On a drizzly afternoon filled with penalties, limited offenses, and mistakes, the No. 21 Utah Utes defeated the Oregon State Beavers 19-14 Saturday.
Here's how the Utes fared in every aspect of the game.
Offense
The Utes racked up 317 yards of total offense, including 275 on the ground. Joe Williams came out of his short retirement from the game of football to rush for 179 yards on 34 carries while also scoring a touchdown. Troy Williams only completed four of his 13 pass attempts for 42 yards, and the Utes only scored 19 points while committing two turnovers.
Due to the conditions, the offense struggled, but the performance of Joe Williams certainly made up for the rest of the lackluster showing by the rest of the offense.
Offensive grade: B
Defense
The Utes allowed 297 total yards of offense and forced two Beaver turnovers. Utah faced three different Oregon State quarterbacks due to injuries and allowed 100 passing yards and nine completions between the three signal-callers. Darrell Garretson threw 20 passes, and just like Troy Williams for the Utes, but he completed just four of them.
Chase Hansen was huge for the Utes, racking up eight tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and an interception.
The Utes pitched a shutout first half but allowed a touchdown in the third, and a touchdown late in the fourth. Overall, it was a solid performance from the Utes against a very average Oregon State offense.
Defensive grade: B+
Special Teams
Andy Phillips made both extra points and his only field goal of the afternoon, and Mitch Wishnowsky pinned two of his five punts inside the 20 while averaging 42.2 yards per punt. The special teams unit also was on the field when the Beavers snapped the ball out of the end zone for a safety.
Special Teams grade: A
Due to the conditions, I was a little more generous on my grading scale this week, but all in all the Utes didn't play a bad game in less than generous conditions. The defense was solid, and the offense did what it could in a limited capacity.
Overall Grade: B+
CJ Pronk is a Deseret Digital Media contributor and a Stansbury High School graduate. He currently studies sports journalism and Spanish at the University of Alabama. Follow CJ on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. @BigCeeJ3113.