With a 34-13 win at Arizona State Saturday night, Utah passed its first Pac-12 test with ease.
But tougher tests are looming on the horizon.
Yes, the No. 12 Utes (3-1, 1-0) stuck a fork in the Sun Devils. But October features four challenging games, starting Saturday (noon MDT, Pac-12 Network) at home against Oregon State.
The Beavers dropped a 17-14 heartbreaker at home to No. 6 USC.
The following week, Utah travels to UCLA and then the Trojans visit Rice-Eccles Stadium for a much-anticipated matchup.
After a bye, the Utes finish off the month with a Thursday night matchup at Washington State.
For now, Utah has some issues to deal with — namely the status of star tight end Brant Kuithe, who suffered a knee injury at the end of the first quarter against ASU.
Coach Kyle Whittingham said he’ll provide an update Monday morning during his weekly news conference.
“We hope for the best,” Whittingham said Saturday night. “It’s not definitive but, like I said, it doesn’t look good.”
Kuithe has caught 19 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns this season.
Fortunately for Utah, it has another talented tight end in Dalton Kincaid, who caught two touchdown passes against Arizona State. Kincaid has 16 receptions for 240 yards and four TDs this season.
Quarterback Cam Rising knows that he’ll be counting on Kincaid more than ever.
“He’s going to be the No. 1 guy inside,” he said. “We’re going to be looking for him to produce. He’s going to have a great amount of production because of it.”
Utah’s offense ended its trend of slow starts by scoring a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter against the Sun Devils.
However, the Utes stalled a few times in the red zone, something that concerned Whittingham.
And Utah debuted a new running back — former backup quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson, who ran nine times for 31 yards and a touchdown Saturday.
The Utes have had to make some changes in the offensive backfield after running back Chris Curry suffered a season-ending knee injury.
“When Chris went down, we were a guy short. We thought that if anybody could fill the bill and we decided to give Ja’Quinden a shot,” Whittingham said. “He was all in. With that mentality and that skill set, what you saw (Saturday) was a taste of what I think he can bring to the table.”
Whittingham added that Jackson will remain a running back this season.
Freshman Jaylon Glover, who ran 13 times for 48 yards against ASU, took the majority of carries in the first half. The coaching staff opted not to play Thomas in the first half due to some “internal” issues, Whittingham said.
But Thomas played in the second half and had 11 attempts and finished with 60 yards.
Defensively, Utah limited ASU to 267 yards, including six rushing yards.
Whittingham is impressed with the way the defense is coming together after having some struggles in the season-opener at Florida.
“They’re starting to get in sync. You’ve seen it the last three weeks now what their capabilities are,” he said. “As the season progresses, there will be big challenges down the road. After that first game, they were so disappointed but they’ve answered the bell for three weeks in a row.”
Rising summed up Utah’s first Pac-12 win of the season this way: “The defense did a great job dominating in all facets,. We’ve got to be better in the red zone as an offense. And just keep it going.”
Certainly, over the next four weeks, the Utes will be tested.
Oregon State (3-1, 0-1) at No. 12 Utah (3-1, 1-0)
Saturday, Noon MDT
Rice-Eccles Stadium
TV: Pac-12 Network
Radio: ESPN 700