Not even a frigid night can slow this Utah team in latest romp, though Utes remain focused on ‘unfinished business’

SALT LAKE CITY — It took a while for the sixth-ranked Utah Utes to warm up on Saturday. On a cold night at Rice-Eccles Stadium, where temperatures dipped to the mid-20s by kickoff, they didn’t get a first down until the final play of the opening quarter. Their initial score took another 3 1/2 minutes to materialize.

When it was over, though, Utah went on to defeat Colorado quite handily. Rewards from the 45-15 triumph were plentiful — an outright Pac-12 South title, a Friday night date with Oregon in the conference championship game and probable advancement in the College Football Playoff rankings with No. 5 Alabama’s loss at Auburn.

Aside from the sluggish start, everything seemed to fall into place for Utah on Senior Night. Contributions were plentiful, coming from offense, defense and special teams as the Utes reached the Pac-12 title game for the second straight year.

“We played well this evening once we got going — a little slow start, the first quarter wasn’t much that we got accomplished. Credit them, they played well in the first quarter,” said Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. “Then we started to get some momentum and really got things going in the second half.”

Whittingham added that the defense played great again — particularly against the run — and that the offense ran the ball effectively.

“I say it every week, but that’s a starting point for us,” he said.

The Hallandale Trio of quarterback Tyler Huntley, running back Zack Moss and wide receiver Demari Simpkins were especially productive in their final home game. Huntley completed 14 of 17 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Moss, who scored on a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter, led the Utes with 88 yards rushing, and Simpkins returned a punt 66 yards for a score. 

Tight end Brant Kuithe also had a strong outing. The sophomore scored three touchdowns — two receiving and one rushing. Utah kicker Jadon Redding contributed a 23-yard field goal, and Devin Brumfield scored on a 1-yard run.

The Utes finished with 372 yards of total offense and 17 first downs.

“It was cold,” Huntley said of the first quarter woes. “... It was a matter of warming up.” 

Simpkins acknowledged there were a lot of emotions following the pregame ceremonies for the departing seniors.

“I think that’s why we started off so slow,” said Simpkins, who expressed pride in how the guys responded as the game progressed. “I feel like we fought hard.”

There were several standout performances on defense, too.

Senior defensive end Bradlee Anae recorded 1.5 sacks to move into a tie with Hunter Dimick for the program’s career sack lead with 29.5. 

Linebacker Devin Lloyd wound up with a team-high nine tackles (including a sack). Defensive end Mika Tafua had 2.5 tackles for loss, and linebacker Francis Bernard forced a fumble. Safety Terrell Burgess recovered a fumble, while defensive backs Jaylon Johnson and Javelin Guidry each recorded a pass breakup.

Utah’s defense limited Colorado to 126 yards and nine first downs over the final three quarters. The Buffaloes finished with just 60 yards on the ground against the nation’s leading rushing defense.

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Even so, Anae said the defensive unit wasn’t satisfied.

“We don’t feel like we were successful with this game,” he said. “They scored twice and they weren’t supposed to score at all. That’s our mentality every game, no matter who it is. So we’ve just got to get better as a defense.”

The Utes (11-1, 8-1), who finished the regular season with eight straight victories, get their next opportunity for improvement Friday (6 p.m., Ch. 4) against 14th-ranked Oregon (10-2, 8-1) in the Pac-12 Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Anae made one thing clear about the impending matchup.

“I know, for sure, that we’re going to practice this week harder than they are going to practice,” he said.

This will be the first meeting this season between Utah and Oregon. The Ducks are led by senior quarterback Justin Herbert, who has passed for 2,966 yards this season with 30 touchdowns and just five interceptions.

“We’ve got to get to work on the right away. That’s a big reason why a lot of these seniors came back. There are four or five of them that could have exited last year and turned professional,” Whittingham said. “But they had some unfinished business and now they’re back in position to try to finish that business. So we’ll see what happens.”

Utah lost to Washington 10-3 in last year’s Pac-12 championship.

Pac-12 Championship Game

Oregon (10-2, 8-1) vs. Utah (11-1, 8-1)

Levi’s Stadium — Santa Clara, Calif.

Friday, 6 p.m. (MST)

TV: ABC, Ch. 4

Radio: ESPN 700AM