3 takeaways from No. 13 Utah’s win over Stanford

Utah scored 42 unanswered points to rout Stanford 42-7 at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night.

With the victory, the Utes finished the season with a 6-0 home record and set up a huge matchup at Oregon in Eugene next Saturday with Pac-12 championship game implications on the line.

Here are three takeaways from Utah’s win.

Tavion Thomas is back

Tavion Thomas looks to be Utah’s lead back going forward.

It’s been an up and down season for Thomas, who has missed multiple games, but on Saturday, he remind everyone what he can be when he plays his best.

Thomas rushed for a career-high 180 yards and two touchdowns as the feature back for the Utes and outgained Stanford’s offense by himself, 180-177.

He carried the rock 22 times, averaging 8.2 yards per carry. Thomas got the vast majority of the carries, with Micah Bernard carrying it five times.

Thomas hasn’t had as big of a workload as he has had in the past and is fresh for the most important game of the season for the Utes next week.

He ran powerfully, getting yards after contact, and provided Utah with a reliable option to go to time after time on offense.

The offensive line had another great performance, opening holes for Thomas and protecting quarterback Cam Rising well.

Thomas is looking to be back in form and the Utes will need a big game from him against the Ducks.

Fourth-down conversions

In recent years, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham has become more aggressive in his fourth-down decisions.

That shift was on full display on Saturday.

Utah went for it on fourth down four times against Stanford and converted all four times. When the Utes needed the marker on fourth down, they got it.

On Utah’s first drive of the game, punter Jack Bouwmeester ran for 14 yards on a fake punt on fourth and 5. Though that drive did not end in points, it showed Utah’s mindset.

On the Utes’ first scoring drive, at the end of the first quarter, they went for it on fourth and 1 on their own 34-yard line, and Rising completed a 7-yard pass to Devaugn Vele to move the chains.

Later in the drive, Utah went for it again on fourth, and it was Rising with a 12-yard pass to Dalton Kincaid for the first down.

Two plays later, the Utes had were on the board for the first time.

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During the next drive, in the early second quarter, the Utes again rolled the dice on fourth down. This time, it was Rising again to Vele on fourth and 8 with a 28-yard pass from the Stanford 32-yard line.

Utah scored on the next play and went up 14-7.

Utah was forced to punt on its first two drives of the game, so the fourth-down conversions on its next two drives were key in taking the lead.

The Utes never looked back, scoring 42 unanswered points.

Defensive dominance

For the third straight game, Utah held its opponent under 21 points.

The Utes’ defense turned in perhaps its finest performance of the year, holding Stanford to seven points and just 177 total yards.

It was the lowest scoring output for the Cardinal this season, as Stanford rushed for only 22 yards.

Utah overwhelmed Stanford’s depleted offensive line, sacking quarterback Tanner McKee seven times.

Freshman defensive tackle Simote Pepa had two sacks, three tackles for loss and six total tackles, safety Cole Bishop had a half-sack and a pass breakup to go with five tackles and defensive end Jonah Elliss and linebacker Mohamoud Diabate each had 1.5 sacks.

Utah’s defense is hitting its stride at the perfect time.