One week after struggling a heartbreaking, last-minute loss to the Florida Gators at The Swamp, which was instantly adopted by a maddening, longer-than-expected return to campus from Gainesville because of mechanical points with the airplane, No. 13 Utah entered Saturday’s home-opener seeking to take out its frustrations on in-state opponent Southern Utah.
And, predictably, that’s precisely what occurred on a sun-drenched day at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Utah, 45-point favorites, exploded for 38 second-quarter factors and feasted on the Thunderbirds, 73-7.
And it in all probability might have been inordinately extra lopsided than what turned out to be in one of many highest-scoring video games for Utah within the trendy period of its historical past.
It marked probably the most factors the Utes had scored since beating Weber State 70-7 in 2013. Utah scored 82 factors in opposition to UTEP in 1973.
The Utes (1-1) didn’t have an ideal day, nevertheless it was greater than adequate for his or her first victory of the season.
“Obviously, we did a lot of good things. We expected to win the football game. That’s a given. You don’t always do what you’re supposed to do,” mentioned coach Kyle Whittingham.
“Things don’t always go the way they’re supposed to go. It was good to see our guys perform efficiently, making a lot of plays on both sides of the ball.”
Quarterback Cam Rising accomplished 17 of 23 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns in a single half of labor. Many of the starters took the remainder of the day without work after a dominating first-half efficiency.
Tight finish Dalton Kincaid loved a formidable efficiency in restricted motion, catching seven passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns.
“Opportunities came my way,” Kincaid mentioned. “I was just trying to make the most of them.”
Chris Curry led Utah in dashing with 60 yards on six carries and a landing.
Meanwhile, the Ute protection compelled two turnovers, which resulted in a landing and arrange one other.
Utah rolled up 599 yards of complete offense whereas limiting the T-Birds to a mere 85.
For the Utes, the mindset was to manage each facet of the sport.
“Just come out and dominate. Do everything you can,” Rising mentioned. “We’ve been putting in the work. We needed to make sure we were handling our business.”
SUU (1-1) began aggressively, attempting to shock the Utes on the opening kickoff with an onside kick that the T-birds recovered.
However, the officers whistled SUU for unlawful touching — one in every of its gamers put a hand on the ball earlier than it traveled 10 yards — and Utah’s offense arrange store for the primary time on the SUU 44-yard line.
Eight performs later, the Utes jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a brief drive, highlighted by a 14-yard catch-and-hurdle by Kincaid, and capped by a 13-yard landing run by Tavion Thomas.
“It was a pretty athletic move,” Whittingham mentioned of Kincaid’s leap over a defender. “I was pretty impressed by it. He’s a tremendous athlete. If you’re talking about who’s the best pure athlete on the team, he’s in that argument.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever do that again,” Kincaid mentioned. “I didn’t know if I’d get over him. But it worked out.”
Later within the interval, Thomas fumbled in Ute territory, giving the Thunderbirds the ball on the Utah 28. On first down, Grady Robinson took the snap and rambled to the purpose line and dove into the tip zone to tie the sport at 7-apiece on the 2:22 mark of the primary quarter.
But SUU’s momentum was short-lived. From there, the Utes outscored the T-Birds 66-0.
“Other than the 3-5 minute stretch in the first quarter when we bogged down a little bit, it was clean and efficient and good stuff,” Whittingham mentioned. “We turned the ball over during that stretch, which was a negative. We just weren’t in sync for a few minutes there and then we got back in sync. It was really good to see the offense execute those two two-minute drills at the end of the first half. We scored on both of them. That was good.”
“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Rising mentioned of that first-quarter lull. “But we didn’t flinch.”
Early within the second quarter, in somewhat greater than a minute of recreation time, Utah scored a pair of touchdowns. First, Thomas scored on a seven-yard scoring run. Then on SUU’s ensuing drive, Ute defensive lineman Junior Tafuna picked off a cross that was tipped by Miki Suguturaga.
“I saw it hanging in the air and I saw him coming and I didn’t think he’d get there. There’s no way,” Whittingham mentioned of that interception. “Then he hit the gas pedal and did a really nice maneuver where he turned sideways and scooped it. It was very athletic.”
A few performs later, Curry scored his first profession landing at Utah to propel the Utes to a 21-7 edge with 13:27 left within the second quarter.
Utah elevated its lead on a 27-yard area purpose by Jadon Redding; a 12-yard landing catch by Brant Kuithe; and a 37-yard TD reception; and a 12-yard TD catch by Kincaid.
That made it Utah 45, SUU 7 at halftime.
Early within the third quarter, Utah struck once more as security R.J. Hubert intercepted SUU quarterback Justin Miller and returned it 39 yards for a landing and the Utes constructed a 52-7 benefit with 13:53 left within the third quarter.
From there, Utah added three extra touchdowns.
But, in fact, Whittingham received’t let his staff get complacent.
“We’ve got to get better if we want to get to where we want to ultimately end up. We’ve got to keep improving,” Whittingham mentioned. “Don’t be misled by the lopsidedness of the game because we still have plenty of things to fix. Southern Utah played hard. They’re well-coached. They play hard. There was just a talent difference. That’s the bottom line.”
Utah hosts San Diego State subsequent Saturday (8 p.m.) on ESPN2.
EXTRA POINTS: Rising surpassed the three,000-yard passing plateau for his profession … At halftime, the 2022 Utah Athletics Hall of Fame class was acknowledged — former Ute football gamers Eric Weddle and Chris Kemoeatu; basketball participant Mitch Smith; swimmer Heidi Hausknecht; gymnast Melissa Vituj; monitor and area athlete Carla Pittelkow; skier Christl Hager; and girls’s basketball participant Shona Thorburn.
