SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s final nonconference game has many objectives. Topping the list, though, is winning. The 11th-ranked Utes are looking to go 3-0 when they face Idaho State Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
That’s the obvious goal. However, Utahn coach Kyle Whittingham acknowledged there are other things to accomplish by next week’s Pac-12 opener at USC.
“As far as things getting shored up, I think we need to be better in short-yardage situations or just converting those,” said Whittingham, who was pleased the Utes were 5 for 5 with five touchdowns in the red zone in last week’s 35-17 win over Northern Illinois.
After reviewing the film, though, Whittingham acknowledged that the short-yardage offense was not a strong suit.
“We had too many linebacker run throughs and safety run throughs. We have to do a better job with our offensive line keeping our eyes and our heads up to see those run throughs and hitting that movement,” he explained. “They gave us a lot of movement in general and typically that is a feast or famine type of defensive scheme. You are either going to make a big play in the backfield or have a big crease that you give up, but they did a nice job with those blitzes and we did not do a nice job picking them up.”
However, there are plenty of positives as well. Following victories over BYU and NIU, Utah is the only FBS offense to have not surrendered a sack or turned the ball over. Quarterback Tyler Huntley ranks seventh in the nation in completion percentage (27 of 35, 77.1 percent). The success compliments a strong ground game (227.5 yards per game) led by running back Zack Moss (267 yards).
“It’s nice to see the offense open up a little,” said wide receiver Britain Covey. “It gives comfort to the whole team, but especially I think to the coaches just knowing that you have so many weapons that you can spread the ball with. So when someone wants to key on Zack, sweet, we can beat people in many different ways.”
“If you’re going to have a chance to win a championship your trajectory has got to be up all season long. You’ve got to continue to get better and improve as the season goes on because the teams that are going to be in the championship games are those teams.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
Huntley emphasized the importance of just taking care of the ball and not giving up sacks. He said the system under offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig is designed for the personnel.
“We go out there one play at a time and execute and we just make plays,” Huntley said. “So just trusting into the system, it leads to great things.”
The Utes are the least penalized team in the Pac-12, thus far, averaging just four calls and 37 yards per game.
Utah’s offensive efficiency is also revealed by Huntley’s total quarterback rating. He’s currently 10th in the nation (85.5).
The senior, though, doesn’t put much stock in it.
“It’s about playing football,” Huntley said. “You’ve got to go out there and play like stats don’t mean nothing. It’s about winning a game.”
Utah’s quest to do so includes other areas of emphasis this week. Whittingham noted that kicker Jadon Redding has yet to attempt a field goal. Since replacing Andrew Strauch as the starter, the freshman has been limited to PATs, making all seven of his attempts.
“I would like to see where Jadon Redding is and give him a few shots,” Whittingham said. “Although we would rather not because we would rather score touchdowns, but it would be nice to see him kick a few field goals this week.”
The Utes have few questions defensively. They’re currently among the Pac-12 leaders in numerous categories — allowing just 79.5 rushing yards, 14.5 points per game and 28 first-downs allowed.
“There isn’t really one glaring area that needs to get fixed,” Whittingham said. “So just keep playing consistently there.”
Defensive tackle Leki Fotu agrees. He expressed thoughts on being assignment-sound as the season progresses, eliminating individual mistakes like those that allowed NIU some early success last week.
“Just build up our chemistry and get those little decimals down for assignments,” Fotu said.
Overall, Whittingham said the Utes look to fine tune things every week and “just take another step forward as a team.” He feels they’ve done that the past two weeks.
“If you’re going to have a chance to win a championship your trajectory has got to be up all season long,” Whittingham said. “You’ve got to continue to get better and improve as the season goes on because the teams that are going to be in the championship games are those teams.”
Whittingham acknowledged it’s difficult. A big factor, he continued, is holding on to fundamentals and techniques.
“That just means you’ve got to continue to work on the details and the finer points of what you are doing and not get lazy and not get sloppy.”
After Idaho State, the schedule gets more difficult as Utah closes out the regular season with nine straight Pac-12 games. The Utes topped the conference’s preseason media poll as favorites to win the title.