Utah’s offense finally gets untracked in second half as Utes follow Zack Moss to victory over BYU

PROVO — The Utah offense didn’t exactly look dynamic Thursday night as Andy Ludwig Part II was unveiled at LaVell Edwards Stadium in a game that lasted four hours thanks to a surprise weather delay.

While the Utes’ offense sputtered for much of the game, it finally got going when it needed to in the second half and eventually the Utes were able to go home with a comfortable victory. 

“Great job by Zack (Moss). We found our rhythm in the second half and really rushed the football and exerted our will.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

Utah ended up riding Zack Moss’s back to their ninth straight victory over the Cougars as the senior running back ran for 181 yards on 29 carries, exactly half of the Utes’ total offense of 362 yards. 

“Great job by Zack,” said Ute coach Kyle Whittingham. “We found our rhythm in the second half and really rushed the football and exerted our will.” 

The Utes only passed the ball 16 times, while rushing 48 times, a 3-to-1 ratio of run to pass which they haven’t done in years and rarely happens in pass-happy college football these days.

Ute receiver Britain Covey, who was playing his first and only game at the stadium where he grew up less than a mile away from, had just one catch for four yards in the victory and he joked about Utah’s lack of passing afterward.

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“We’re just an air-raid offense and pass all day,” he said of the Utes’ 16 pass attempts. “There’s no secret about it, that when you do pass, you pass because you want to and not because you have to and that’s the difference.”

The Utes didn’t have to pass after Moss got going late in the second quarter and continued into the second half when he piled up most of his yardage. 

“It was a big confidence-builder for me,” Moss said. “I had so many nerves coming into this game and after getting hit a few times at first, I was able to start being myself.”

The Utah offense looked sluggish in the first half as the Utes could only muster 125 yards with six first downs. And except for the 47 yards that came in the final 1:15, the Utes would have had a grand total of 78 yards.

In past years, Utah might have panicked and tried something different, but this time the Utes stuck with their strength to start the second half. Moss had back-to-back runs go for 14 yards and Huntley, Jordan Wilmore and Demari Simpkins each took a turn running. By the time Jaylen Dixon ran a sweep to the left pylon for a 2-yard touchdown, the Utes had run the ball on nine of their 10 plays and led by 10.

Moss hadn’t played since the 2018 Arizona State game when he picked up 128 yards on 18 carries and then hurt himself getting out of bed the following week. He ran for 1,096 yards on the season after rushing for 1,555 yards the previous two years. 

There was some question whether Moss would even play after he suffered a hand injury early in fall camp and appeared to have a cast on his hand. But Whittingham said Moss practiced “every day” during camp and there was no question he’d play Thursday. 

When asked to evaluate the new offense under Ludwig, Whittingham was positive, but said there was room for improvement.

“Overall very good,” he said. “You judge the game in its entirety and look at the body of work. We ran the football very physical and we know we need to be more explosive and get the ball down the field more in the throw game and I thought it was a good start. But make no mistake, we’ve got to get better.”