 

Kyle Whittingham said that Kuithe’s injury “doesn’t look good” following the game. They’ll report one way or the other on Monday.

In a surprise move, third-string quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson filled in as running back, and scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter. With Chris Curry unfortunately out for the season due to a broken ankle, Jackson might get some more opportunities as the year goes along. It’s a good way to get him some opportunities to see the field, and he looked good in his snaps on Saturday.

The second half didn’t contain much notable. Cole Bishop had a really nice interception of ASU in the red zone, and the Utes continued to dominate on both sides of the ball. The game wasn’t even as close as the final score.

This was a wire-to-wire win for the Utes, who will now prepare for a tough Oregon State team coming to town next weekend. October opens with a matchup against the Beavers in Rice-Eccles Stadium. The Beavers narrowly lost to USC on Saturday evening, but played a really good team very close. They’ll be tough to beat.

Analysis

The Pac-12 is looking like a much tougher conference this season, with four teams currently undefeated. Making it to the Pac-12 Championship Game will be a fight until the end for every team, and every single game will be crucial.

Utah got off to their best start of the season, scoring 14 points in the 1st quarter. They only scored 14 1st-quarter points in their previous three games combined, but they seem to have figured it out.

The Utes also held the Sun Devils to just 59 total yards in the first half while only allowing them to go 1 for 5 on third down conversions.

Utah completely dominated this game start to finish, which was just what they needed heading into tougher games later this season. 

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@seanoverton3