After a triumphant victory over UCLA last week to open up conference play, the No. 10 University of Utah football team headed to Corvallis, Oregon to challenge the No. 19 Oregon State Beavers. It was a highly anticipated match between the two nationally ranked teams, but the Utes ended up losing 7-21 to the Beavers.
Recap
To kick the night off, Oregon State took the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Utah stepped up on offense and immediately started making progress, with a 20-yard throw from Nate Johnson to Devaughn Vele to advance to the 39-yard line. Unfortunately, a series of incomplete passes from Johnson turned the drive over to the Beavers.
A false start from Oregon started the Beavers off at the Utah 27-yard line before a rush up the middle from Beavers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei earned another 17 yards to push to the 48. A quick four yards later, Oregon State sealed their first touchdown of the game to make it 0-7.
As the Utes entered their next drive, the offense continued to struggle to get through the Beaver wall — Jaylon Glover managed a rush up the middle for a gain of five yards to the Utes’ 20-yard line, but the whistle concluded the first quarter before the play could be seen through.
Entering the second quarter, the Utes were even more determined to push through the offense. Glover made three separate plays to gain a combined total of 13 yards, followed by running back Chris Curry for another five. Now sitting at the 33-yard line, a false start from Michael Mokofisi and again from Kenzel Lawler pushed the Utes back to the 23rd.
A determined Glover made another rush up the middle to gain an additional 21 yards, inching the Utes closer to the end zone. The drive turned over to the Beavers, and after making a mad dash to the Utah 31-yard line, the drive was handed back over to the Utes for the remaining 47 seconds. Glover managed another five yards before the first half was called, leaving the Utes down at 0-7.
Glover helped open up the second half, gaining seven yards across two plays. Johnson attempted a throw to the running back, though the ball was dropped and the drive subsequently turned over to Oregon State. Straight off the bat, a deep pass from Uiagalelei found Silas Bolden in the end zone, earning the Beavers their second touchdown of the night.
Sitting at an uncomfortable 0-14, Kyle Whittingham sent in quarterback Bryson Barnes to switch out Johnson in an attempt to freshen up the offense. Barnes immediately made his presence on the field known, working together with Glover to gain 20 yards over several passes. The Utes advanced even further after another pass from Barnes earned an additional 12, as Oregon State interfered with a pass to give Utah an automatic first down.
An illegal block from the Beavers earned the team another penalty as the Utes’ drive ended, enforcing another 10 yards. Oregon State failed to make any more significant advances, and before long, the two teams found themselves entering the fourth quarter.
Evidently choosing to go out with a bang, the Beavers found an opportunity only a minute into the last quarter, with Bolden finding the ball and rushing 45 yards to claim another touchdown for the Beavers. Triumphant, the Beavers handed the ball over to the Utes to start their drive.
Down 21 points and running out of options, Whittingham sent Johnson back in for Barnes after a penalty forced a replay of the down. A penalty from Utah forced another replay of the down, with Johnson getting sacked at the 36th. Trying to reset with six minutes to go, Johnson sent a pass up the middle to Glover, gaining 12 yards – another pass from the quarterback went sailing to Thomas Yassmin, covering 41 yards and securing a long-awaited touchdown for the Utes. Joey Cheek secured the PAT kick, hoisting Utah to 7-21.
The remainder of the quarter saw only a few pass attempts from both sides, though nothing came to fruition. With the final blow of the whistle, the Utes were handed their first loss of the season (4-1).
Analysis
Needless to say, it was a tough game for Utah on both the offensive and defensive fronts. The Utes almost faced a shutout, barely managing to nab some points in the last minutes of the final quarter.
In terms of offense, Glover dominated the game for Utah with 58 rushing yards and 12 receiving. Oregon wasn’t too far ahead in that respect, with Damien Martinez recording 65 rushing yards for the game. However, the Beavers eclipsed Utah in passing yards, with 227 to the Utes’ 141. Total yards for the Beavers came out to 358, dwarfing Utah’s 198.
Oregon State showed up with the penalties, totaling an aggressive 11 compared to Utah’s four.
On the defensive side, Sione Vaki recorded nine total tackles, seven being solo. Cole Bishop was right behind him with seven total tackles, creating a tough defensive line for the Beavers to break through.
Heading home from Oregon, the Utes will take a well-deserved break and return to Rice-Eccles Stadium on Oct. 14 for Ute Proud night against the California Golden Bears.
