With sophomore quarterback Brandon Rose sidelined due to a season-ending foot injury last week against BYU, Isaac Wilson took back the Utah offense with a chance to derail a surging Colorado team.
Unfortunately for Utah, the Colorado Buffaloes are a much improved team from last year, especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Utes faced an early deficit in this game and were unable to mount a comeback as Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter made play after play to send Utah back home with their sixth consecutive loss, 49-24.
Recap
The Utah defense has struggled to create turnovers so far this year, but on the very first play from scrimmage, a Sanders throw over the middle was intercepted by Lander Barton and returned 17 yards to help set up the Utes at the Colorado 21-yard line.
Despite the excellent field position, a Colorado sack on third down forced the Utes into a field goal attempt as Cole Becker gave Utah an early 3-0 lead from 32 yards out.
The Buffaloes had no problem answering the early Utah score, however, as a 42-yard touchdown pass and a 76-yard punt return touchdown after forcing the Utes into a three-and-out gave Colorado a 14-3 advantage with 5:49 remaining in the first quarter.
The second quarter was much of the same for Utah as the offense struggled to move the ball, leaving the defense on the field for a majority of the first half.
The Ute defense remained solid, however, as a Colorado fumble recovered at the 23-yard line gave Utah another short field. Unfortunately for the Utes, a quick three-and-out forced by the Buffaloes resulted in another Becker field goal, this time from 34 yards out. With 5:35 to go in the first half, Colorado remained on top 14-6.
With 5:28 left in the second quarter, the Colorado offense was able to drive 85 yards down the field to score their third touchdown of the first half, extending their lead to 21-6 and leaving just 0:49 for the Utah offense to work with.
Becker was the story in the first half, and that continued to be the case as he was able to knock in his third field goal this time from 47 yards out as time expired in the second quarter. The Becker field goal helped Utah trim the lead once again as they trailed 21-9 heading into halftime.
The Utes offense would need to make some drastic changes in the second half if they wanted to rally against a Colorado team that seemed to have their way throughout the majority of the first half despite two turnovers deep in their own territory.
Utah opened up the first half with a less than ideal start as Wilson’s second interception of the afternoon led to another Colorado score, this time on a 37-yard run on the first play of the drive. The Buffaloes would once again extend their lead to 28-9.
The first two quarters and change were a struggle for the Utes, but Wilson and the offense were able to spark some life into this team as a 40-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to Dorian Singer helped cut into the Colorado lead 28-16 with 6:10 to go in the third quarter.
Defensively, Utah has been stellar all year long, but the Buffalo offense proved to be too much to handle as another long touchdown pass gave Colorado a 35-16 lead with just 13:58 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Utah refused to go away in the fourth quarter as an eight-play 75-yard drive capped off by a Wilson touchdown pass to Caleb Lohner in the right corner of the end zone inched the Utes a bit closer as the score sat at 35-24 with 08:34 left in the game.
Despite the effort to mount a comeback for the Utes, the Colorado offense was too much to handle as they tacked on two late touchdowns to close this game out. Utah has now dropped six straight games as they fall in Boulder, 49-24.
Analysis
Wilson finished with 236 yards, two touchdowns through the air, and three interceptions. Carsen Ryan led the receiving core with 78 yards on four catches, while Singer had one of his best games of the season, finishing with five catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.
The running attack had one of its worst outputs of the season, totaling just 31 net yards, led by Mike Mitchell with seven carries for 28 yards. The struggling rushing attack has been a common theme the last few weeks for Utah and was once again a roadblock today as Utah fell short against a formidable Colorado team.
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham had this to say regarding the poor performance from the rushing attack: “We didn’t get any knockoff on the offensive line, no push inside, and you got to get push inside to open up some creases … they played very tough at the line of scrimmage, and we really couldn’t get anything going.”
Whittingham then added this when asked about dropping their sixth consecutive game: “It’s the most difficult year of my coaching career, hands down, not even close.”
Utah now sits at 4-6 and will head back to Salt Lake City to take on the Iowa State Cyclones next Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
