In a blowout win over Southern Utah, there’s not a ton that went wrong for Utah football.
The Utes scored 73 points and had nearly 600 yards of offense while holding the Thunderbirds to just seven points and 85 yards of offense.
But in football, there’s always something to improve on. Here are three things Utah can improve on after the win over Southern Utah.
Get the wide receivers more involved
In Utah’s loss to Florida last week, wide receiver Devaughn Vele had three catches for 36 yards, Solomon Enis had two catches for 11 yards and Money Parks had one catch for four yards. Tight end Brant Kuithe made up the bulk of Utah’s receiving yards, with nine catches for 105 yards.
A game against Southern Utah would have been the perfect opportunity for the wide receivers to get more game reps with the starting quarterback, but, of Cameron Rising’s 23 pass attempts in the first half, just seven pass attempts went to wide receivers, with four receptions.
Twelve of Rising’s pass attempts were targeted at Utah’s two tight ends, Dalton Kincaid and Kuithe.
During Rising’s first-half stint, Vele had two receptions for 38 yards, Parks had 22 yards on one reception and Jaylen Dixon had one reception for 14 yards.
Kincaid and Kuithe are fantastic receiving threats for the Utes, but, as teams key on them, the wide receivers will have to be more involved in the offense.
Clean up penalties
Utah had just three penalties for 15 yards against Florida — two false starts and a delay of game — which wasn’t a bad number considering the noise of the Swamp and it being the first game of the season.
Against SUU, the Utes took a step back, accruing nine penalties for 70 yards.
Two of those penalties came on the kickoff, as Jordan Noyes’ kick sailed out of bounds twice. Another special teams penalty came on a hold during a punt return.
The Utes’ offense committed five penalties — two false starts, holding, chop block and an illegal substitution.
Utah’s defense committed just one penalty — defensive holding.
Obviously, in a 66-point win, the penalties didn’t have an impact on the result, but the Utes will need to keep it as clean as possible against tougher competition.
Get off to a better start
The Utes got off to a slow start on Saturday, ending the first quarter tied at 7.
Utah’s first drive of the day was a touchdown, but it was benefitted by a short field after an onside kick attempt to start the game by the Thunderbirds.
The Utes’ second drive ended in a punt and involved two penalties that put Utah at a disadvantage.
Utah’s third drive of the game ended with no points as Tavion Thomas fumbled the ball on the Utah 22-yard line, setting up SUU’s only touchdown of the game.
The Utes made up for the slow start by scoring 38 straight in the second quarter.