At the midway point of Saturday's 27-6 victory over San Diego State, running back Brandon Warfield said Utah's offense was tired. Not weary, mind you, just tired. Being shutout didn't sit well.
"I think everybody was finally tired of not scoring," explained Warfield, who picked up 90 of his game-high 130-yards rushing in the second half. "Everybody got it in their mind that we needed to score. Plus, we wanted to win."
After an unproductive first half and a 6-0 deficit, the Utes returned to the field determined to turn things around.
"In the first half we weren't stopped, we just made mistakes," Utah coach Urban Meyer said. "The second half we came out throwing even though their corners are good."
It worked. Results came quickly. A 15-yard touchdown pass from Alex Smith to Ben Moa closed a five-play, 65-yard drive that lasted less than two minutes and gave Utah the first and only lead it needed early in the third quarter. Smith wound up completing 17-of-22 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns.
Even maligned kicker Bryan Borreson, who missed two chipshots in last week's win over Oregon, turned things around.
He contributed a pair of field goals (from 26- and 33-yards out) to extend the Utes' lead to 13-6 before the quarter was complete.
The precarious advantage was protected by a stellar defense that shut SDSU down, allowing just six first downs in the second half.
"This team played awesome defense. I can't say enough about what they did tonight," Smith said. "Total domination. They're awesome."
Seizing opportunity, the offense added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to assure Utah (5-1) of its fourth consecutive victory.
"A few things went wrong but nothing keeps our team down," said senior safety Dave Revill. Linebacker Ray Holdcraft had a team-high 12 stops, while Revill and freshman Eric Weddle each finished with eight.
A 17-yard scoring strike from Smith to Paris Warren opened the game-ending barrage that the receiver attributed to superior conditioning. The late burst ended with a 23-yard throw to Steve Savoy with 8:06 left to play. Utah has now outscored the opposition 70-29 in the fourth quarter.
SDSU's final chance to rally was snuffed out when Weddle intercepted an Adam Hall pass in the end zone less than three minutes later.
"We just buckled down and played our game," said the freshman cornerback.
Meyer credited his defense for playing well throughout the game. Utah's spread offense, on the other hand, battled through a cold start. It didn't cover much turf in the first half.
"I think big time it was the mistakes. We kept killing ourselves," Smith said. "We threw in the second half and kept it mistake free. That helped us pull away."
The Utes, who only threw the ball six times before halftime, managed just 84 yards and five first downs before the break. They ran 14 fewer plays than the Aztecs as penalties (four totaling 45 yards) and poor execution (two fumbles, one lost) took a toll.
It didn't spell doom, however.
SDSU failed to capitalize on the shortcomings — at least not significantly. A pair of field goals by J.C. Mejia were the only points produced over the first two quarters. The first kick, a 34-yarder, capped a game-opening series that covered 65 yards on 14 plays and took 4:56 off the clock. The Aztecs converted on three consecutive third-down situations to keep the drive alive.
By comparison, Utah's first offensive set died quickly. Three plays and a punt was all the Utes could muster. They were forced to kick it when a direct snap to Warfield sailed over his head on third-and-1. Warfield quickly pounced on the loose ball, but the play resulted in a loss of 24 yards.
Additional miscues followed. On Utah's next possession, a 25-yard pass from Smith to Warren put the ball on the SDSU 38 — for a few seconds, anyhow. A personal foul penalty on the play put the ball back in Ute territory. A run by Warfield recouped half of the lost yardage, but an ensuing quarterback sack (just the fourth allowed by Utah this season) eventually led to another punt.
Before the half was complete, two more drives ended with kicks. Another concluded with a turnover. A fumbled hand-off by Smith was recovered by SDSU linebacker Matt McCoy, who ran for 25 yards to the Utah 15 before being tackled.
The Aztecs wound up settling for a 44-yard field goal, though, after the Utes made two tackles for loss and forced an incompletion. SDSU missed a 44-yard try late in the first quarter.
"The defense held us in the first half," Meyer said. "They played outstanding today."
An encore performance would no doubt be appreciated next Saturday when the Utes travel to Las Vegas to face UNLV. The Rebels fell from the unbeaten ranks in Mountain West Conference play earlier in the day, leaving just Utah (2-0) and Air Force (3-0) unblemished.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com