SALT LAKE CITY — Through five games, Utah football’s offense is among the nation’s leaders.
The Utes’ passing attack has gotten the job done most games, with Utah ranking fifth in the country in passing completion percentage at 75.2% and 10th in team passing efficiency at 176.49.
Quarterback Tyler Huntley and offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig have helped the Utes’ passing game tremendously this season. Pro Football Focus ranks Huntley as the 10th best quarterback in college football, calling him the “The nation’s most accurate thrower in terms of catchable passes this season.”
Huntley has thrown seven touchdowns and no interceptions so far in 2019. Utah is one of four FBS teams to not throw an interception this season. The Utes’ turnover margin is plus-seven, good for No. 7 in the FBS.
“I think they’re doing a nice job. We’ve made a lot of progress. I think we’re doing a good job being balanced. I know we’re doing a good job taking care of the ball and possessing it. Time of possession is heavily in our favor. We’re pretty decent on third down. We’ve got to get better in the red zone touchdown percentage,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We’re running the football effectively, I think we’re leading the conference rushing the football, and throwing the ball efficiently — not for a bunch of yards, but very efficiently.”
Utah’s offensive line has improved over the course of the season, ranking sixth nationally in sacks allowed and 16th in tackles for loss allowed. The Utes are allowing just 0.8 sacks per game and 4.2 tackles for loss per game.
“I think we’re gelling pretty well. You can see it on film, but I’ve been saying this from a long time ago that we’re going to be one of the best groups in the country and thus far has proven to be that and we’re going to continue to strive to be that every day. We’re never going to be perfect, but that’s our goal,” offensive lineman Nick Ford said.
Offensive line coach Jim Harding sees work to be done on the offensive line, particularly pad level.
“We definitely have a lot of work to get done yet. I think we have made some progress, but definitely some things we need to work on as an overall group,” he said.
Part of the reason that Utah hasn’t allowed very many sacks has been Huntley’s ability to escape from pressure.
“Tyler is a really good player and he definitely has made us look good back there. I think we are improving, but Tyler has definitely saved us from a few sacks, for sure,” Harding said.
Utah’s passing game has also opened up the offense more for its bread-and-butter — the run game. The Utes are 23rd in the nation in rushing yards and lead the Pac-12 in rushing yards with 1,117.
“That helps a lot. Teams think that we’re going to run the ball a lot, so when we change it up, throwing the ball, the defense starts spreading open and when we run the ball, the holes are open,” Devonta’e Henry-Cole said.
Utah’s run game is led by Zack Moss, who could be back from injury against Oregon State this Saturday. Henry-Cole, Devin Brumfield and Jordan Wilmore have stepped up in his absence.
“It’s a good group of running backs. Our group is really good. We learn off of each other, go in extra to watch film and then we just feed off each other’s energy,” Henry-Cole said.
Utah has been able to use the ground game to control the time of possession, ranking fifth in time of possession average at 35:04 per game. The Utes have fumbled just two times this year, which is tied for the second-fewest turnovers in FBS.