For the past three weeks or so, Utah coaches and fans have been pulling their hair out, worrying about a sputtering Ute offense that looked awfully mediocre in close wins over UTEP and TCU. Then things really turned bleak Thursday when Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala, the Utes' only semblance of offense in the month of October, underwent surgery for a cartilage tear on his right knee.
What was going to happen to the struggling Ute offense against a tough Tulsa team that had knocked off 19th-ranked Iowa earlier this year?The Utes had the answer Saturday and it was an impressive one. All they did was amass 601 yards of total offense, get career days from running back Juan Johnson and receiver Kevin Dyson and cruise to a 45-19 victory on a cold, wet day at Rice Stadium. Chris who?
Johnson finished with 197 yards on 34 carries and scored four touchdowns, while Dyson caught four passes for 176 yards with touchdown receptions of 56 and 74 yards from Mike Fouts, who broke out of a slump with 11 of 21 completions for 327 yards.
The easy victory kept the 21st-ranked Utes unbeaten in Western Athletic Conference play at 5-0 and moved them to 7-1 on the season.
"Our offense had to show up today and play well and they answered the bell," said Ute coach Ron McBride. "Fouts was extremely good, Juan and Omar(Bacon) played very well and the whole key was the play of the offensive line. It was an excellent victory. The players responded to the things they had to do."
Tulsa coach Dave Rader, who saw his team lose to BYU last week by a similar score, was impressed with the Utes.
"They're one good football team," said Rader. "They're a whole lot faster than us and when you play a team the quality of Utah, you cannot make mistakes."
The Golden Hurricane, who dropped to 3-4 and 1-3 in the WAC, only had two turnovers on the afternoon and they came after the Utes had the game well in hand. But the Tulsa defenders had a hard time tackling the elusive Utah runners and couldn't generate enough offense of their own to keep up with the prolific Utes, who averaged 8.7 yards per play.
Utah, employing a two-back offense with Johnson and Bacon, jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead, extended it to 31-9 at halftime and 45-11 after three quarters before pulling back in the final quarter.
"It seemed like everything clicked today," said center Chad Folk, one of the key cogs of the offensive line. "We showed at the beginning of the year that we had a good offense and we had to get back to that today. People were doubting us and that made us play harder."
Johnson had felt a bit overshadowed in more ways than one by Fuamatu-Ma'afala, but knew injuries had slowed him earlier this year.
"I knew what I was capable of," said Johnson, who scored four touchdowns in the 45-17 win over Fresno State earlier this year. "We have a whole bunch of talent on this offense and we just had to step up."
Daniel Pulsipher put the Utes on the board with a 52-yard field goal midway through the first quarter, before Johnson scored his first touchdown on an 8-yard run up the middle. Tulsa opened the second quarter with a career-best 53-yard field goal by James Anderson.
Then it was time for the Fouts-to-Dyson Show to begin.
From the Utes 44, Fouts fired a perfect pass that Dyson caught over his shoulder behind the defense at the Tulsa 25. Terrence Joseph was right there for tackle, but Dyson rode him like a broncking buck for the last 20 yards into the end zone.
"That was a nice ball from Mike . . . I saw the end zone and I had to get physical . . . it felt like forever to get to the end zone," said Dyson.
Four minutes later, from the Ute 26, Fouts hit Dyson on a simple inside screen from the left side. Dyson weaved his way up the middle of the field picking up key blocks along the way, then accelerated through an opening and high-tailed it into the end zone.
That made it 24-3 with 8:03 left in the half, but the Hurricane stormed back with an 80-yard drive, using their no-huddle offense to score on an 11-yard pass from Troy DeGar to Charlie Higgins. Anderson, after kicking that 53-yarder earlier, missed the PAT.
The Utes added one more score before the half as Johnson scampered the final 18 yards after Bacon had set up the touchdown with a 27-yard run. Bacon, who had to forfeit his redshirt year after the inury to Fuamatu-Ma'afala, had a fine day with 82 yards on 10 carries.
A 39-yard pass to Dyson and a 25-yarder to Terrence Keehan, set up the next Ute touchdown early in the third quarter as Johnson went three yards for the score.
One of the Utes' only mistakes on the day turned into a safety for Tulsa when Chris Hunter's punt was blocked by Anthony Smith out of the back of the end zone. But on Tulsa's first play after the 2-pointer, Clarence Lawson intercepted a pass near midfield. Three plays later, Fouts rolled to his left, then turned and threw back to his right to a wide-open Johnson, who streaked down the sideline for a 31-yard touchdown play.
GAME NOTES: Harold Lusk picked off his fifth pass of the season, which was the 18th of his career, breaking the Utah record. He also led the team with 10 tackles, had 39 yards on four punt returns and played one of his best all-around games in front of his brother Henry, who was on the sidelines for the homecoming game . . . Ute special teams player Mark Livingston suffered a broken ankle in the first half . . . Umpire Dean Reimer was knocked down in the first half and left the game with a concussion . . . Besides Lusk's 10 tackles, Robert Love also had 10, while Lawson and Dave Richards had eight apiece.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
WAC standings
Conf. Overall
Mountain Division W L W L
Utah 5 0 7 1
BYU 4 0 8 1
Rice 3 1 4 3
SMU 2 3 3 5
Tulsa 1 3 3 4
TCU 1 3 2 5
New Mexico 1 4 4 4
UTEP 0 4 2 5
Conf. Overall
Pacific Division W L W L
Wyoming 5 0 8 0
Air Force 4 1 5 2
Colorado St. 4 1 5 4
San Diego St. 2 1 3 3
Fresno St. 3 2 3 4
San Jose St. 1 4 1 7
Hawaii 1 5 2 7
UNLV 0 5 0 9
Saturday's games
Air Force 34, Hawaii 7
BYU 45, Texas Christian 21
Colorado St. 27, San Diego St. 18
Fresno State 34, UNLV 23
Rice 48, UTEP 21
SMU 52, New Mexico 31
Utah 45, Tulsa 19