SALT LAKE CITY — If all goes as hoped for the 17th-ranked Utah Utes, Zack Moss and his pursuit of program’s career-rushing record will resume next Saturday night at Oregon State.
The senior, who is just 176 yards away from surpassing Eddie Johnson (1984-88) as Utah’s all-time leading rusher, has been sidelined with what he said is a “nagging injury.” Moss left the USC loss after six carries with a shoulder issue. He didn’t play the following week in a victory over Washington State.
“My goal is to just be back as fast as I can,” Moss said of his availability next weekend in Corvallis, Oregon. “So I’m aiming for that one for sure.”
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham is also optimistic. Moss leads the Utes with 393 yards. He’s averaging 6.2 yards on 63 carries with four touchdowns.
“My goal is to just be back as fast as I can.” — Utah running back Zack Moss
“We’re fairly confident we’ll get Zack back for the next game,” Whittingham said.
A bye week has enhanced the possibility, giving Moss extra time to heal up. As such, Whittingham is hopeful Moss will get under the wire.
“But no guarantees of course,” he said.
Moss, meanwhile, is trying to make the most of the situation. He expressed a desire to get everything healed up, banded up as much as possible, and get things rolling in the second half of the season.
“First and foremost I know if the team is having great success, I’ll have great success,” said Moss, who added plans to hoist the Pac-12 championship trophy. “Then whatever falls underneath that is just a bonus for me.”
Moss is in prime position for a lot of extras. His career rushing total of 3,044 yards is second only to Johnson (3,219). The former Florida prep star can also become the first three-time 1,000-yard rusher in team history. In addition, his 27 rushing touchdowns rank second, his 13 100-yard games are the third-most for the Utes, and his 540 carries place him fifth.
“I have goals. I have it down in my room on a paper — where I’m at, where I’m sitting at in each and every category because I want to be the best that’s been able to do this at this level at this school,” Moss said.
The time to relish such things, however, is something Moss insists won’t come until the season is over. It’s all about team success right now. He’s worried about today and then the next thing tomorrow. His mindset centers around a belief that whatever is left on the table is something they’ll get around to at some point.
“You’ve got to roll with the punches that the game gives you. It was tough to go out there and not be able to compete with those guys (against Washington State),” Moss said. “But they handled themselves the right way — guys stepped up and Tyler (Huntley) got us the win. So it was a good thing overall. I’m just happy that we got that win.”
Utah wound up rushing for 192 yards in the 38-13 victory over the Cougars. Devonta’e Henry-Cole ran for a game-high 79 yards, while eight others picked up positive yardage.
“We miss Zack Moss so much, but the running backs are doing a great job of stepping in and taking advantage of all their reps,” Huntley said. “We know that we miss Zack, so we need others to step up.”
Huntley credited the guys for making plays as Utah netted 526 yards of total offense in the Washington State game. However, the Utes are still eager for the return of their all-conference running back.
“We dearly miss Zack,” Huntley said. “We hope he’ll be back by next week. We’ll see.”
Whittingham has similar thoughts.
“We’re fairly confident we’ll get Zack back for next game and that’ll make us that much more potent running the ball,” he explained. “When he’s not there, the other guys have got to pick up the slack which they did. Credit to the offensive line.”
Moss played his part by trying to motivate the backs against Washington State, trying to keep them locked in the game with their foot on the gas. He acknowledged things did get a little boring because their weren’t a lot of carries (41) and plenty of pass-blocking opportunities (30).
“You never really want to miss games,” Moss said. “But you’ve just got to know how to be a team guy and just be a teammate — make sure you’re part of game somehow, someway.”
Although Moss was limited to nine games in 2018 those misses were inevitable because of a knee injury. This one was different.
“This is the first game I ever actually just had to miss because of something like a nagging injury,” he said.
Not playing, Moss admits, is always difficult. Any thought of having him miss the Oregon State game for additional rest in preparation for projected greater challenges the following weeks against teams like Arizona State, California and Washington are quickly dismissed.
“They’re a very, very good team and they are finding their stride. They just haven’t put it all together yet. But they are a very good team and we don’t take anyone lightly,” Moss said of the Beavers. “This is not a conference where you can go into any week and think ‘OK, we’ve got this one. It’s an easy walk-through.’”
Moss explained that’s especially true when going to their house.
“So it’s going to be a good match for us and another stepping stone for us as a team,” he said.
It could us be a record-breaking trip for Moss. Earlier this season, Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard ran for 221 yards against Oregon State — 45 more than Moss needs to move to the top of Utah’s list.
And when all is said and done, Moss would eventually like to meet Johnson and Tony Lindsay, who is third on Utah’s career rushing leaderboard.
“It would be cool to see those guys who paved the way and made me want to chase greatness,” Moss said.