The Utah Utes headed up to Logan this afternoon to take on in-state rival Utah State for their first road game of the season. An early 14-3 lead for the Aggies had Utah on their heels as Bryson Barnes attempted to pull off the upset against his former team. Despite Barnes’ ability to pick apart the Utah defense throughout a majority of the first half, it was Isaac Wilson who got the last laugh.
With Cam Rising sidelined for this game due to injury, Wilson got his first start for the Utes. A shaky first quarter did not discourage Wilson, as he stayed cool, calm and collected, leading No. 12-ranked Utah to their third win of the season, 38-21.
First Half
Winning the coin toss and choosing to defer, Utah immediately had their work cut out for them on the defensive side.
With just over nine minutes left in the first quarter, a deep pass from former Ute Bryson Barnes had Utah State approaching the end zone, before an interception from Utah centerback Smith Snowden halted the Aggies in their tracks.
The Utes weren’t without their chances in the first quarter — a pass out to the left from Wilson nearly found the hands of Dijon Stanley, though the ball fell just out of reach before anything came to fruition.
A deep 25-yard pass from Wilson to Dorian Singer sent the Utes up to the USU 23-yard line, propping the team up before settling for a field goal from Cole Becker to edge Utah ahead, 3-0.
Utah State proved to be the first team of the day to mark a touchdown, after another 20-yard pass from Barnes found a fellow Aggie to give Utah their first deficit of the year, putting the score at 3-7.
The second quarter started on a low for the Utes as well, with Utah State snagging a touchdown only 44 seconds after the start. The lull didn’t last too long, however — an 18-yard run from Mike Mitchell followed by a 17-yard run from Micah Bernard turned into an 11-yard touchdown from Money Parks to push the Utes forward, 10-14.
“It felt pretty good, I was just playing the run game,” Bernard said later about the play. “It felt pretty good to get our offense in a good situation.”
The Utah State offense continued to cut through the Utes, making it all the way to the Utah 15-yard line before Cameron Calhoun executed an interception to return 34 yards. With about 1:20 left to go in the first half, an 11-yard pass from Wilson found Caleb Lohner in the end zone to finally put the Utes past the Aggies, 17-14.
Second Half
Following the first half, the Utes proved some time was simply needed to warm up. In the first few minutes, Wilson began to find his stride, making a series of passes totaling 71 yards on Utah’s first drive. A field goal ended up being the most Utah could make out of the drive, bringing the Utes up to 20-14.
With just over four minutes to go in the third, several deep passes from Wilson brought the Utes right up to Utah State’s 3-yard line, before Bernard rushed the ball the last few yards to secure another touchdown for the Utes.
Immediately after, Brant Kuithe scraped down the right side as Wilson sent him a forward shovel pass to tack on a two-point conversion, setting the score at 28-14.
The Aggies still wouldn’t be silenced, however, as Barnes found his footing and made a series of rushes right back up the field, resulting in a final 1 yard rushing touchdown to inch closer to the Utes.
The start of the fourth saw an explosion from Bernard, after a rush of 64 yards from the running back delivered the Utes to the Utah State 10-yard line. Kuithe and Mitchell did the last of the heavy lifting, rushing 9 yards — before Mitchell lost one — leaving a quick 2-yard pass from Wilson to Carsen Ryan to seal the Utes’ fourth and final touchdown of the day.
On Utah’s last drive with just over eight minutes left to go, Mitchell and Bernard led the rushing effort, inching up the field with a handful of yards at a time. Finding themselves on the Utah State 1-yard line, the Utes couldn’t quite get there, and settled for one final field goal to bring the grand total to 38-21. Though Utah faced a rocky start, they showed their resilience and safeguarded their undefeated run in the Big 12.
Analysis
The first half of this matchup saw the growing pains of a freshman quarterback as Wilson took the field for his first collegiate start. Wilson struggled to get the offense going in the first quarter, completing 4 of his first 9 passes totaling just 35 yards.
The second quarter was a different story, however, as Wilson started to settle in and find open receivers. After struggling throughout the first quarter, Wilson was able to catch fire, completing 8 of 13 attempts for 96 yards and two touchdowns in the second quarter alone.
After the game, Bernard had this to say about his talented freshman quarterback: “You could see the passes he threw … Those are tough passes … When he is comfortable, you can see he’s going to make plays.”
Wilson continued his strong first half performance throughout the entirety of this contest, finishing the game with 239 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception. Wilson spread the ball around evenly, specifically in the second half, finding Kuithe for 68 yards on three catches, Singer for 66 yards on five catches and Parks for 49 yards and a touchdown on four receptions.
The passing attack was locked in for Utah, but it was the run game down the stretch that sealed this victory as Bernard and Mitchell carried the bulk of the load, finishing with 12 carries each. Bernard led the Utes on the ground with 123 yards and a touchdown, while Mitchell chipped in 75 yards of his own. Utah’s offensive line struggled early but wore down the Aggie defensive front as the game went on, helping open up the run game throughout the second half.
Despite allowing a few big plays down the field in the first half, the Utah secondary came up with two massive interceptions. An acrobatic catch from Snowden in the first quarter helped shut down a promising drive for the Aggies, and another from Calhoun set up Utah for their second touchdown drive of the half. Bend don’t break defense was the key for Utah in the first half, and that continued to be the case throughout the rest of this game.
A third quarter touchdown for Utah State would be the only second half score for the Aggies, as Utah’s stingy defense made play after play down the stretch to close this game out.
The Utes defensive line was able to shut down the Aggie rushing attack for the most part but will have to be locked in next week as they head to Stillwater to take on star running back Ollie Gordon III and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Utah looks to get their first official Big 12 win next Saturday in what looks to be one of the biggest games of this early season.
