No. 16 Utah’s offense falls flat in big loss to No. 17 Texas Tech

As the sun rose over the Salt Lake Valley on Saturday morning, thousands of Utah fans crowded behind Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show set on the campus of the University of Utah, brimming with excitement and optimism for the morning’s Big 12 opener between two unbeaten teams.

The sold-out Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd showed up in force for the 10 a.m. kickoff, playing some part in Texas Tech’s seven false start penalties.

But Saturday’s big-time game ended the same way the last marquee game here did (a 35-6 loss to Oregon in 2023 with “College GameDay” in town) — with a hush over the sold-out crowd, save for the contingent of Texas Tech fans in the southwest corner of the stadium.

Utah’s offense looked pretty similar to that 35-6 beatdown against Oregon, too. The Utes averaged 45.7 points per game entering Saturday’s contest but couldn’t get much going against a Texas Tech defense that is one of the best in the Big 12, and perhaps the nation.

On Saturday, the final score was 34-10 in favor of the Red Raiders.

“That is a really good football team we played. Give them a lot of credit. They really assembled themselves a really good roster and like I said, they’re talented and physical,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.

“We didn’t do anything to help our own cause, particularly on offense. First quarter was a disaster.”

Quarterback Devon Dampier’s first outing against a Big 12 team was a dud. The New Mexico transfer had his first bad game as a Ute, throwing for 162 yards with two interceptions on 66% completion.

Utah had just one play of more than 15 yards — a 44-yard pass to tight end Dallen Bentley in the fourth quarter that led to the Utes’ only touchdown of the day — and Dampier was off the mark on his deep shots.

“I think we just didn’t execute too well today,” Dampier said.

Dampier was outplayed by Texas Tech’s backup quarterback, Will Hammond, who threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns and completed 81% of his passes — almost all in the second half alone after starter Behren Morton left with an injury.

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Bentley (75 yards, six receptions) and receiver Ryan Davis (70 yards, 10 receptions) were the only pass-catchers of note, though two-way player JJ Buchanan had a 69-yard touchdown reception called back after Spencer Fano was flagged for ineligible man downfield.

Tobias Merriweather, who didn’t record a catch, could have registered his name on the stat sheet late in the third quarter, but Dampier couldn’t connect with him after he sprung open on third-and-4 with Utah trailing 10-3.

The receiver position was a question mark heading into the season, and after four games, it remains one.

“We got to find a way to get a threat at that position,” Whittingham said. “... We didn’t get much involvement with the wideouts today, but you got to get open.

“You got to get open to get the ball and so we got to do a better job of coaching them to help him to get open.”

Utah’s vaunted offensive line was outplayed by the transfer-heavy Texas Tech defensive front, and as a result, the Utes’ run game was never able to get going.

“For us to lose the line of scrimmage, it doesn’t happen very often, but it certainly happened today,” Whittingham said.

Utah had only 101 rushing yards and never had a ground gain over eight yards. Dampier’s dual-threat ability never showed as Texas Tech’s defense swallowed him up pretty much any time he tried to run.

“Ran the ball very poorly, way under a hundred yards if you take away the garbage yards,” Whittingham said.

Meanwhile, Utah turned the ball over four times — two interceptions by Dampier, a fumble by Davis and a fumble by Wayshawn Parker.

The creativity offensive coordinator Jason Beck showed in the first three games was mostly absent, and the screen and lateral passes he dialed up Saturday often didn’t work.

Utah didn’t go uptempo a ton, but it’s hard to run an uptempo offense when you can’t string together positive plays consistently.

Like last season, Utah’s defense was the only reason that this game was close through three quarters. The final numbers don’t paint a flattering picture — Texas Tech gained 484 yards of offense and scored 34 points — but Morgan Scalley’s unit played well through the first 45 minutes of the contest.

Aside from poor tackling that eventually led to a touchdown on Texas Tech’s first drive, Utah’s defense performed well for much of the game, holding the Red Raiders to 10 points through three quarters and forcing two turnovers with minimal support from the offense

It certainly wasn’t a perfect showing — Texas Tech had 260 yards of offense before the fourth quarter — but the bottom line was that Utah’s offense had plenty of chances to win the game.

After Utah scored its only touchdown of the afternoon to bring the Utes within three points with 10:22 in the fourth quarter, the defense started showing more cracks.

Hammond got loose for a 32-yard gain on the following drive and also had a 19-yard pass to Coy Eakin. Utah’s secondary got completely mixed up on the next play and Hammond made the easiest pass of the day to a wide-open Terrance Carter Jr. for a touchdown to put the Red Raiders up 20-10.

After that score with 8:10 remaining, Utah’s defense softened considerably and Texas Tech scored two more touchdowns to run the Utes off their home field.

“Defense played lights out for three-and-a-half quarters and then it went from 13 to 34 in the blink of an eye and that can’t happen. I mean, that just can’t happen,” Whittingham said.

“You got to finish games and you got to keep your poise and keep doing the things that you were doing the first three-and-a-half quarters. We can’t let things get away from us like that in the fourth quarter.”

Saturday’s first half was full of turnovers, mistakes and some great defense — by both teams.

Utah and Texas Tech combined for 11 penalties in the first two quarters of action, with the Red Raiders being flagged nine times, including four false starts with the Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd at full throttle.

It was a testament to Utah’s defense that the Utes were down just 10-3 at halftime.

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The Red Raiders struck on the first drive thanks to a 73-yard reception by J’Koby Williams on third-and-10. Morton found Williams on a short route for the first down. Safety Tao Johnson had a chance to wrap Williams up at the Texas Tech 35-yard line, but couldn’t make the tackle, and Williams scampered for a huge gain.

Four plays later, Texas Tech was in the end zone — a haymaker right out of the gate.

The Utes’ offense looked like it was haunted by the ghosts of the past two years through the first 30 minutes of the game, going three-and-out on their first drive and punting on their second.

Utah looked to have a touchdown on its third drive of the game — two-way player Jackson Bennee got behind the Tech secondary and Dampier’s throw was right on the money for what looked to be a 69-yard score — but it was called back due to an ineligible man downfield.

Instead of a touchdown, that drive ended with a fumble by receiver Davis.

The next drives weren’t any better, resulting in a fumble, two punts and an interception before Utah finally got on the scoreboard with a field goal at the end of the half.

Even the made field goal didn’t come easy — Dillon Curtis originally missed a 46-yard field goal, but a roughing the kicker penalty gave him a try from 32 yards, which he made for the Utes’ first points of the morning.

As ineffective as Utah’s offense was in the first half, its defense was the complete opposite, except for the first drive.

Texas Tech had 183 total yards of offense and just 41 rushing yards and Utah’s defense stopped them time and time again despite no help from the offense.

Utah forced three punts and two interceptions after the first-drive touchdown, keeping the team in it despite uninspiring offensive play.

The first interception came right after Utah’s first fumble of the game. Cornerback Blake Cotton had good coverage, breaking up the pass, and Johnson swooped in to grab the ball.

Later in the half, cornerback Bennee stole a touchdown from Texas Tech receiver Coy Eakin. The ball from Morton was placed well, but Bennee ripped the ball away for a crucial interception.

Even with the defense giving them plenty of chances, Utah couldn’t cash in on offense, scoring just three points in the first two quarters.

Next up, the Utes hit the road and play at West Virginia next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. MDT.