Classic Utah...

Utah had a very disappointing loss on Saturday. Once again the defense showed up and almost shut down the 4th most prolific offense in the nation. With the lead in the 4th quarter the Utes couldn't hold on as a struggling offense (and questionable conservative play calling) halted the Utes' progression  a the defense allowed two touchdowns to seal the one point victory for ASU. This game is essentially what Utah Football is about this season. Close but no cigar football. I suppose the Utes have had one cigar... it was a nice one (Stanford) but have been so close they could almost taste it but eventually fell short.

Let's take a look at how the Utes played:


                                        ASU: 20   Utah:19
1st Downs                           20            12
Total Yards                         293           247
Passing                               144            121
Rushing                              149            126
Penalties                             3-14           7-80
3rd Down Conversions 3-13       5-18
4th Down Conversions 0-0            2-2
Turnovers                           1                2
Possession                          27:22         32:38

Utah's Defense deserves some serious accolades. ASU's offense has been averaging nearly 500 yards per game and over 43 points per game. Utah held ASU to under 300 yards and just 20 points. Less than half what they usually score. Utah's defense was punishing and almost relentless. Utah had 6 sacks and held ASU to just 3-13 on 3rd down conversions. One of the more impressive stats of the game is that Utah almost intercepted the ball 3 times. It's sad that an almost interception is considered good but the fact of the matter is, in most games we don't even come close to intercepting one ball.

One of the keys to this game was winning the turnover battle. Utah had that game won until the final two possessions of the game. Wilson threw a ball that looked like it should have sailed out of bounds and lived to play another down but unfortunately he didn't put enough on it and it was intercepted on an athletic snag by Robert Nelson of ASU. Wilson's second interception came just a few moments later when he threw up the middle and the pass was straight up picked off by the defensive tackle Will Sutton.

If Utah wants to be a major player int he PAC-12 and if Wilson wants to lead them, he has to learn to throw the ball away. Wilson has plenty of interceptions this year off of ill advised throws as he is trying to squeeze the ball into a highly defensive congested area. Rarely has it worked out. Let's just live to play another down Mr. Wilson.

Utah appeared to have some momentum going into half-time but lost steam in the 4th quarter. The quarterback play, running back play, and especially the offensive line play was frustrating and abysmal during most of the game. In fact I believe Wilson was 2-18 passing at one point. The only thing keeping Utah in the game was Wilson's legs. As his pocket collapsed (nearly every play) he would escape somehow and scurry his way for a few yards to keep the drive alive. With out that, Utah had no chance in that game. Also because Utah was playing at home that gave them another chance. The Utes this season have played FAR better at home than away.

The Utes are good. They have a great defense getting after the quarterback. Currently the Utes rank 2nd in the nation in sacks on the year (side note: those surrounding the Utes in this stat have 17 and 13 INT's. Utah has 2). Utah's D played well and slowed down a stellar offense but unfortunately Utah's own offense couldn't find any answers late in the game and ultimately fell to ASU.