Utah’s season hit a new level of rock bottom on Saturday night, as it lost 17-14 to Houston at TDECU Stadium.
It’s the fourth straight loss for the preseason Big 12 favorite, as Utah fell to 4-4 on the year and 1-4 in league play.
As offensive woes continued to haunt the Utes, they head into their second bye of the season with a long list of questions. Chief among them: Is there any way to generate enough offense to win in November?
Here’s a look at three takeaways that helped define the night for Utah in the loss to Houston (3-5, 2-3 Big 12):
Another QB conundrum at the center of offensive woes
Utah made a switch at quarterback in the third quarter, as Isaac Wilson was benched in favor of Brandon Rose.
The result only seemed to complicate matters.
Wilson completed 13 of 22 passes for 171 yards and one touchdown before being replaced. He only led one scoring drive — he hit Brant Kuithe for a 71-yard touchdown pass on Utah’s second offensive play of the game.
Wilson did have two second-quarter drives that ended with field-goal attempts and would have given Utah the lead at halftime, but Cole Becker missed tries of 46 and 52 yards as the teams headed into halftime 7-7.
Wilson got two more series in the third quarter, but he ended the night with four drives that ended in punts, two in missed field goals and another wherein he lost a fumble.
Rose captained the final five drives of the game for Utah, and his top moment came when he quarterbacked a scoring drive that put the Utes up 14-7 in the third quarter.
The thing was, though, it was a short field — a Johnathan Hall interception gave Utah possession at the Houston 22 — and it was Micah Bernard’s 14-yard touchdown run that highlighted the TD drive.
Otherwise, Rose also had his struggles moving the ball, with three of his possessions ending in punts.
The most damaging drive for Rose, though, was his final one. With Utah near midfield and trying to piece together a drive to score, he was intercepted at the Houston 46 with 1:55 to play, and Houston drove down for the game-winning field goal as time expired.
Rose completed 7 of 15 passes for 45 yards and the interception.
The Utes ended up going just 4 of 16 on third down in the game, and while Utah ended up with a red-zone touchdown on Bernard’s score, it only reached the red zone one time.
Utah also didn’t eclipse 100 yards rushing, finishing with 90 on the night. Bernard had 51, while Jaylen Glover, in his first action since the opener, ran for 33 on four carries — a rare bright spot offensively.
With a bye next week before the rivalry game against BYU on Nov. 9, there’s a lot to discuss about why things have gone so sideways for Utah offensively, and if there are any answers to help deliver a couple of wins in November to become bowl eligible.
Special teams were a mess
The most glaring issue for Utah on special teams came in the field-goal kicking game, as Becker uncharacteristically missed a pair that could have given the Utes the momentum — and the lead — before halftime.
His 46-yard attempt missed wide right, wasting a 13-play, 54-yard drive, while his 52-yarder came up agonizingly 1 yard short of going through the uprights — it was down the middle, but Becker just didn’t get enough on it.
It especially stings considering how Houston won the game with a 43-yard Jack Martin field goal on the final play of the game. In a low-scoring matchup wherein points were at a premium, it was the little things that weren’t going right that caused Utah to fall to a Houston team that is among the worst in the Big 12.
Punting was also a struggle for Utah on Saturday. Jack Bouwmeester ended up averaging 41.1 yards per punt on eight punts, but he had two short ones that ended up coming before both of Houston’s two touchdown drives.
In the second quarter, after Utah made a goal-line stand but was then forced to punt from its own end zone, Bouwmeester had a 36-yarder that was returned 15 yards and gave Houston possession starting at the Utah 23.
Three plays later, Stephon Johnson caught a 21-yard touchdown pass to make the score 7-7.
Then in the fourth quarter, Utah had a promising drive stall at the Houston 38, and Bouwmeester was brought on to pin the Cougars deep.
His punt only netted 23 yards, and while Houston still started inside its own 20 at the 15, the Cougars weren’t backed up near their own goal line.
The Cougars followed that with their best drive of the night, a 10-play, 85-yarder that ended with a 28-yard Joseph Manjack IV touchdown grab that tied the game 14-14 with 8:29 to play.
Defense made some big plays, but gave up just enough
It’s hard to fault Utah’s defense for much on this night. The Utes held the Cougars to 289 yards, including just 61 passing yards, though giving up 228 yards on the ground allowed the Cougars just enough offense to win.
Houston also was only 3 of 15 on third down and 1 of 3 on fourth down.
The two fourth-down failings for Houston both came at the Utah 1, when the Cougars couldn’t cash in on long drives. Instead, the Utes made a pair of goal-line stands — one in the second quarter and another in the third — to keep Houston from scoring more than two touchdowns.
Lander Barton, who came up with a tackle for loss on the second stop on the Utah 1, had a team-high 12 tackles for the Utes, including 11 solo stops.
Connor O’Toole, in his first action since the Utah State game, had three tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Utah also forced a key turnover, Hall’s first career interception, and forced four three and outs.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough — just barely.
The Utes gave up 29 yards on Houston’s game-winning drive with the clock winding down, just enough for Martin to line up a field goal that was just 1 yard short of his career high.
All nine plays were runs.
The one fourth down that Utah gave up was a 7-yard run on fourth and 6 to Houston quarterback Zeon Chriss on its second touchdown drive. Chriss’ run set up a 28-yard touchdown pass on the next play.
For a side of the ball that kept Utah in the game, there were a couple times when a matter of inches went against the Utes, and it was just enough to help Houston win.
What’s next?
Utah will have a bye next week before hosting No. 11 BYU on Nov. 9. The Cougars beat UCF 37-24 on Saturday to improve to 8-0 on the season.
The Utes will then play at Colorado on Nov. 16, at home against No. 10 Iowa State on Nov. 23 and at UCF on Nov. 29 to close out the regular season.
Considering the Utes’ compounding issues and with three of the top Big 12 teams remaining on the schedule, it’s plausible that Utah’s bid for bowl eligibility could come down to the season finale.