SALT LAKE CITY — Heading into the season, throughout spring and fall camp really, no unit on the Utah football team received more praise than the secondary.
Whether it be the cornerbacks, led by Julian Blackmon and Jaylon Johnson, or the safeties, headlined by Corrion Ballard and Marquise Blair, the unit was roundly expected to be the team’s best.
“I have been bragging about them all offseason,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham told the Deseret News during fall camp. “That whole group is hungry, athletic, extremely talented and very well coached. We expect a lot of production out of them this year.”
Expectations for the secondary were high, best-unit-in-the-country-high.
Through the first six games of the season, Utah’s secondary has failed to meet those expectations.
“Not at all, not even close,” said Johnson, he of 100-yard pick-six fame.
“We haven’t been mentioned as the best secondary yet and that was definitely our preseason goal. We are not meeting that yet.”
Hurting the cause has been the Utes’ play in their conference.
In their 28-24 loss at Washington State, Utah allowed 445 total yards through the air, including three touchdowns.
In the 40-21 win over Stanford, the Utes weren’t much better. Cardinal quarterback K.J. Costello seemed to torch the secondary, particularly in the third quarter, and finished with 381 yards passing and a touchdown.
Even in Utah’s dominant 42-10 victory over Arizona, the Utes’ allowed 246 passing yards, most of which were by third-string quarterback Rhett Rodriguez.
In each of their four Pac-12 games this year, against Washington, Washington State, Stanford and Arizona, the Utes’ have allowed at least one pass of 30 yards or more.
Utah famously lost to the Cougars on an 89-yard touchdown pass, and a 26-yard touchdown strike brought the Cardinal within a single score of the Utes before they managed to put that game away.
For many, Utah’s vaunted secondary has disappointed.
“There is room for improvement,” Ballard said. “We can always do better.”
The truth is they actually can’t do much better.
According to the NCAA and its team passing efficiency defense metric, Utah boasts one of the top-rated secondaries in the country.
Utah is 18th in the nation in pass efficiency defense, which takes into consideration opponents completions and attempts, as well as turnovers, total passing yards allowed and touchdowns.
As for the Pac-12, well, Utah is No. 1 in the conference in pass efficiency defense.
“I feel pretty good about our secondary,” Whittingham said. “Pass efficiency defense is our barometer of how we are doing versus the pass and we are amongst the leaders nationally. We have given up some yards in certain weeks, but you judge it by the efficiency of it all and I think we are doing a good job.”
“I think we have been pretty solid,” Johnson added. “We aren’t as efficient as we hoped to be in the beginning of the year so we are still pushing to get better, but overall we are holding up pretty good.”
Leading the way is Blackmon. The corner leads the teams in pass breakups (PBUs) this season with six, which is good for fourth-best in the Pac-12. Blackmon is also tied for fifth in the conference in passes defended per game.
“We are right where we want to be,” Blackmon said.
Johnson isn’t too far behind. The California native has recorded 23 tackles, a pass breakup and an interception.
Blair and Ballard, an interchangeable duo at safety, have been just as good. Ballard has racked up 18 tackles, notched four PBUs, forced and recovered a fumble, and registered a pick.
Blair, meanwhile, has 21 tackles this season, to go along with two PBUs.
Blackmon, Johnson, the lot of them, will face perhaps their greatest challenge of the season when USC comes to town this weekend.
The Trojans boast one of the most talented receiving corps in the conference, led by Velus Jones Jr., Michael Pittman Jr., Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Tyler Vaughns.
“It’ll be fun, it will be a fun challenge,” Blackmon said. “Washington State was the hardest group of receivers we’ve gone up against so far and this one is more athletic. This group is probably up there with Washington State.”
“That is the key matchup in the game,” Whittingham added. “They have several receivers that are all playmakers. When the ball goes down the field they do a great job making plays, even when they are covered. We will have to see if we can play the deep ball well.”
If this season has been any indication, the Utes will be up to the task.
•••
USC (4-2, 3-1) at Utah (4-2, 2-2)
- Rice-Eccles Stadium
- Saturday, 6 p.m.
- TV: Pac-12 Networks
- Radio: ESPN 700AM