Utah's football coaches and team anticipated seeing 6-foot-5 senior wide receiver John Madsen of West Valley City setting their world on fire.
"John Madsen is a key component of this offense. He's a go-to guy, for sure," said Ute offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, whose schemes were set back a bit while Madsen nursed a pulled hamstring through most of fall training camp. Madsen was limited to just a few plays last week against Arizona as he tried to complete his rehab.
Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Madsen made the Utes' first big mistake of the game, losing a fumble to Utah State after a short reception in the red zone.
That lost fumble set up a drive that put Utah State on top 7-0 just into the second quarter.
Madsen, however, came back and showed why the Utes have had so much faith in him with career highs in receptions, yards and touchdowns. He had a hand in every touchdown scored in the game, either setting them up or scoring them himself in a 31-7 Ute victory.
"Definitely, I wanted to make up for it," Madsen said. "I'd just seen the look on the teammates' faces when you fumble the ball inside the 20-yard line, and you never want to let your teammates down.
"I felt like I had to do something to show them that I'm there for them.
"I fumbled the ball. It was a shot to me. I came off a not-so-good first game, and then that happened to me. I was kind of shaken up a little bit."
Fumbles are never acceptable, said Ludwig, but what happened afterward for Madsen had the coordinator seeing big things for the big guy.
"I'm sure he's a little tight. He wants to do so well and knows we're counting on him, so he's pressing a little bit," Ludwig said, "but I think with the success he had tonight, he'll loosen up and be huge for us."
Madsen made a name for himself with a huge touchdown catch at Texas A&M in 2003 and then played last year behind Paris Warren and Steve Savoy, who both went to NFL camps this summer.
Saturday, he actually broke his career-high in receiving yards with 100 in the first half, and he totaled a career-best eight catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns, his first multi-TD game.
His second-quarter 47-yard reception put the ball at the Aggie 2-yard line to set up Utah's first touchdown, a 2-yard run by quarterback Brian Johnson that tied the score at 7-7. Madsen then added a 30-yard touchdown reception with 1:27 left in the first half for a 14-7 Ute lead.
His 15-yard catch helped prepare Quinton Ganther's 2-yard scoring run for a 21-7 lead just into the third quarter. And Madsen caught a 2-yard scoring pass for a 28-7 margin just into the fourth quarter.
E-mail: lham@desnews.com