Utah’s dismal offense hits rock bottom in 13-7 loss to TCU

After a dreadful offensive night, Utah found a glimmer of hope in the middle of the third quarter Saturday against TCU.

All night, the Isaac WIlson-led offense had struggled to move the ball, punting nine consecutive times as the frustration continued to mount on a chilly October evening at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

The sellout crowd was yearning, begging, for anything to cheer for when the Utes had the ball. To that point, the offense had given them absolutely nothing.

Utah’s 10th drive of the game started similarly to its last nine, with a Micah Bernard run, this time for four yards. On second down, Wilson moved the chains with a 7-yard completion to Brant Kuithe, and on the ensuing play, the true freshman quarterback rocketed the ball to a wide-open Money Parks for a 71-yard touchdown pass.

With 6:12 remaining in the third quarter, the Utes’ dormant offense had a spark.

“All it takes is one play. Money got a little one-on-one route, he won it. Throw it over the top to him, I trust him. O-line did a great job blocking, but just takes one play,” Wilson said.

Utah’s defense allowed 395 yards of offense but held TCU’s high-flying offense to a season-low 13 points — well below their season average of 35.3 — and kept giving Wilson and the Utes’ offense the chance to get another play to take the lead.

In the second half, TCU quarterback Josh Hoover was overwhelmed by Utah defenders, who sped up the normally reliable signal-caller and forced punt after punt to get the ball back into Wilson’s hands.

Aside from causing a turnover and scoring themselves, Morgan Scalley’s unit was doing all it could to win Utah the game.

“Very proud of our defense. … Hold that crew to 13 points, what they’ve been doing this year with really essentially no help field position-wise or staying off the field,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

Utah had the ball four times after scoring the third-quarter touchdown, but instead of taking the lead, it was a reprise of the same issues that plagued the Utes not only in this game, but throughout this season.

Four possessions with the chance for a go-ahead touchdown ended with two punts and two turnovers on downs.

The most promising drive of the bunch started at the Utah two-yard line with 11:42 left in the contest. On a gotta-have-it third-and-4 deep in their own territory, Wilson connected with Dorian Singer for a 36-yard gain to move the ball to the Utah 44-yard line, but everything after that encapsulated the issues with the offense.

On first down, offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig dialed up a pop pass to Parks, who faked the reverse to Dijon Stanley. It was like TCU knew exactly what was going to happen, taking away not just Parks’ running lane, but staying with Stanley as well.

There was nowhere for the play to go, and Parks was dropped for a loss of five yards.

Utah tried a screen to Kuithe that went for just four yards on second-and-15, and on third-and-11, Wilson nearly walked into a sack before somehow staying alive, scrambling for nine yards after nothing was open.

On a game-defining fourth down, TCU sent safety Jamel Johnson on a blitz. Johnson had a direct line to Wilson, pressuring him and not allowing him to step into his throw, and the true freshman tossed an interception.

That summed up the night for Utah’s offense in a 13-7 loss to TCU.

The Utes scored just once in 14 drives, with the other 13 resulting in either a punt or a turnover on downs.

There’s been plenty of poor offensive performances at Utah over the years, including against TCU 14 years ago, but Saturday challenged for one of the top spots.

“I guess we’re fine, other than not being able to score points, make first downs, run the ball, throw the ball efficiently, make a conversion on third or fourth down,” Whittingham said.

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Wilson, who apologized to the defense postgame, looked every bit a true freshman, missing open receivers at times and holding the ball too often at others, which played a part some of his four sacks. His field vision just isn’t quite where it needs to be, either.

The offensive line didn’t help matters, turning in one of its worst games of the season.

Utah’s passing attack was never a threat for the vast majority of the game, and TCU knew it. That meant the Horned Frogs could stack the box, play their safeties close to the line of scrimmage, sell out on the run and not get burned. TCU also dialed up a ton of pressure, as most teams have done against Wilson, with favorable results.

Bernard tried to power through to the best of his ability and had gains of 15 and 20 yards, but was held in check for much of the night, finishing with 55 yards on 11 carries.

Ludwig’s play-calling was uninspired, too predictable and didn’t seem to be tailored to Wilson’s strengths.

What happened to all of the tight ends Utah’s offensive coordinator talked up in the offseason? The only tight end utilized Saturday was Kuithe. And so much for a deep receiver room — after Singer and Parks, there’s a steep dropoff in production and utilization. Players like Syracuse transfer receiver Damien Alford, who had 610 yards last year, don’t even see the field.

Utah’s offense hasn’t looked great during the past two games, but on Saturday, it looked pretty much broken. It was so bad that the question had to be asked: Will Whittingham make a change at play-caller?

“Everything’s up in the air right now. Everything’s up for evaluation and we will evaluate,” Whittingham said.

After three straight dismal performances, can this offense even be fixed this season?

“Sure hope so. Sure hope so,” Whittingham said. “But the last three games have not been very encouraging. I know I’ll keep working and try to figure things out and just have to see what happens.”

The way the game started out, it looked like it could be a wild, wacky and chaotic Big 12 contest. Led by Hoover, TCU marched right down the field on its first drive of the game, including a third-and-13 completion, but on a first-down play in the red zone, Hoover fumbled the ball while pulling it away on the read option, and Van Fillinger pounced on it.

It was a stroke of luck for a defense that started the game on its heels, but that luck soon turned the Horned Frogs’ way. After a three-and-out on the Utes’ first series of the evening, the Horned Frogs sent the house and easily navigated through Utah’s punt block team, with DJ Rogers getting his hands on the ball and Jonathan Bax recovering it at the Utah 15-yard line.

With a chance to cash in for the night’s first points, TCU got as far as the Utah three-yard line, but the Utes held strong on the goal line to force a field goal.

TCU kicker Kyle Lemmermann lined up for a chip-shot field goal, but it was blocked by Tao Johnson, conjuring up some memories of TCU’s failures on that goal post in 2008.

After all of that chaos, the remaining 22 minutes of the first half were downright tame.

All things considered, after getting absolutely zero help from the offense, Utah’s defense turned in a decent first-half performance. They gave up nearly 250 yards and had a few lapses, like letting Drake Dabney behind them for a 20-yard gain that was initially called a touchdown before being reversed (Hoover scored on a QB sneak on the next play), but only gave up 10 first-half points to TCU’s high-powered offense.

With an average offense of their own, the Utes would have been in great position for a win.

An average offense would have been a welcome respite for Whittingham. The fans booed at multiple points during a first half of offensive ineptitude, and by the time Utah’s team jogged off the field after scoring zero points and gaining just 86 first-half yards, the boos grew to the loudest level of the night.

After what the fans had just watched, who could blame them?

“Fans pay their money. They have a right to do whatever they want. They pay money for the tickets and if they’re not happy, that’s the way they want to react,” Whittingham said.

“Guys have played a lot of good football through the years and given them a lot of positive things to be excited about, but certainly in the last few games have not been anything to be excited about.”

Saturday’s defeat — the first time the Utes have lost three straight since 2017 — made it official. The program entered this season as the favorite to win the Big 12 championship and will fall well short of the preseason goal they set.

Forget conference title aspirations, Utah now has an uphill climb for bowl eligibility with home games against undefeated BYU and Iowa State and road contests against Houston, Colorado and UCF.